“The dense darkness filled with rain streams, falling on the glass, turned their smoothness into a semblance of a crystal edge: merging and scattering drops crushed the reflections of advertising, street lamps, and traffic lights, as if in a kaleidoscope. When Rita was little, her mother gave her a cardboard tube with colored pieces of glass. At first the magical patterns captivated me, then it became scary. Mom poured the glass into her palm - look, there’s nothing to be scared about! But little Rita got angry, threw the toy into the corner, and even stomped on it with her foot...”