The story of the story “The Third Jump of the Kangaroo” is unexpected - my father wrote it in Peredelkino in the House of Creative Writers, he worked with pleasure, even, as he himself said, fun. But at the publishing house “Young Guard” I encountered problems: then perestroika and the “fight against drunkenness” began, and therefore they asked to remove any mention of drinking, then someone said that the editor of a popular magazine would recognize himself in the story and would be offended, then the reviewer I saw a mention of KVN and “noted” that the program on television was closed. In a word, a sad story. But the manuscript in its original form was lying at our house, and I am glad that its time has come. Of course, someone will say that there is no science fiction in it, and “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid” ceased to be science fiction after the invention of the laser. But it has the main thing - the time in which many of us lived. The second story, generally sad, is also about the main thing - about time and about people of different principles. To some extent, it poses a philosophical question - is it possible to live in truth and be faithful to it, and at the same time also exist with dignity. It's possible, but difficult. My father knew about this and shared this experience. Vsevolod Kukushkin