The second book by the undoubtedly talented Moscow prose writer Ivan Zorin. The first book (“The Game with Sleep”) was published in the middle of this year by the Interbook publishing house. The author considered it appropriate to include only three short stories from it in this book. However, the definition of “story” (like the definition of “essay”) does not quite fit the things included in this book. It would be more accurate to place them in the space bordering between the two mentioned genres. The drawings on the cover, titles and before each story (or essay) were made by the author himself.