This is a difficult book, like all the works of Vladimir Orlov. His books have not only been translated into many languages of the world, but have rightfully become classics of modern fiction (“Violist Danilov”, “Pharmacist”, “Jack of Diamonds”, “Incident in Nikolskoye”, etc.). Many of them have been filmed, others are waiting in the wings. The same book includes the first novel “Salted Watermelon” and the last story “Exhaustion of Time”. Here is both phantasmagoria, which the author resorted to throughout his entire creative career, and reality, because it’s no secret - he always told only the truth.