The house, so successfully purchased in the village of Mukhino, stood on a hillock that sloped steeply down to the lake. The view from the windows was wonderful: a front garden with phlox and tiger lilies, a meadow sloping down to the water, a lake, in some places overgrown along the shore, but near the village itself there was a sandy beach, and behind the lake there was a forest stretching towards the horizon. Vladlen Mikhailovich Golomyanov, not so long ago retired, bought this house quite by accident and was very pleased with his new acquisition. Everything would be just wonderful if it weren’t for the annoying flies...