The term “case” denoted mystical stories, usually told at night - such as today’s “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” This was folklore, along with ditties and jokes. At an early age, L. Petrushevskaya told these “cases” everywhere—in the orphanage, in the pioneer camp, in children’s tuberculosis forest schools—at night. But they came much later, and were now written down in notebooks. But they were published only decades later. And the current book consists of such mystical stories. It also includes the author’s predictions: “At the end of 1976 - beginning of 1977, I wrote two stories - “Hygiene” (about an epidemic in the city) and “New Robinsons. Chronicle of the late 20th century” (about the escape of urbanites to the countryside). In November 2019, I wrote a story called “Hello” about isolation, and in March 2020 it began. At the beginning of July 2020, I wrote a story “The Old Bus” about the hijacking of a bus with passengers, and a week later this happened in Ukraine. These four predictions - at a distance of forty years - you will find in this book." Petrushevskaya's stories have become absolute world classics - they have been translated into many languages, awarded the World Science Fiction Prize (2010) and recognized as a bestseller by The New York Times and Amazon.