Vladimir Orlov - Danilov the Violist

Vaska waited a long time at the station. First the agronomist Vasilkova went to the store for stockings and the Archangel train went by. Then the cattle breeders Kukushkin and Kuleshov got engrossed in the newspapers and forgot about being representatives. The stationmaster Kurnev finally went home to his family, and left it to the dispatcher Solomatin, to see off the guests to the capital. "Put the bull in a freight car," were his last words. An express arrived from the north. Dispatcher Solomatin put the cattle breeders and the agronomist in a passenger compartment, shook hands, and then when the express pulled out, he saw that Vaska the bull was still on the tractor sledge.

"What's the matter with you?" Solomatin reproached the foreman Perbushin. "He got left behind!"

"So he got left behind," Perbushin said.

"How could you, Nikolai Ivanovich?"

"You try picking him up!" Perbushin said.

"There's a whole team of you here!"

"A team!" harrumphed Perbushin and spat. "Some team ... What if he's violent, that bull, who the hell knows ..."

"What do we do now?" Solomatin shook his head. "They're waiting for him in Moscow."

"Let 'em wait," said Perbushin. They had a smoke. They sat in silence for five minutes.

"I'm, you know," said Perbushin, "I'm not against... We'll get him up, big deal, a bull, don't worry! We've handled plenty of bulls like that!... But here's what I think... there's another question here ... look at it like this: What we need is a crane, like in a port somewhere, with a hook, just to move that bull safely through the air-----Or here's another thought:

Let's make a big net, like a shopping bag, with a motor and propeller, so it could pick him up and deliver him by itself ... or maybe a cart on an air cushion... We'd be the first and then all the stations would get one..."

"Where am I supposed to get a net like that?" Solomatin was sad. "Or an air cushion? ..."

"Hm!" Perbushin said. Then he said magnanimously: "All right. Let's get a conveyor belt from the packhouse and we'll send the bull right into the freight car on the belt."

"Get the conveyor belt!" Solomatin was pleased.

"Get it!" Perbushin pushed his cap back on his head. "That's easy to say! It's broken!"

Solomatin was a quiet man, but now he started shouting: "Then what are you driving me crazy for? I want that bull loaded on the Krasnoyarsk train!"

"All right, on the Krasnoyarsk," Perbushin agreed. "Otherwise he'll catch a cold out here." Perbushin and his crew felt sorry for the animal. It was getting chilled for nothing. When the train arrived an hour later, even though it wasn't the Krasnoyarsk train, the crew, with the assistance of some passengers, got the bull on board. Solomatin came out and asked: "Is the crew ready?"

"We've loaded him already!" Perbushin smiled happily.

"Where?"

"On that train!"

"It's going to Khabarovsk!" Solomatin said with a groan.

"So it's going to Khabarovsk," Perbushin said. "He'll be frozen stiff otherwise... If necessary, they'll ship him back..."

It took four days for the bull to reach Moscow. On the first day the animal was examined by experts, who could say nothing. In the morning they scheduled a private showing of the bull for specialists and award-winning workers. And it was only on the third day that they promised to bring the bull out into the big ring of the exhibition racetrack. It was known that already in Moscow were Professor Cheevers of Oxford and one of Burnabito's lawyers, who announced that Vaska was Miguel.

Professor Cheevers along with the Moscow experts were given the opportunity to examine the animal. Late that evening he announced that the Pankratiev bull resembled the one from Principe; however, the Pankratiev bull was seven centimeters taller and had more dangerous horns; Vaska's stomach was smaller, and his hairs were much thicker and longer, which was attributable to the harsh northern climate. The professor was at a loss to explain the simultaneous appearances of gigantic bulls at distant points of the globe. He said that this was one of the mysteries of the age. Burnabito's lawyer was not let near the bull. He was handed a statement that Vaska the bull had been in the kolkhoz five days ago -- that is, before Miguel vanished.

Klavdia Petrovna, naturally, wangled an invitation to the closed showing of the bull. She excitedly informed Danilov that tout le monde had come to see the bull.

"And how did that bitch Dranitsyna get an invitation? ... She can crash anything... And she was completely covered with diamonds..."

"What about the bull?" Danilov asked.

"Well! The bull! Astonishing! The way he stood!"

"Stood?" Danilov was surprised.

On principle, Danilov did not try to get into the closed showing. But he went to the exhibition racetrack with great pleasure. There was a hard frost and the sun shone. Danilov moved toward the exhibition with a light, festive step. It was a fifteen-minute walk. At the entrance he saw the lines. Danilov decided that you could freeze to death in those lines. He went to the service entrance with a determined air, took out his theater ID, waved it, and got in.

The first show should have been long over, but the bull had not yet come out.

Danilov was pushed and shoved; suddenly came a cry:

"Here he comes! They're bringing him in!"

Danilov stretched his neck and saw Vaska being led around. The public froze. The bull was gigantic and handsome. A girl of five or so shouted in delight: "A mammoth! A woolly mammoth!"

But the bull stopped, lay down in the snow, and as Danilov understood it, surrendered himself to sleep. The audience, delighted, began egging him on, demanding the promised walk around the ring. Then the public felt sorry for him -- lying in the snow! Then a murmur arose, and then they began shouting:

"We want him to walk! We paid for it! Cheats!"

Danilov sensed that if the bull did not get up right then, there would be trouble. He started making his way onto the racetrack. The buttons were torn from his coat, his muffler almost stayed with another spectator, but Danilov made it out to the bull. Here the police stopped him. The crowd roared, and not far away Danilov saw the enraged Klavdia Petrovna. "What's the matter with me? Have I forgotten what I can do?" thought Danilov. "Why am I acting in this stupid way?"

He shifted his bracelet, and a second later he was a bull even bigger than Vaska, but of another breed -- his fur was green with white stripes. Danilov walked on all fours toward the lieutenant, who looked at him respectfully and let him through.

The crowd was quiet again, and the cattle breeders Ku-kushkin and Kuleshov moved away from the blue bull, just in case. Danilov came over to Vaska the bull and poked him in the ribs with a horn.

"Karmadon, is that you?"

"So ..." Vaska muttered hoarsely after a bit.

"It's me, Danilov. Get up!"

"I don't want to," grumbled Karmadon. "Leave me alone..."

"I'm telling you -- get up!" Once more, harder, he poked Karmadon.

"Lay off..."

"Get up!"

Vaska got up.

"Now follow me," Danilov ordered. "And don't yawn! Come on, walk, I said."

First Danilov nudged Karmadon along, then he went on his own, and he did it well. They made a big circle and got a big hand. Danilov was extremely sorry that he had taken on such a huge shape and bizarre coloring, because now the experts would be interested in him, too. Once inside, he whispered to Karmadon:

"I don't have any more time. I have to get to the theater. I'll see you tomorrow. You have to make the tour of the ring three more times. Three more sessions. Otherwise the crowd will skin you... Understand?"

Vaska nodded. But he yawned as he nodded. Just in case, Danilov programmed him for three more circles. Then he went out into the empty corridor and turned back into himself.