The Blizzard

by Vladimir Sorokin

Platon Ilich lit a cigarette with the special pleasure of a person resting after heavy work.

“One should never abandon one’s principles. As in chess, one should not stoop lower than the floor and make forced moves. Coercion is not the way to live—the palliatives of work are more than enough. Life offers choice: one should always choose what comes naturally, what will not cause you to regret your own lack of willpower later in life. Only epidemics leave you no choice.”

“Let me have a smoke, too.” He handed her the papirosa. She inhaled, held the smoke for a while, then let it out carefully. The doctor watched. He suddenly realized he had absolutely no desire to talk to her.

“When you fell trees, chips will fly,” said the doctor, remembering his great-grandfather’s favorite saying. Garin’s great-grandfather, an accountant, often reminisced about the distant Stalin era, when that saying was popular with the authorities and the people.