those girls around, you'd say. But Alyosha
kept his distance. His girlfriend had run off
with someone else again. Once was a mistake,
twice coincidence and three times an enemy
action. Woke up very early in the morning
when Tatyana and company came home,
drunk and singing loud. Pavel got up in
the afternoon, drank a strong coffee and
orange juice to quench his thirst. And
when he saw Fluffy, he took a tin of
cat food from the refrigerator.
So, you're not welcome today ... he grinned.
To make a long story short: Tatyana had Igor over
for a couple of nights and Elisa temporarily was
staying with Ivan. In the basement workshop you
could hear Alyosha using the sledgehammer.
After a terrible fight Marfa and Fyodor had
reconciled abundantly. And Pavel, couldn't decide
on a topic for his paper. The pros and cons of
hitchhiking ... perhaps? The days that followed
more snow had fallen. Ivan, Elisa, Tatyana and
Fyodor went for a sledge ride in the nearby hills.
That made thirsty. Fortunately, climbing up, they
arrived near Hotel Val Monte. Time for coffee and
hot chocolate. In the lounge with easy chairs.
Someone came to light the fireplace. And a large
brandy, please. About time to interrogate Elisa
about Pelageya's missing hairdryer. She had shown
kleptomaniac behavior before. Of course she denied.
But later Ivan found the hair dryer in his closet,
wrapped in gift paper. She also had the allegedly
haunted table in Ivan's room, rubbed all over with
garlic. She said that it all had to do with the
pyramids in Egypt. A few days later Alyosha had
his ceiling partially painted black, but she hadn't
come very far with a tube of oil paint. Together
with Tatyana's fur coat, which she really needed in
this weather, Elisa had disappeared. Ivan worried,
Tatyana fucking furious, the others pretty relieved.
