At about half past six Tatyana was there.
With her fur coat in a large plastic bag.
Alyosha got up, because it was her privilege
to sit in a comfortable chair in her own room.
So he sat down next to Marfa. Leisurely Tatyana
first poured a glass of wine ... went through her
extensive LP collection ... and put Tim Hardin on ...
Clearly she was stalling to tell her story.
Then she took her coat out of the plastic bag ...
brushed it a bit with her hands ... whereby
a lot of sand fell on the Queen Anne table.
Tomb sand ... thus began her story. After
a lot questions, the police in T. had handed
her the coat. No, she had no idea how the
coat had ended up in the freshly dug grave,
not to mention how Elisa had winded up in T.
For a moment she had been afraid they would
take her to the cemetery, but no ... that was all.
Sign here and ... have a nice day. Tatjana threw
the coat next to Marfa and Alyosha on the mattress.
That was the signal for Fluffy to start pawing on
the fur coat. A freshly dug grave? ... freshly dug? ...
in this weather? The part-time pallbearers Ivan
and Pavel knew that way before the frost arrives,
the diggers would dig enough graves in advance.
