«Hello, friends! Today, I have an entirely unexpected day off because half of the colony has fallen ill with a nasty virus, slightly disrupting production processes: there's nowhere to lay the fabric, nothing to measure, the knives are piled with scraps (no, something else, I don't remember), and part of the brigade was sent to rest. Wow, I have so many plans today! And to visit the storeroom to find out if I have to wear heavy winter boots until summer. And to the library to exchange Bykov for Franzen. And to wash everything, sort through bags, write letters, like this one to you. And most importantly: I will finish sewing dolls, dolphins, and figure out how to make birds out of rags! I have a full-fledged debut coming up soon. I already had a partial one on March 8th, helped with a number for the concert, it was a success, they even announced me from the stage.
I swear, when in my past life I presented the idea of a play to O. P. Tabakov, I was less nervous! I keep recalling how in that same life, Mr. Kinchev's wife publicly promised me that the pinnacle of my directing career would be working at the Uryupinsk Philharmonic (or conservatory, I don't remember...) Nonsense! The pinnacle of my career is the puppet theater mini-production contest at FKU IK-3 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the KO.
And I approach this matter, guys, with maximum responsibility. The number will be about love and the sea, with a reading of a poem about «don't part with your loved ones...» and a song by Agutin/Varum «I will always be with you», fish, birds (how the heck do I make them???), flying hearts, light from Lena Perelman (pray, please, that the package arrives in time, there are flashlights, without them everything is lost!). And with two dolls that I! Myself! Sewed! I, the clumsy hands! Their arms, legs, and heads move. And you should see what happens with our gentle ladies from the squad when they start «leading» our Lenechka and Anzhelka. These seemingly fiercest and roughest women turn into perfect children, which they seem never to have had the chance to be. Many are imprisoned at 18-20 years old, immediately for 7-9-12 years, and before imprisonment, they lead a life, to put it mildly, not very doll-like. So, we entertain ourselves. If only the flashlights would arrive! And the black fabric! At the factory, there are kilometers of any fabric you want, but it's very strict, you can't take it out, even temporarily.
Work life continues at the factory, and there I also recall Mr. Kinchev every day. Here's a list of model names we make from the fabrics we lay: Svetozar, Evraz, Legion, Veles, Forest, Hammer... If you say all this in a row, you want to switch to growling. Or turn on the band «Alisa». Or hang yourself, because all this beauty needs to be understood and learned, and you have to understand and learn from the air and the scoldings received for misunderstanding and not learning. Would you understand the meaning of the phrase: «Take seven rolls of Evraz at the measurement for the sixth frame for three two-piece trimmings?» Well, I didn't understand either. Now I understand. Now I need to somehow learn the costume details. Because when they yell at me: «Can't you see from the trimming that the shelf is half the yoke?!!», I only imagine a bookshelf and a windy woman. I go to the smoking area and grumble gloomily: «Make me, Valentina, an equirhythmic translation of Offenbach's «Perichole», the first two acts without a crib, you'll take the score from the chief dramatist, and first tell me how many words in this phrase you understood». But actually, I'm fine, after three weeks of work I'm already much better oriented in gray hammers, blue aviation techniques, workers 1-23, sixth frames, now I just need to start learning the specifications, and the golden key is in our pocket!
Actually (my filler word), it's completely unclear how to write about life in the colony. It consists of a million billion everyday details, which are either all important, unusual, and terrible, or all unimportant, familiar, and you simply don't pay attention to them anymore. And how to describe this while being inside? No way. Only to irritate the security department and worry the relatives. I'll describe it when I get out. Or not».
* Listed as a «terrorist and extremist».
Photo: RIA Novosti