Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita (1997) -
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sitting at a table to one side. She took out a sheet of paper and began
filling in the blank spaces in its columns.
'Here's what measures: I took a little candle from the kitchen...'
That one?' asked the doctor, pointing to the broken candle lying on the
table in front of the woman, next to the icon.
That very one, and . . .'
'And why the icon?'
'Ah, yes, the icon . . .' Ivan blushed. 'It was the icon that
frightened them most of all.' He again jabbed his finger in the direction
ofRiukhin. 'But the thing is that he, the consultant, he ... let's speak
directly . .. is mixed up with the unclean powers . .. and you won't catch
him so easily.'
The orderlies for some reason snapped to attention and fastened their
eyes on Ivan.
Yes, sirs,' Ivan went on, 'mixed up with them! An absolute fact. He
spoke personally with Pontius Pilate. And there's no need to stare at me
like that. I'm telling the truth! He saw everything -- the balcony and the
palm trees. In short, he was at Pontius Pilate's, I can vouch for it.'
'Come, come .. .'
'Well, so I pinned the icon on my chest and ran .. .'
Here the clock suddenly struck twice.
'Oh-oh!' Ivan exclaimed and got up from the couch. 'It's two o'clock,
and I'm wasting time with you! Excuse me, where's the telephone?'
'Let him use the telephone,' the doctor told the orderlies.
Ivan grabbed the receiver, and the woman meanwhile quietly asked
Riukhin:
'Is he married?'
'Single,' Riukhin answered fearfully.
'Member of a trade union?'
'Yes.'
'Police?' Ivan shouted into the receiver. 'Police? Comrade
officer-on-duty, give orders at once for five motor cycles with machine-guns
to be sent out to catch the foreign consultant. What? Come and pick me up,
I'll go with you ... It's the poet Homeless speaking from the madhouse .. .