Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita -
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smoker and said :
'Tell me, please, where am I? '
'Well, I'm damned! ' said the unsympathetic smoker.
'I'm not drunk,' said Stepa hoarsely. ' Something's happened to me,
I'm ill. . . . Where am I? What town is this? '
'Yalta, of course. . . .'
Stepa gave a gentle sigh, collapsed and fainted as he struck his head
on the warm stonework of the pier.
At about half past eleven that morning, just as Stepa lost
consciousness in Yalta, Ivan Nikolayich Bezdomny regained it, waking from a
deep and prolonged sleep. For a while he tried to think why he was in this
strange room with its white walls, its odd little bedside table made of
shiny metal and its white shutters, through which the sun appeared to be
shining.
Ivan shook his head to convince himself that it was not aching and
remembered that he was in a hospital. This in turn reminded him of Berlioz's
death, but today Ivan no longer found this very disturbing. After his long
sleep Ivan Nikolayich felt calmer and able to think more clearly. After
lying for a while motionless in his spotlessly clean and comfortably sprung
bed, Ivan noticed a bell-push beside him. Out of a habit of fingering
anything in sight, Ivan pressed it. He expected a bell to ring or a person
to appear, but something quite different happened.
At the foot of Ivan's bed a frosted-glass cylinder lit up with the word
'DRINK'. After a short spell in that position, the cylinder began turning
until it stopped at another word:
'NANNY '. Ivan found this clever machine slightly confusing. ' NANNY '
was replaced by ' CALL THE DOCTOR '.
'H'm . . .' said Ivan, at a loss to know what the machine expected him
to do. Luck came to his rescue. Ivan pressed the button at the word ' NURSE
'. In reply the machine gave a faint tinkle, stopped and went out. Into the