Mikhail Bulgakov. The Fateful Eggs -
20 >
"Certainly not, dear Professor," the fat man replied. "Allow me to
introduce myself-naval captain and contributor to the Industrial Herald,
newspaper of the Council of People's Commissars."
"Pankrat!" cried Persikov hysterically, and at that very moment a red
light went on in the corner and the telephone rang softly. "Pankrat!" the
Professor cried again. "Hello."
"Verzeihen Sie bitte, Herr Professor," croaked the telephone in German,
"das ich store. Ich bin Mitarbeiter des Berliner Tageblatts..."
"Pankrat!" the Professor shouted down the receiver. "Bin momental sehr
beschaftigt und kann Sie deshalb jetzt nicht empfangen. Pankrat!"
And just at this moment the bell at the main door started ringing.
"Terrible murder in Bronnaya Street!" yelled unnaturally hoarse voices,
darting about between wheels and flashing headlights on the hot June
roadway. "Terrible illness of chickens belonging to the priest's widow
Drozdova with a picture of her! Terrible discovery of life ray by Professor
Persikov!"
Persikov dashed out so quickly that he almost got run over by a car in
Mokhovaya and grabbed a newspaper angrily.
"Three copecks, citizen!" cried the newsboy, squeezing into the crowd
on the pavement and yelling: "Red Moscow Evening News, discovery of X-ray!"
The flabbergasted Persikov opened the newspaper and huddled against a
lamp-post. On page two in the left-hand corner a bald man with crazed,
unseeing eyes and a hanging lower jaw, the fruit of Alfred Bronsky's
artistic endeavours,
stared at him from a smudged frame. The caption beneath it read: "V I.
Persikov who discovered the mysterious ray." Lower down, under the heading
World-Wide Enigma was an article which began as follows:
"'Take a seat,' the eminent scientist Persikov invited me
hospitably..."
The article was signed with a flourish "Alfred Bronsky (Alonso)".