6. A boring, joyless timeHe spent all autumn in Irivka. He bought firewood, because nobody intended to give him any, as it turned out. People who buy it in the village because they don’t grow their own don’t share it with anyone. The firewood reduced his savings considerably, as it cost ten million.
But they taught him how to stoke up the stove at no cost. He was adept at placing a log on a stand and chopping it with a small axe. In the autumn the women hardly ever visited him, but one day they brought him two bags of potatoes on the cart. The autumn rainy season began. He didn’t leave the house. He didn’t need to go anywhere. Sometimes it was easy for him to think and read, and at other times it was boring and unpleasant. A life without responsibilities is also a burden not everyone is a
