A DEATH INTENDED FOR SOMEONE ELSEAll the funeral arrangements, and the funeral itself, went past me in a kind of fog. Ulia managed to arrive in time. Not many people came, but they had come from all over. The paths they took to reach granny were all overgrown with grass, hellebores and puffballs, but come they did. Beneath the storm clouds, gathering over the river, from Stradche, Duryche and Zakazanka they came, all of them younger than our granny. The villagers of Dobratyche were all there, except for old Lyalka, but it’s been ages since she was able to walk. Afanasy Petrovich came — a pal of granny’s, one of the townies up at the dachas. Today he hadn’t tucked his axe behind his belt as he usually did, but his once blue trousers were the same, only freshly washed. He was the only one wh
