1975, Petrozavodsk
Once upon a time a boy’s mother bought him an aquarium fish, a bullhead catfish. He had long dreamed of this kind, however unlovely it was, ugly even, but a very useful fish. A broad, flat head with long whiskers, a speckled body of an unpleasant greenish shade. But with a sucking mouth too, a powerful one with thick, avid lips. These lips were in constant motion; whether the bullhead sat on a leaf of an underwater plant or was darting up along the smooth glass of the aquarium, its lips were moving. At first the boy thought that the fish was silently mouthing one and the same thing, apparently something very important: “Look-there, watch-out.” The boy would go into the pet store and spend hours watching this wonderful fish, straining to riddle out its sad and monotonous
