UNDERGROUND

51

The general - strong, stern and stately - as a colonel general should be, listened intently to the meow, which came alternately and exactly from different cat's throats. The falsetto of a young cat had just meowed, and now a large village cat was howling in a long way. Each meow was preceded by the click of a selector switch. After another such click, instead of meowing, there was a jerky bark. The colonel-general frowned and barked loudly into the microphone:

- Swamp cat, fuck your mother!

The barking was immediately replaced by the squeaking of a cat that spotted a sparrow outside the window.

Boris looked at the bowed head of the general. His hair was thick and black, but with grey. His clean-shaven face looked focused. The black-eyed man in civilian clothes finally tore his eyes away from Boris, and leaning towards the general whispered something to him.

“You didn’t go to work today,” said the Colonel General, raising a piercing look at Boris.

Obviously, first of all, it was a ques