Emptiness Of My Heart

Глава 1Translated from Russian by Edward PorperCrackling flames in the cozy fireplace chase away the shadows and fill the room with shimmer. A cricket, hiding in a corner, chirps occasionally when it is feeling happy or sad. Heavy drapes conceal the darkness outside where the eastern sky is only about to don its predawn turquoise garments. Small bubbles, leisurely ascending towards the neck of an open purplish bottle of chianti, carry a fragrance so divine that it might make me forget anything and everything - or does it only seem so?Can I forget heavy tanks burning down in the courtyard, even if the drapes spare me the sight of the crimson glow?Can I forget the lieutenant"s agonal wheeze transmitted by indifferent airwaves?Or even a human-like figure sitting in an armchair opposite me - a figure as soulless as the holographic fireplace with its electronic cricket?Or even inordinat…