About this story
Mikhail coughs blood into his sleeve, refuses to pay a doctor to be told that work kills, and is buried by the factory. Then Pavel begins coming home late with his father's voice in his mouth. What you find under his pillow is not drink but a printed leaflet, and he warns you that explaining it ends the quiet for good.
Who you’ll meet
Pavel Vlasov, the reader's son, a young factory worker deciding in one dawn not to become his father; Maria Korsunova, the neighbour who sees the leaflet first.
How it opens
The evening whistle released workers into streets coloured by furnace smoke.
Mikhail VlasovFood. And keep the dog away from my chair.
Your husband entered with iron dust in his beard and anger already prepared.
The soup is hot. Sit before you spill it.
Mikhail VlasovA wife commands quickly when she believes a man is tired.
Choose
I am asking you to eat, nothing more.
Pavel worked the late shift too.