About this story
A letter from the steward reports failed crops and falling rents; it lies unanswered on the blanket while two callers arrive, one with invitations to a fashionable drive, one with a promotion he has no hours left to enjoy. Then Zakhar mentions that the landlord wants the apartment by next week, and a key turns in the outer lock.
Who you’ll meet
Zakhar, the old manservant, and Volkov, a fashionable visitor. You play Ilya Ilyich Oblomov.
How it opens
Late morning entered the room through curtains never fully opened.
Books slept beneath dust beside an inkstand dry from lack of disturbance.
You called, Ilya Ilyich, though the house heard no emergency.
I called twice. Bring the letter from the estate.
The letter is precisely where you left it while blaming me yesterday.
Choose
Then bring it from where I left it.
First open the curtains; this room has forgotten the season.