The action takes place over several January days of 1947 in the town of Olinger, Pennsylvania.

1

The novel begins with the words "Caldwell turned away, and at the same moment an arrow pierced his ankle." The class is laughing, while Caldwell the centaur is not laughing, he feels a piercing pain that "shot up the thin core of the lower leg, drilled the gyrus of the knee and, growing, raging, poured into the stomach." Caldwell - a biology teacher, at the moment when an arrow was thrust into his foot, he wrote on the board the estimated age of the earth - 5 billion years. The class continued to laugh, not letting the centaur "remain alone with the pain, measure its strength, listen to how it would stop, and dissect it thoroughly." At this time, the pain had already “sent tentacles into the skull”, and it seemed to the teacher that he was “a huge bird, awakened from sleep”. The pain spread even further. She “shaggy paws pressed the heart and lungs; now she got close to her throat, and now it seemed to him that his brain was a piece of meat, which he raised high on a plate, saving him from predatory teeth. ” The students jumped onto the seats of the desks and continued to “poison” the teacher. He is leaving class.

While the teacher is wandering along the corridor, he already feels himself a centaur, and the plumage of an arrow scratches the floor, sweeping the wound. He feels sick, dizzy. From the classrooms comes the French language, history lesson, singing.

He goes into the fresh air, hitting the stairs with an arrow. He heads for Gammel's garage. Before, Gummel was a member of the school council, and his young red-haired wife Vera still teaches girls physical education there. Many teachers and students are clients of this garage. High school students are repairing their battered cars here, and younger students are pumping up basketballs.

The centaur shows Gammel an arrow sticking out of his leg. The mechanic says that it is steel and went through. He tries to cut it with a cutter, but it is not hollow, as he thought. He heats the arrow with an acetylene torch. A mechanic and his assistant cool the arrow with a rag before pulling it out. Gummel sniffs the tip, fearing he might be poisoned. Caldwell asks how much is off of him and says that he is late for the lesson, that the director will “take his head off” of him. Gummel says that he was glad to help, he won’t take any money and that not every day you have to cut an arrow in your leg. Caldwell insists on payment, but Gummel says that, according to his wife, he is "one of the few who does not poison her life." Caldwell thanks the mechanic and is annoyed with himself for “not being able to really thank a person. I’ve lived all my life in this city, attached to local people, but I don’t dare say it. ”

The mechanic gives the teacher an arrow, Caldwell’s tip was put in his pocket even earlier.

The mechanic advises the director of the school, Zimmerman, to tell about this incident, but the teacher says, "Please yourself, maybe he will listen to you."

Gummel asks for greetings to the wife of teacher Hussey, and asks if Caldwell is tired of going to work from the suburbs every day, but the teacher is even happy about this, because on the way he has the opportunity to talk with his son, whereas when they lived in the city, he “Almost never saw” his son.

The Caldwells moved to the farm 10 miles from Olinger. Then the car became simply necessary for them, and Gummel found them an old Buick at a low price ($ 375).

Caldwell feels late, offers money again, but when the mechanic refuses, the teacher thinks: “These Olinger aristocrats are always like that. They will never accept money, but they like to take an arrogant tone. They will impose a favor and feel like gods. ”

Then the mechanics apprentices were clucking, pointing to the floor, the trace of Caldwell's boot soaked in blood. Gummel advises going to the doctor, but Caldwell says he is better off during the break. “The thought of poison did not leave him. The wound will be cleansed. "

He returns to school, expressively limping, to show his colleague Foul, looking out the window, why he is not in the classroom.

He chooses a path through an underground passage, afraid to go past Zimmerman’s office. He turns to see if there are any bloody traces left, he is: now he will have to apologize to the cleaners. He goes through the cafeteria, where the cook waves his hand, he rejoices, waves back. He is always pleased in the company of ordinary people, such as were around him during his childhood, in New Jersey, where his father served as a poor priest in a poor ward.

He climbs the stairs, walks past the women's locker room. He recalls a semi-real encounter with Vera (Venus). She came out of the shower in one towel and asked Chiron to tell about all the gods, and she laughed at each, reducing to ordinary people:

"Poseidon - the ruler of the white-maned sea" - "Old madman sailor. He dyes his hair blue. From his beard stinks of rotten fish. He has a whole chest of African pornographic pictures. His mother was a black woman - the whites of his eyes give him away "

She reminded Chiron that he was conceived when Cronus, in horse-like guise, took possession of Philira. After the half-human half-horse was born, Filira, ashamed of him, begged the gods to turn her into a linden. Chiron recalls how he, “a shaggy and slippery lump, abandoned, embraced by fear”, lay on an island, no more than a hundred steps in length in the open air; how he, as a youth, came to look at the linden trees, trying to recreate the image of his mother. It almost seemed to him that in the noise and touch of the branches he felt the joy of seeing his son as an adult, he tried to somehow justify and forgive her. But still he felt sorry for her and hated her at the same time.

Then Vera threw off her towel and, despite the fact that Chiron was her nephew, offered to sleep with her. Fearing the wrath of Zeus, her father (Zimmerman), Chiron was indecisive, and she disappeared.

Caldwell returned to class. There was an ominous silence behind the door, as he had feared, a director was standing in his office. Zeus the Thunderer shot him a look that looked like lightning, and the silence that stood in the classroom was deafening than thunder. He ironically asked the students to applaud the teacher who deigned to come. When Caldwell lifted his trouser leg to show the wound, Zimmerman snapped something about the uneven socks, and released a few more comments that the class responded with a friendly laugh. He also did not look at the arrow, calling it an excellent lightning rod.

The director sat on the back desk, because he had already broken his morning program, and once a month he should attend Caldwell's lesson and write a report. Usually the reports were bad, and this spoiled the mood of the teacher for whole weeks.

Suffering from pain, the teacher began the lesson. The director sat in the back seat and began to flirt with Iris Osgood. Caldwell asked what the number 5,000,000,000 written on the blackboard means. Judith Langel, daughter of a wealthy real estate dealer (upstart, who thinks that his daughter should be the best student and favorite only because he is rich), as always answered incorrectly. Master answered his own question. He asked another question, but Judy again answered incorrectly, and the rest were silent. The teacher looked with a look of his son, but remembered that he would be in lesson 7. Zimmerman winked at Iris. Using the example of a country's national income, he explains what billions are. When Judy again answered incorrectly, he began to mentally inspire her so that she “did not give in to her father”, “did not get out of her way”, but simply got married as soon as possible, because she was stupid like a cork.

While Caldwell wrote astronomically huge numbers on the board and explained that it was the mass of the Earth, the Sun, etc., while Zimmerman whispered something to Iris’s ear, undressing her eyes with his eyes, the excitement passed to the class, attention faded, the teacher began Describe how the universe came about. Caldwell asked for simplicity to imagine that the Universe exists only 3 days. Today is Thursday. There was a great explosion on Monday. On the first night, protogalaxies formed, and in them gas balls that condense and burst. By Tuesday morning, the stars shone. By noon on the second day, the earth's crust formed. From noon Tuesday to noon Wednesday, the Earth remains barren. From noon to midnight, life remained microscopic. On Thursday at 3.30 a.m., all biological species except chordates appeared. By 8 o’clock amphibians already existed.

As the teacher explains, metamorphoses begin. The chalk in the teacher’s hands turns into a tadpole, the airplane falling to the floor blossoms with a white flower and cries like a child until the very end of the lesson; one of the students puts his hands on the shoulders of the bright Betty and begins to caress her neck under the chin. One of the students jumps up, and from his fiery acne, a wall lights up, a fight begins, the director changes to Iris and hugs her. As soon as Caldwell mentions trilobite, several trilobites similar to wood lice are poured onto the floor. One of the girls, looking like a parrot, begins to peck at trilobite under a desk. A sickly diabetic boy is thrown to the floor, and when he tries to get up, they hit the floor again. 1 bell rings, the attendants rush out of the classroom, stepping on a flower-plane, which squeaks plaintively. The director unfastens Iris’s blouse and bra, and her breasts “circled over her desk”. A bunch of ball bearings flew into the teacher’s face. Deyfendorf, one of the students, dragged Betty into the aisle, and she giggled, breaking free from his hairy hands. “The crumpled skirt of the girl was lifted up. Becky bent, clinging to the desk, and Deifendorf furiously beat his hooves in the narrow aisle. "

Caldwell was furious, and whipped Deifendorf's arrow on his bare back. “It’s you who broke the grill [by car].” "The couple broke up like a broken flower." Deifendorf cried, the girl straightened her hair indifferently. The director frantically struck something on a piece of paper.

Continuing the analogy about the age of the universe with 3 calendar days, Caldwell finished the lesson with the words: “A minute ago, with a flint, with a smoldering rod, with the anticipation of death, a new animal appeared, with a tragic fate ... whose name is man.”

2

The narrative comes from Peter Caldwell, son of a biology teacher. There is no mythological plan in his narrative.

He recalls how often his parents woke up in the morning. He remembers how one day his father complained to his mother that he felt that he was mortally ill. He says that it’s all because of the children who hate him, and their hatred, like a spider, has settled in his guts. The Christmas holidays were over, and my father was bracing himself before returning to school. On the eve of the holidays, he hit the student in the presence of the director, and this circumstance makes his father even more nervous before returning to school.

Mother advises father to go to the doctor.

Peter in bed recalls his date with Penny in a car, then introduces himself to her in the forest, she turns into a tree. Peter gets up, begins to dress, describes a skin disease, psoriasis, from which he has spots all over his stomach, chest, legs and arms. The disease is hereditary, transmitted through the maternal line. In summer, the sun dried the scabs, and by September the skin was almost clean, not counting the inconspicuous dots. But in autumn and winter, the disease bloomed in a lush color, on the elbows and on the feet in the place of contact with the socks, the skin was covered with bark. Peter believed that suffering was necessary for a man, and considered it his curse.

Father turned 50, and he always believed that he would not live up to this age.

Peter goes into the courtyard, where he relieves a small need and brushes his teeth, pumping water with a pump. Lady's dog, which the father does not let into the house, so as not to get used to the heat and then not catch pneumonia, greets the boy, wagging his tail, jumping and barking.

The boy is annoyed by the appearance of his father, that he wears an ridiculous knitted hat, which he found in school, in a scrap box, a checkered coat with multi-colored buttons from a charity sale. Before leaving, my father said, “Let's go to the slaughterhouse,” “Let's go to the hate factory.” They were late.

They pushed the car, it did not start immediately. The boy asked his father why he does not wear the gloves that he gave him, having spent almost all the money accumulated for studying at an art school, when he grew strawberries and sold berries under the program of an agricultural club. Then he barely had enough money for a handkerchief to his grandfather and mother for a book. Father replied that they were too good for him and that if someone had given them to him in childhood, he would have burst into tears. Then he said that his teeth hurt, and it would be nice to pull everything out and insert artificial ones from local dentists, who are all flayers.

On the way, they pick up a stroller-passenger who needs to be in Olton, a neighboring city larger than Olinger, and his father promises to take him 4 miles to school, but then carries on, to Olton, despite the fact that they are late. Peter suspects the passenger is a "boy lover." He evasively answers the questions of the careless Caldwell, the question of who he says: "uh ... Cook", that he is going to work for Olton, and then to the south. Caldwell admires, says that he always dreamed of living like a bird, flying south in winter, wandering from place to place. When the father asks the passenger why he is not in the south in such cold weather, he replies that he lived with one guy in Albany, and he blew him. When his father asks him whether he has lost much, since he has not traveled, he has not seen the world, the tramp says that he has not lost anything. The father asks him if he has something to remember, because he himself has nothing to remember, only poverty and fear. Peter is hurt, because he also has a son. Then the stranger tells how he “killed” the dog and describes the details. Then he says that he waited all day yesterday for a passing car, but no one stopped. Caldwell says he always stops because he can always be in his place. Caldwell told him about his psoriasis. The passenger left. The boy sawed his father all the way that he was rushing him at home, he didn’t even give coffee to drink, and for the sake of a tramp who didn’t even say thanks, he made such a detour. When Peter saw that the tramp had stolen the gloves, his father said that he needed them and, probably, he accidentally grabbed them.

3

Again there is a mythological plan. Chiron goes late for a lesson, between yews, laurels, cedars. Plants and their properties are described. (“Leaves of Dubrovnik, crushed in olive oil, heal bone fractures and purulent wounds”). On the lawn of the centaur, students are waiting for: Jason, Achilles, and other mythological characters. Achilles sucked the brain out of the bone of a doe, and honeycombs stuck to his chin. In his figure was feminine fullness. Among the students there is also the daughter of a centaur (Okiroya). The lesson begins by praying to Zeus. Chiron hesitantly joins the chanting of children. The eagle takes off. Chiron is frightened, but then realizes that, since the eagle soared to his right and up, this is a double sign of the mercy of the gods. Children are full of modesty and nobility. The sun of Arcadia is warming hotter. The teacher begins the lesson: “At first, the black-winged Night, fertilized by the wind, laid an egg in the womb of darkness ...” Children are smart, and immediately answer the teacher’s questions. The scene is the exact opposite of the lesson described in Part 1. Animals, birds, plants - everything is in harmony.

4

The story is again on behalf of 15 year old Peter. After school, Peter enters his father’s office, where he left two students after school: Deifendorf and Judy Langel. Deyfendorf complains that he is not going to go to college, and therefore he does not need biology. Peter understands that boys like Deyfendorff are at first enraged by Caldwell, then openly with him, looking for approval, as they do now, and again, behind him, they laugh at him.

At the same time, “this cattle” and his father were very attached to each other, and the father was more frank with him than with his own son. He tells Deifendorf that if he does not study, he will become as insignificant as himself, he will have to go to the teacher. He calls himself a paid overseer of public garbage and says that although Deifendorf is his worst enemy, he does not want this fate.

Already, as an adult, Peter, as if looking into the future, knows that Deifendorf did become a teacher. When Peter met him 14 years later, Deyfendorf said that his father often told him about the teacher’s calling, that this is not an easy job, but you get great satisfaction from it.

Caldwell released Deyfendorf, who was to meet with him again at the swimming competition this evening. Although Caldwell couldn’t even enter the water because of a hernia, Zimmerman appointed him swimmer coach. Over the whole year, the swimmers team did not win a single meeting. There was no pool in Olinger, and broken bottles dotted the bottom of the river. Caldwell warned Deyfendorf not to smoke, because he would be expelled from the team again, and Zimmerman, knowing that the coach was covering him, “would take his head off him”.

Judy began to ask what would happen on the control. Teacher said that he couldn’t tell her that, because it would be dishonest to the rest. Caldwell asked her several questions, none of which she could answer. He answered for her, and she wrote down the answers. Peter answered a few questions himself. He liked that he and his father were one team, at the same time against her. When she left, Peter realized that his father, pitying her, listed all the control questions for her. The teacher told her to sleep peacefully, and when the control passes, she forgot everything. He told her that she would marry and give birth to 6 children.

When she left, Caldwell said, “Poor thing, her father will have an old maid around her neck” and that there is nothing worse than an embittered woman in the world. Then he added that his mother was never embittered. Then the teacher handed his son a piece of paper and said, "Read and sob." The son was afraid that this was a doctor’s diagnosis, but it was just Zimmerman’s report. My father was very worried about the recall and believed that he could be fired.

He was going to the doctor, which surprised Peter very much, because his father never went to the doctors. The fact that he would go there meant that something was really wrong with him. His father told him to wait for him in a cafe with friends that in an hour he would follow him. But Peter said he has no friends, and he will go with his father. In the hallway, Caldwell apologized to the janitor for the bloody footprints.

Caldwell again asked the boy to wait for him in the cafe, not to torment himself in vain, and said that he had no friends at one time. The boy agreed to a compromise; he would glance at the cafe for a short while, and then he would catch up with his father. He hoped to meet Penny in the cafe. She was there, he went in, asked her for a cigarette, and then, telling him that his father was unwell, and that he might have cancer, he launched a hand under her skirt. He asked her if she was going to basketball tomorrow, and they agreed to take each other's place. He asked her to pray for his father. Penny's classmates, a boy and a girl sitting on a seat opposite them, kissing until then, suddenly drew attention to him. All high school students knew his father, and vied to tell him about his oddities, how he used to lie in the aisle between the desks and said, “Stomp, walk on me, anyway, don’t put me in anything!” and so on. This at the same time irritated Peter and gave him weight.

Peter went outside and strode to Dr. Appleton's house. Peter prays, “Don't let him die. May my father be healthy. ”

In the house of Dr. Peter sees a picture with some kind of cruel antique scene where gestures and facial expressions are extremely exaggerated, and turned away, as if seeing a pornographic picture. He remembered how in the 3rd grade his parents quarreled, he was worried, and a rash appeared on his face from excitement, and he was bullied at school. And as he once had a cold, and his parents called the doctor for only 3 days, since there was no money. The doctor came in and asked in a gruff voice: "What have you done to the child?"

The doctor had 2 features: a twin sister who led Latin with Peter and psoriasis. Therefore, Appleton did not become a surgeon. Because if he rolled up his sleeves, the patient on the operating table would shout, “Doctor, heal yourself!” His son went to study as a surgeon, and his wife either died or disappeared under unknown circumstances. The doctor still did not believe in anything.

Appleton looked at Peter and said that almost nothing was visible on his face. Peter was upset; he thought there was nothing on his face at all.

The doctor asked Peter to wait in the waiting room until he finished with his father, but Caldwell insisted that his son “hear your sentence.” The doctor said that his father does not spare his body, and that he has a nervous strain. And from this excess of gastric juice. The symptoms Caldwell speaks of can give ordinary colitis. X-rays should be taken. Appleton talked about how he studied with Zimmerman in the same class.

He wrote a vial of cherry liquid to his father.

When they left, his father said that the doctor had given him an X-ray at 6 p.m. When Peter asked why Appleton did not like Zimmerman, he replied that he had an affair with his wife, and that it was not known who the father of Skippy, his son, really was. The boy asked where his wife had gone, Caldwell said that she had gone somewhere, and maybe she was already alive.

Father said that he would go to X-ray to Olton, then he would cross the road to the sports club, to the competition, and let Peter go to the movies, sit there until 8, until the end of the competition.

When the boy said there should be a way to cure him, Caldwell replied, "Kill me." The boy was shocked by his words.

Peter looked in the movie “Song of My Heart” and only at the end of the film realized that he was late. He ran out of the cinema and ran to the sports club. Father and Deyfendorf, wet, were sitting on a bench. Olinger lost with the score: Olton 37, 5 - Olinger - 18, although Deifendorf won 1 swim. The coach said that he was proud of him, and asked how the winner felt. The father told his team that he was proud of them all, that they were great, because they came to the competition, because it does not bring them fame or money.

Father and son went to eat in a restaurant, after eating they bought mom a sandwich in Italian for the last dollar. When they approached the car in a dark alley, the boy thought that they could be killed here, and not a single living soul would know about it until the morning. The car did not start at all. They tried for a long time to get her. And then father put his hands on the steering wheel and dropped his head on them. He had never done this before. The boy realized that something had broken inside him. Then he raised his head and said that this had been happening to him all his life. That he is a loser.

They got out of the car and began to knock on the gas station door, but it was closed. They go to another garage, which is still open at this time. The manager leaves for a long time, and when he returns, he says that he cannot help anything, the tugboats are busy, and only in the morning he will be able to repair the car. On the way back to the car, a drunk followed them, he told Caldwell how embarrassing he was to take the boy with him, and Peter said, “Run home, to your mother.” He did not believe Caldwell was his father. The drunk told Peter that he would use it and throw him out into the street, and then he would find another boy for himself. Then the drunk swung at Caldwell, and when Caldwell swung at him, the drunk said, “Kill the man who wants to save your soul! Are you ready for death? ” The drunk went up to the boy, hugged him and said how skinny he is and why this lecher does not feed him. Caldwell did not see this, he slowly replied: “I thought I was ready for death. But now I’m not sure. ” Peter broke free and said, “Dad, let's go!” But Caldwell said, “This gentleman is talking business. Are you ready for death? ” The drunk said he would be ready when all the libertines were sent to prison and the key was thrown away. He suggested the boy slam the seducer of minors or call the police. He asked Caldwell how much he would give him so that he would not call the police. He began to beg for 10 dollars and asked the boy how much this man was paying him. Father stood motionless and rubbed his warty hands under the lamp. The drunk man lowered the price to $ 5. Then he agreed to $ 1 and promised to show the hotel where they did not ask questions. Caldwell said hotels were familiar to him. He was in a trance. He gave the drunk the last 35 cents and said that he was very pleased to talk with him, because he clarified his thoughts.

They went to the hotel, the receptionist - the hunchback said that he knew Caldwell, his niece was studying with him, so he agreed to provide a room, although they did not have money. Caldwell said that Gloria is a good girl and always holds on like a lady.

And in the issue, he said, “Know this rubbish Davis, that served me, she would have been suffocated with nightmares all night.” He went to lock the car and call his mother.

When his father returned, Peter was almost asleep. Father said that he called mom and Gammel, who would send a truck for their car in the morning. He said that he had a conversation in the lobby with a dear person who travels around the states and advises shops on how to arrange advertising. The father explained to him that his son was dreaming of such creative work, to which the consultant replied that he would be happy to meet Peter. But Peter did not want to go downstairs and get acquainted. To which father replied, “So send him away, huh?” Perhaps this will be the most correct. Such a person is ready to cut his throat a cent. ”

In the morning, Peter heard his father clearly repeating "I want to die."

Downstairs, they learned that Charlie's desk clerk died of a heart attack at night. Another clerk, after long explanations, agreed to take the check. (On the account of the father was only 20 cents). The little thing that was in their pockets went for breakfast in a mobile restaurant. When they approached school, it was not the first time that Peter thought that his father might die soon.

5

The chapter is a posthumous speech that pays tribute to the late Caldwell. The whole life of a teacher is described. He was born in the state of New York in the family of a Presbyterian priest, his mother, a native of the southern states, Tennessee, was a model of piety and true faith. During a long illness of her husband, before his death at 49, she replaced him at the pulpit of the church. They had 2 children, George Caldwell Jr. When the child was 3 years old, the priest and his family moved to New Jersey, as he received an invitation to the first Presbyterian church.

The boy was nicknamed the wand for his thinness, he was very capable, although out of modesty he later said that the limit of his dreams was to become a pharmacist.

During World War I, he joined the headquarters division from patriotism in 1917 and almost died during the Influenza epidemic. He was preparing to sail to Europe when a truce was concluded, and he never left his country.

His sister got married, and he became the only support of his mother, changed many professions: he sold encyclopedias, drove a sightseeing bus. He entered college, graduated without any financial support. He combined studies with work, and successfully played for a football team. As a goalkeeper, he broke his nose, collarbone, tibia. He met and fell in love with Hassie Kramer.

He worked for a telephone company in the eastern states, but during the time of the depression he lost his job when his wife was pregnant. He entered as a teacher at the Olinger school.

His professional qualities, his activities as a trainer and charity work are described.

6

Narration on behalf of Peter. He is chained to a rock. The teacher asks him how much 4 + 2 × 3−6 / 2 + 4 will be, asking him to list the members of Truman’s office. Peter answers incorrectly or does not know what to answer. A man bends down, picks up something, throws it, Peter sees a volleyball, wants to hit it, but his wrists are chained with ice and a chain.

The ball turns into Deyfendorf, who folds his arms so that a diamond-shaped gap remains between them and says: “You see, they only need you to be here. Back and forth. " “But this is bestiality.” “Of course, disgusting.” But there's nothing to be done, back and forth. And kiss them, hug, speak all kinds of beautiful words, all to no avail, like water off a goose. You have to do this. ” Deyfendorf held a pencil in his mouth and showed how this is done, lowering his face to his palms. And for Peter, nothing in the world existed except this person. “And if her legs are too thick and you won’t be able to rip out, understand?” Said Deyfendorf. He said that with thin people like Gloria Davis or Mrs. Gummel, you feel calmer. Then he asked why Peter always had a yellow spot on his fly, and the Caucasus mountains caught his laugh, slapping each other with towels.

And then a city came to him, painted like an Indian. Peter said to the city: “You remember us, we walked along the tram tracks, and I was always in a hurry to keep up.” The city ran a hand over his cheek and stained his fingers with clay and said: “Remember? So many people ... ”The boy begins to describe his father, all his merits, but the city cannot remember him. When it seems that the city saw him, a man from whose pockets stick out spoiled hands, it turns out that this is just a shadow.

The bell rang. Johnny Deadman deals cards with pornographic pictures. When Peter asks others to show, Deadman tells him that you have to pay for it. But Peter says he has no money, they even left a check at the hotel. But Deadman knows that Peter has a dollar hidden. But Peter says that his hands are shackled, he cannot get it. Penny snuggled up to Peter, trying to get a buck. Peter told her that they would still need this money, to eat before the basketball game. She asks why they moved to the farm, because there are so many inconveniences because of this. Peter says it's easier for them to be together now. Penny says Peter doesn't use it anyway. Peter says he used it once.

“Fuck you, Peter, look,” Johnny tells him and shows the rest of the cards. Peter admires the symmetry of bodies, the maelstrom of flesh. Then he recalls his father and asks how Johnny thinks he will show an x-ray. Johnny says the odds are equal. Penny recalls forgetting to pray for him.

Peter is asked what his lesson is. He says that Latin, but he did not even open the textbook. Penny makes jokes that Esther Appleton will forgive him, as he is kind enough to take a break with his father, and Peter does not see anything.

In a Latin lesson, Peter was asked to translate a verse from Aeneid. It translates poorly. A crying Iris appears in a torn blouse and bare chest. Peter consoles her that he, too, has only one thread left from his shirt. Everyone looks at him and sees his scabs. One boy asks someone to give him an injection because he has touched Peter's skin and is afraid of getting infected. He thinks it is syphilis.

Then father appears and writes the formula on the board. He says that a person can turn into a bunch of useless chemicals. Peter yells to him: “Dad, where are you going? Why can't you forgive us and stay? ”

They walk with their father along the street, and he shouts, “Wait for me! don't go away! ” He told his father that he was still hoping. Father asked if he really hoped. The son answers: Yes!

7

Narration on behalf of Caldwell. The evening of the same day, the teacher leaves the class. He meets a French teacher Esther Appleton. They both turned 50, and she feels like they were lovers. They talk about his visit to her twin brother, a doctor. Caldwell says that he should not have married Hussey, but should have arranged her in a vaudeville and become her entrepreneur. Esther speaks a few words in French, because it reassures the teacher, and he reads her a verse. They thank each other, and she leaves for her class.

Caldwell recalls that he did not notice psoriasis in his wife until they got married.He sees that a whole pack of basketball tickets is not enough. He is going to drop by Gammel for repairs, call Hussey, go to the dentist, catch the start of the game, go home with Peter. He is afraid to find out that he showed an x-ray, he is afraid of death.

Minor’s cafe is empty. Peter is sitting there with Johnny Deadman. Peter talks to Minor about communism. Peter believes that there is nothing wrong with communism, and in 20 years he will come to the states. Minor says that it was necessary to take Moscow to World War II, that the Russian soldier was the most cowardly in the world, and that the peasants would have welcomed them with open arms. Peter says that in Leningrad the Russians were not cowardly. But Minor says these are all American weapons, without them they would not have won. Johnny says that he adores Hitler, that he actually lives in Argentina.

As an adult, Peter saw a nightmare: Hitler was alive, he, a crazy old man was found in Argentina.

Minor says Hitler is better than old Joe Stalin. Johnny says he needs to drop a bomb on Moscow, Paris, Berlin, Italy, America, he loves the atomic fungus.

Father comes for Peter. Minor tells him that Caldwell has just declared himself an atheist and a communist.

Caldwell advises Johnny to go to work in Gammel’s garage and tells his son that he saw Mrs. Duke coming out of Zimmerman’s office, he thinks that they made love there. He thinks that now Zimmerman will not let him live in peace.

Peter reassures him, but Caldwell tells him that if he was so confident in himself, he would have put his mother on stage and Peter would never have been born. Peter is upset by this harshness. Father asks for a loan of $ 10 from Minor and jokes that the Russians are already in Olinger, take the tram and go here. He believes that this will be the greatest success if the Russians come and they are shot.

Caldwell gives $ 5 to Peter. He calls Hussey home, asks if his father-in-law has still fallen from the stairs, then gives the phone to his son. The mother asks how the father says she is worried about him. Peter asks about the Lady if she has caught a skunk.

Conversation of the school principal and Mrs. Herzog. She says that Caldwell saw her, worries that their relationship will become known. She asks him to be fired.

Caldwell at the dentist, his former apprentice. He feels a growing pain, then a tooth is pulled out, anesthesia does not begin to act.

Caldwell is talking with a colleague, Phillips, about the missing pack of tickets. They talk about x-rays, about their former student, an aviation instructor who died due to a student’s mistake, about death, about the son of a colleague, Caldwell speaks flatteringly about him. Caldwell says it dawned on him that bliss was in ignorance. He says that his father died at 49, and he does not want to let his son down in the same way. Caldwell sets off to sell match tickets.

Pupils crowd around for tickets, scraps of their conversations. Peter took Penny's place, she sneaks to him, he admires her small stature. She asks if Peter is shaving, something like non-razor foam in his ear. He says that it is his secret, and then he will show her to her if she is not afraid.

Phillips approaches Caldwell and says that he seems to know where the tickets went. Zimmerman distributed them at Sunday School, where he teaches, for free. He advises not to make a fuss, but to mark it as charity in the statements.

Vera Gummel sees a young priest and begins to flirt with him.

Zimmerman grabs Peter and Penny by the hand and says that they got a couple saying that Peter becomes like his father, but Peter accuses him of being unfair to his father in his recall, says that he is sick, but he is more concerned about some then the missing tickets. When the director leaves, Peter shows Penny his skin, but she says she knew about his skin disease. He says that he loves her, that he considered her stupid, but now does not think so. He kneels in front of her and presses his face to her stomach.

The director approaches Caldwell and begins to make excuses about the tickets, but Caldwell assures him that everything is in order, that he simply misunderstood. Caldwell is afraid that he might be fired due to what he learned about the novel of the director and the Duke. But the director tells him that he can give him a year off if he is not feeling well. Caldwell thinks that if he goes on vacation, he will never return.

Caldwell walks up to the Presbyterian priest who flirts with Faith and tells him that he is embarrassed by the spirit. But the priest is not up to him and he hastily answers his questions and wants to get rid of him as quickly as possible, offers to come to him at church any time in the morning.

When Peter and his father go outside, the snow is pouring in full. The boy is annoyed that they did not leave 2 hours ago, when the tickets were already sold, but were waiting for the end of the game. Now the road skidded. The father is angry that the son told the director that Caldwell was worried about the missing tickets and asked his son if he had also told him that Caldwell had seen Mrs. Herzog leaving his office. The son says that he forgot about it.

They hardly ride along the road, on the rise it stalls. Caldwell lowers the car down in reverse, taking the acceleration, the car quickly overcomes half of the slope, but again stalls in the same place. A car drives by without even stopping. Father says that he would stop in their place and take them in tow. The son says that people like him are no longer in the world. But the father dropped his head in his hands, he is in despair. You need to wear chains, but for this you need to go down to level ground. He secures the chain for a long time, but it slides off at the last moment. Peter crawls under the car, trying to fix the latch, but in vain. Father wants to go back to Alton for the night. But the jack does not lower. The way back is also cut off. Father sits behind the wheel and drives forward, but not the jack, and the bumper does not stand up, there remains a dent. An hour has passed since they drove there, the snow has already covered their tracks, the road has not been rolled. The wheels are skidding. The car puts on the sidelines. They decide to walk to Olinger, although neither one nor the other has galoshes.

8

Peter Caldwell, an adult, talks about Olinger to his black lover. She is sleeping, and he continues the story of that day. He woke up the next morning in the living room at the Gammels, where they spent the night. He was not woken to school, his father left early. Vera entered the room and called him by his last name and asked him what he wanted for breakfast. It snowed all night, so the schools are closed. In the second hour father came, he was at school, tidying up magazines. Gummel arrived and drove them to the place where they dug up their car. Gummel put chains on her, and they drove on by themselves. They stopped to buy food on credit at the store. Father drove into a snowdrift, they turned off the headlights and then went on foot.

The lady greeted them with a joyful bark. Hassi called them heroes and said that grandfather sawed firewood, and she made soup from meat concentrate with apples, as her grandmother always did when they ran out of food. Peter fell asleep, and in the morning he heard a conversation between his parents: his father said, “To live with wolves is howl like a wolf. These villains do not give me mercy, and I will not give them. " He firmly decided to work another 10 years to get a pension for 25 years of experience. But he was still afraid that the Duke and Zimmerman would expel him. His mother persuaded him to quit work and start working on their farm. But his father said that for him nature is chaos, garbage and stink. Mother cried. The boy felt that he was sick, his nose was flowing, and a cough started. The father rises to his room, and the son tells him that he is glad that everything worked out, that nothing was found out of his father.

9

Chiron strides through a lifeless area. He thinks of his child, whom he left in a fever, Okiro, a long-haired daughter. He left to the child only what he received - a bunch of debts and a Bible. He thought the x-ray was clean. He looked at the Buick, which had to be pulled out of the snow. He remembered how he had said goodbye to everything in the last days, preparing to leave for the last journey. He was sick of the thought of returning to school again: the students, like spinning knives, the need to communicate with the Duke and Zimmerman. The car, like the hearse that Zimmerman sent for him.

He asks himself questions and answers them, names the 5 rivers of the kingdom of the dead, says that Zeus should be honored, calls the daughters of Nereus, asks himself the question: “Who is the hero?” and the answer is “King sacrificed to Hera.” Chiron approaches the abyss. The wounded leg hurt, he must take a great step. His will plucked out the last word: Now. Chiron accepted death.