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[Alexandr Korol]

And you lose all sense of time — how many hours you’ve been talking, how much time has passed. You’re just here and now, in a kind of shock — in a good, pleasant sense of the word. And today I had another meeting with a completely different person, just a random circumstance, for completely different reasons. Again the conversation turned — once again, I didn’t start it — and the person asked me about the books. I started explaining, and he got really drawn in and started asking even deeper questions. And just imagine — I’ve been talking to this person from two in the afternoon until midnight, non-stop, and during that time I retold the entire “Alternative History” in detail. And then I say to the person:

— Do you realize you’ve lost track of time?
— Yes.
— Do you even remember what time it is?
— No.
— Look at the clock. — he looks and is shocked.
— What happens next? What if you disappear?
— Where would I disappear to? I’m not going anywhere, don’t worry.

And so I told everything. And what’s most interesting — as I see it now — is that it’s as if the system specifically created these circumstances for me, so that these people would cross paths with me under some other pretext, but in reality, it was to draw me into a conversation about the books, so I would remember it all more deeply again, or run through that story again with my attention, or just be reconnected with it. I know it’s not random — it’s the system doing this on purpose, it’s giving me support right now. Supporting me, as if... Like before, it would do the opposite, making sure I didn’t draw attention to myself, didn’t show myself — and if I tried to tell someone, they’d say I’m bad and my books are bad, and after that I’d lose the desire to tell others that I’m a writer. And now it’s the opposite — people meet with me for all sorts of reasons, and in the end everything turns to the books, and not by my initiative, but by theirs. And I’ve had to send people off, saying, “Alright, goodbye. Seriously now, how much longer can we talk? I mean, I can keep going, but do you realize the day is over?” And I find it interesting — a person just asked me: