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[Alexandr Korol]

Well, so, Valery Meladze and I had a conversation on the first day. There was an
evening, and there was a morning, day one. And God saw that it was good, yes.
That’s how we laughed about each day, because the days were insane. All right,
the first day passed. The second day comes. Super strange. That is, we drove to
my house, and to get there, I’d say, is already a whole four hours. We went with
a group, and so we’re driving to this house. Apart from the fact that it’s as if we
drove for some 15 minutes — that is, that’s how much time and the perception
of everything gets distorted, everything’s like a dream, we’re simply observers,
watching from the outside — we arrive at the house, and I don’t have the keys.
I really want to put emphasis on this, because in the 35 years of my life I never
forgot my keys, never. Never. That’s not me. I don’t do that. Naturally, it’s evening
already, and there’s no getting into the house. I don’t understand where the keys
went, because they were there and vanished. Meladze — as is characteristic of all
people, and especially to their liking if it’s Alexandr Korol — so that if I suddenly
spill something or catch my pants on a nail, then, if you have a demon that
lives within you, this gratifies you, because you feel at least a little bit that I’m
vulnerable too, after all, and that I’m the same simple mortal as you, after all…
Naturally, Meladze right away begins to put emphasis on this: “Oh, how did you
not check the keys like that?” — and begins to needle me on this whole theme. I
hope God will forgive him for it. Well, never mind. And I tell him: “Hey, dude, this
doesn’t happen to me. It’s the system doing something. It’s because of something
specific that something’s happening.”

What happens next? Because we can’t get into the house, the state of the “cosmos,”
of the intoxication and the Spirit becomes so strong that it’s as if you’re about to
lose consciousness. We try to find at least some kind of transport, we look for a
car, a taxi, to get to the nearest settlement, to check into a hotel. And for about
half an hour, maybe even more, we can’t call a car, no one comes. In the end we get
into a car, and again something begins to happen even more strongly, some force
literally intervenes, so that it’s as if we’re no longer in this city, not in this country,
not in this reality — everything’s altogether unclear, it’s not even clear how much
time has passed… Just some kind of drop down a rabbit hole altogether, I don’t
know how to call it. We arrive at the hotel. And we hadn’t booked anything,
after all, and while they prepare the rooms, the cards, the documents, the keys,