"That summer there were two eclipses:" "one of the sun and one of the moon." "Sibylla was 14," "Alexander was 41, and I was 14 like Sibylla..." "I remember how many times I kissed Sibylla that summer - 73..." "She said I was allowed 100 kisses, but I didn't reach that happy figure." "It was interrupted by the blast of a hunting rifle..." "Wait for me!" "My dear, my red-haired cutie!" "That gunner is a complete fool!" "It's dangerous to drive past the range." "Veronica, my darling!" "We've got to meet up!" "Just steer clear of her!" "You know her lieutenant is a real nutter." "I don't really give a damn!" "Ready!" "12 - 70!" "Fire!" "Lavrenti, dear, let's go to bed together." "Leave me in peace!" "Then you'll get drunk and yell about not having children!" "Where will they come from if you bang around with guns?" "You bitch!" "Fire!" "Hurry, get out, hurry!" "Come on guys, push, come on." "Not each for himself." "All together!" "Pjotr, stop just standing around." "Leave your accordion and push!" "Alexander!" "Come on, help us push!" "That's it!" "Let's go!" "Hurry up!" "Get up!" "Damn!" "It must be from the explosion." "The brakes aren't working!" "Hey people, I'll keep going round, and you jump out." "Come on!" "You jump out." "Come on!" "Sibylla, don't jump!" "Alexander, help her!" "Are you OK?" " Weren't you afraid?" " No." "You sound just like Grandma Katerina on the phone." "I'll drop you at home!" "Just a moment!" "Sibylla, I'm so happy to see you!" "You'll drive, Mickey?" "She's my niece." "The girl's an angel!" "Let's go!" " Where are you off to?" " I'll be straight back." " What's up with you?" " I've got diarrhoea." "Something you ate?" "No, I've fallen in love." "Who with?" "She's out on the motorbike, her name's Sibylla." "I saw her and fell in love so much that it upset my stomach." "It's good we were passing by your place." "And your friend?" "Mickey's coming." "Here, take it, it's 207 years old." "Oh, thank you." "You can witness the princess bathing." "Come behind the curtain." "Don't worry, the electricity often gets turned off." "Alexander is an extraordinary man." "Since his wife died, he spends all his time in the observatory, watching the stars," "and pretending there are no women in the world." "His son Mickey is a good boy." "You know I really had to laugh when I saw him looking at you, devouring you with his eyes..." "Ooh, it stings, I've got some soap in my eye." " Let me have a look." " It hurts!" "Just a minute, let me open the door." "Martha, sorry, but I can't take the flowers home with me." "My lieutenant is a real Othello." "He'll start asking me all about who gave them to me..." "Tell your admirer:" "yellow roses lead to separation." "It was a present for us..." "Yellow roses!" "You have to hold them up to the moon and make a wish." "Oh Moon..." "make Papa come back to Mama, make Grandma Katerina regain her sanity..." "I've fallen in love please help me." "What a moon..." "I thought you weren't sleeping any more, that you were watching the light of a dying star." "You did promise to show me..." "You put that beautifully:" "'the light of a dying star'." "When I was ill I always used to rave to the moon." "Papa used to say:" "'Sibylla fell from the moon.'" "I think about you all the time." "I know it's not right for a girl to go to a man at night." "I know it isn't, but..." "Do you know Sappho?" "Papa has a friend called Sappho." "When she sees Papa she instantly falls asleep." "I'm not talking about some idiot, but about the poetess!" "She wrote poems and launched them into the air like birds." "Like this... watch!" "He's going to come out... stop, and then go back." "What is it, Dad?" " I forgot my keys on the table." " I'll get them." "Catch!" " Thanks." " How many spoons of sugar?" " Eight." "Eight..." "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven... eight!" "Don't stir it!" "I hate sweet things." "Martha, don't be late for the rehearsal." " What's the time?" " 4 o'clock." "Here's the x-ray of a woman in love who swallowed three forks." "Why?" " Her lover left her for another." " Quick, let's go!" "Break's over, enough singing now!" "Back to work, come on!" "I've still got Saint-Saens's Dying Swan." "Hurry up!" "Beautiful, Veronica, beautiful." "I know." "But it still needs lots of work." "How are things?" "Are you pregnant yet?" "Pregnant?" "I'm not the Virgin Mary with her 'immaculate conception'!" "We've got a timetable for sex so I fall pregnant." "Today we have to at 12." "It's almost 12." "So where's Lavrenti?" "I don't understand why he's being so irresponsible!" "Martha, quick!" "Pjotr has shot himself, that stupid gateman!" "Come and see for yourself." "That idiot!" "You know this crazy guy!" "What an arsehole!" "And he still gets his kicks!" "I wanted to shoot a rat and shot myself in the leg." "If only it'd been his empty head instead!" "Give me that pistol!" "Enrol me in your choir!" "Women love me, the halls will be full..." " Where's Veronica?" " Over there." "Go up in your tank or a battleship." "If the gun between your legs is flabby, ...it'll do no damn good!" "This way, Alexander." "You've never been to my place before." "I want to have a serious talk." "We can't go on like this." "Our secret is no longer a secret." "You know, our little town..." "My husband..." " Not such a hurry..." "Now..." "My husband..." "Alexander, oh..." "Ooh, yes, oh, hot... hot..." "Ooh, yes, oh, hot... hot..." "Why did I let her go off alone in a strange new town?" "And how she lied to me saying she'd go with you!" "Be careful, children!" "Don't jump." "It's dangerous, there's a whirlpool." "Our German teacher drowned here last year." " I'm not afraid." " If you jump, I'll jump too." "I want to dive right to the bottom, like Ophelia." "Who's Ophelia?" "What's the use talking to you?" "You don't get anything." "Don't mess with my dress!" "Leave her or I'll bash your heads in!" "Go chase her naked!" "That's showed them alright!" "They deserved it, the bastards." " Hey, you little thief..." " I'm not a thief." "Walking around town almost naked!" "All the men will look at you!" "Have you no sense of shame?" "Is it you Martha wanted to enrol in our school?" "We don't take girls like you!" " I don't need your school!" " If Heinrich Karlovitch saw this!" " Who?" " My husband, the headmaster!" "If he saw me:" "'Burn her at the stake!" "'" "You talk a lot, girl." "I can do a lot too!" "See?" "Are you talking of Karlovitch?" "He's a paragon of virtue in our town!" "Among other things, yes!" "Birthdays are so good, we get together and remember old times." "Yes, nowadays you bump into someone and don't even say hello." "I'm sorry to say it but I'd give your niece low marks for conduct." "Yes, her behaviour is terrible." "That Alexander, he's like a blonde Tarzan..." "Do you like it?" "What do you think?" "Will he look at me today?" "I bet I'll manage to steal his cigars..." "At that age something happens with girls." "Their bad blood seethes at the age of 14." "It's not their blood that's bad, it's their education." "She needs leeches, I've got some down in the shop." "Why leeches, dammit?" "She's pale and thin already!" "Or vitamins..." "Maria Markovna, you're a professional player!" "I'm a professional marksman!" "Unlike my son-in-law, who takes aim for a whole half hour and then hits the privy!" "That's a poor joke!" "Jokes are foreign to me!" "There's your Sibylla, I'm keeping an eye on her." "She needs more love, more caresses and a good belting!" "That's a walkover, that's against the rules." "Who does he think he is?" "Let me help!" " You're a weak woman!" " No." "What a splendid goose!" "Magnificent!" "'l love you!" "Do you hear?" "If I die, my love will come to you ...like the light of a dying star.'" "A bit high-flown." "The goose is heavy." "Come and have some!" "What did you show my father?" "Let me have a look!" "Leave me alone, you little sod!" " What have you done, you idiot?" " Don't worry." "You'll dry." "Alright then!" "He's watching me." "How terrible!" "...then he says:" "'It's so hot', and he drowns." "Yesterday I watched episode 17 of the telenovela." "And I thought our Alexander looks a lot like Rogelio Martinez." "I saw a photo of Alexander in the paper." "Most striking!" "But he's got a barber's moustache!" "What did you say?" "His moustache suits him very well." "'Rodrigo Martinez', that's real art!" "Come on." "Rodrigo Martinez is fat." "Our Alexander is much more masculine." "'Emmanuelle' is screening at the factory on Friday." "Yes, just one screening." "Is it the film showing different ways of making love?" "Yes, but it's not for children." " I'm not 'children'." " What are you then, girl?" "My photo is on a 'Wanted' poster at the police station:" "'A girl, a run-away from a respectable family, a thief and lover of erotic cinema.'" "How terrible!" "Sibylla, your behaviour is atrocious!" "Leave the table!" "That's that." "Well, my dear son-in-law," "I beat you at pool, so now crawl under the table." "Come on, come on!" "You lost!" "Please stop, Mama!" "I've had enough!" "There's a fire in my heart, that only you can quench." "I'm an opera singer." "I'm giving a concert tomorrow." "I'll be singing for you!" " What do you want it for?" " I need it." "Take the other one!" "Think before you shoot!" " Come on, sing!" " What?" "Get into the bathtub and sing!" " Sing what?" " An aria,or I'll shoot you" "Come on, sing it!" "How terrible!" "You're singing in the bathroom, Abessalom?" "I've lost my cat." "It's a chilly summer." "I've got something for you..." "How many years was it under water?" "Seven." "Captain, your cat is nowhere to be found!" "Go and look for it!" "I so much wanted to refloat her." "And now the sea has disappeared..." "Evaporated..." "Instead there is the desert, sand, dry grass." "She was lying at the bottom, with hundreds of other ships, dying, rotting." "Unbearable." "I've been sailing her my whole life long." "Wait..." "Imagine the cemetery I took her from." "Now, I'm going to take her back to your lake, to the river, to the sea." "You know people are not the only ones who leave us." "The sea leaves us too." "It's alive." "It's gone." "How good this honey smells." "I'll cut you out the sweetest piece." "If you're not afraid, they don't sting." "I'm not afraid of anything!" "Only fools know no fear." "You said you weren't afraid of anything, right?" " You're crazy!" " You shaved your moustache?" "How old is your father?" " 41." " 41?" "I'm 14." "That's my age with the digits reversed." "Will you teach me to whistle?" "It's not hard at all." "You stick out your tongue and show it to the sun till it dries a bit." "Like that?" "Like that." "And afterwards..." "This film isn't for you, alright?" " Papa, she knows a funny joke." " Tell me." "What makes people fly?" "Dynamite." "You know it?" "Go on, go home." "Sometimes in life there are miracles like this: we're to watch a film." "When I was a boy I saw comrade Stalin I saw comrade Stalin play the accordion." "And today we watch the film 'Emmanuelle'." "Enjoy yourselves!" "Hey, look, a moustache!" "Let me put it on you..." " Why are you making fun of me?" " The film's started." "Let's go!" "So you want to come in, do you?" "Don't bother trying!" "Piss off!" "Don't worry." "We'll be able to see it when we grow up." "This way!" "Come on!" "I've hurt myself." " From here you can see even better." " Much better." " Do you like her, that cow?" " No." "I like you." " Prove it!" "I wrote you a poem." "A poem?" "'l recall a wond'rous moment" " you appeared before my eyes...'" "That's Pushkin!" "No, I wrote it when I first saw you." "I don't like liars!" "Alexander's sleeping." "He sleeps all the time." "He mixes up night and day." "How terrible!" "We're going!" "You should be ashamed!" " I don't like your father." " Why not?" "He only thinks about women, sleep and cigars." "And stars..." " Let's go." " Wait." " Can you see Alexander?" " Yes." "Take your hands off me!" "Let's wait until everyone has left." "Sometimes I want to kill you." "And other times?" "Other times I want to love you forever." " Pjotr!" " What?" "You're eating onion again?" "Why Pjotr, why?" "In the film there were palm trees, the ocean, Bangkok..." "Rubbish!" "Do you know why Emmanuelle is happy?" "Because the guys in the film have got big guns." "Like Pushkin, like me!" "You don't understand anything." "Just eating raw onion." "Such passion!" "Pjotr, why so crude?" "Love has to be beautiful, it has to be poetic." "Bangkok..." " You want Bangkok?" " Yes!" "What are you doing?" "Here are your palm trees!" "Here's your..." "Bangkok!" " Here's your..." " Emmanuelle..." " But, I can't." " What can't you?" "Pjotr!" "The size of your dick..." "It's not normal." "My lieutenant's is like this..." "But yours is very, very big." "It's just not possible!" "You want me to cut it off?" "Cut it off!" "OK." " Pjotr!" " Let me!" "He's crazy." "Some door should be open." "Can I help you?" "Yes." "I'll be right there!" "What's wrong?" "Pjotr put two ball bearings on his penis and had sex with Veronica." "The lieutenant's wife?" "With ball bearings?" "It's because his is very big." "Like the pilot's in 'Emmanuelle'?" "Idiot!" "He's heard something about constriction devices." "But they're not made of steel!" "The penis is inflated like a zeppelin!" " Show me!" " Show him!" "You drink my whisky!" "You screw the ballerina in my office!" "Bastards!" "Pjotr, want some water?" "Calm down!" "How did this happen?" " We watched 'Emmanuelle'..." " Me too." "Did you like it?" "Yes, but no-one there puts ball bearings on his prick!" " Could it be sawed off?" " It's made of special steel!" "I've tried the Hartmann method." "Hartmann recommends wrapping the penis with tape, beginning at the distal end and moving upwards in a spiral" "towards the point of constriction!" "But with such swelling Hartmann's method won't work." "Call Maria Markovna!" " Which Markovna?" " Your mother!" "Call Martha too." "The consequences are hard to predict." "No, she's a pensioner, she's got asthma!" "Our steel is worth its weight in gold!" "And you go and put it on your prick." "Really, comrades!" "It worked!" "Bring him here, the rake!" "Just look at him!" "Don't be frightened!" "Go!" "Watchmaker's precision!" "Thank you." "Where are you, Veronica?" "Damn you, show yourself!" "I'll blow this whole fucking town to pieces!" "Come out!" "Veronica!" "Where have you gone?" "Come out this instant or I'll blow this fucking factory to pieces!" "In all my professional practice I've never seen anything like it before!" "I could say even more:" "It was huge, terribly huge." "27 centimetres!" "And if it had burst?" "I'll kill you, I will, I'll kill you!" " You're a bitch, Veronica!" " Shut up!" " I'm not a bitch!" " Be quiet!" " Not in the face, Mama!" " Shut up!" "What are you doing here?" "I've come to watch the moon." " What are you doing here?" " I want them to drink my blood." "Idiot!" "I'm the one with bad blood." "I need leeches." "You've got all the leeches in the swamp on you." "Now he's going to come out..." "He's going to come out, to take five steps, and then stumble." " I missed it, Dad." " Aim well!" "Go on!" "Is this what you call hunting?" "They said there are lots of wild boars here." "Look!" "A boar!" "What is it?" " A boar?" " Doesn't look like it!" "Was it a wild boar?" "I think we've just killed a domesticated pig." "Let's get out of here, quick!" " Maybe it really was a boar?" " No, boars have tusks." "Lulu!" "Where's my little piggy got to?" "Have you seen my pig?" "The silly thing escaped again!" " What's its name?" " Lulu." " Oh, Lulu!" "She ran that way." " Thanks." "We're just disgusting..." "It's not my fault:" "After the film he came and asked the unimaginable of me." "This morning he lay dead in bed!" "The headmaster in the French teacher's bed!" "What's he doing here?" "It's very hard to see ones husband dead in someone else's bed, but..." "I don't know this man." "And I hardly know him..." "Hardly..." "You know what, the school will take care of the funeral." "He was a good headmaster and a man of morals." "It's better this way." "Have you found your cat?" "I've lost the sea, I've lost my cat." "Here, eat this!" "Your eyes are so sad." "Why?" "Look, do this." "You can hide behind them." "Here's your lamb." "Let me take it some other time, OK?" "Hello, hello Captain Nemo!" "So, I'm not Captain Nemo!" " I'm a stray dog." " A straight what?" "A dog." " Homeless." " Where are you going?" "I've lost the sea." "I'm searching for another, but there isn't one." "Are you married?" " Me?" " Yes." " No, no." " No?" " My boat is my wife." " Why?" "Oh, no!" "In our town there are so many marriageable girls, it's unbelievable!" "We'll come and visit you, OK?" "Alright?" "You agree?" " You okay?" " Where are you going, Alexander?" " Go swim!" " I don't feel like it." "Aha, the crazy guy is back!" "What's wrong, Mama?" "Where's Veronica?" "Here somewhere." "What's up?" "A bit drunk?" "No, you blockhead!" "She's in the bushes with a lover." "What bushes?" "What lover?" "Are you delirious?" "No, I'm not." "I know everything." " What do you know?" " Shut up!" "So beautiful." "Beautiful?" "I ought to turn away, but I can't." "Such beauty!" "I'm coming closer." "There's no love!" "There is!" "No there isn't!" "Yes there is!" "Have you seen Sibylla anywhere?" "Your little tart is busy pulling someone's pants down." "Who's that bird in the photo?" "Your grandma?" "One day grandpa caught her with the husband of the laundry-woman." "Can you see better now?" "How terrible!" "My husband!" "I'm about to be unfaithful, and there he is having a shave." "But you told me you were a lonely woman on the lookout for a man." "I AM a lonely woman!" "Now I know where my cigars go!" "Into the kitchen." "Come on!" "Into the kitchen?" "Now?" "Why?" "Get out of here!" "Let go of my hand!" "Bloody little bitch!" "Little girls don't behave like that!" "I don't give a damn how little girls behave!" "I love you." "And I won't let any other woman have you!" "Do you understand?" "I'm an adult and can do everything for you they can." "Got it?" "God damn you!" "Ready!" "Aim!" "125 - 285!" "Fire!" "15 - 23!" "16!" "Ready!" "Aim!" "Fire!" "Ready!" "Aim!" "19 - 68!" "Fire!" "Aargh, my back!" "I'm OK." "Oh, dammit!" "You see?" "You really hurt me." "Right here." "Mickey!" "He's over there." "I've been looking for you for two days." " What are you doing here?" " They don't want to sting me." " Let's go." " Leave me alone." "Wait, wait!" "Do you hear me?" " Please stop!" " I don't want to see you." "Listen to me!" "Wait!" "You and me are the main thing!" "Wait!" "Listen!" "You idiot!" "Wait." "Are you listening?" "Tell me what you want me to do." "Tell me, and I'll do it." "Marry Veronica!" "Which Veronica?" "But she's married to the lieutenant." "Then marry Maria, the chemist, or that idiot Sappho." "I don't care who." "Just get married!" "Will you marry me?" "My father is getting married too." "What?" "Sappho and he are old school friends." "He wants to marry that sleepy-headed idiot?" "He's at her place right now." "Actually I quite like her." "You idiot!" "It's been ages since I last danced." "Thank you, Alexander." "Where are you off to, captain?" "Don't give that idiot any more to drink!" "Where are you going?" "Where is he going?" "So many beautiful women here!" "I'll give you a night..." "I'll give you a night like you've never had before, my love." "I'll give myself to you." "I'm dying of desire to love you." "I want every bit of you." "My love." "Leave me alone!" "Please!" "Sibylla left, she sailed away and out of my life... 73 times I kissed her that summer, though she said I was allowed 100..." "Where have those 27 kisses gone..." "Fire!"