VASSILY P. AKSYONOV
45
ists in Pompeii were not in the habit of observing nature closely.
Generally, they observed only one another, for it was exclusively in
the collection of individuals that they saw the source of their plea–
sures or, as it's fashionable to say now,
kaij,
their version of
la dolce
vita .
To be precise, the puffs of smoke were noticed only when they
had turned into really thick smoke . However, the vacationers sup–
posed that it was just a local tourist attraction and the natives
thought it was just a case of some experiments or other being con–
ducted in the mountains, which had to do with nothing more or less,
putting it as simply and bluntly as possible, than our armed forces .
The military strength of our republic was such that the possibility of
any natural disaster occurring could just be dismissed.
The thought didn't even enter anybody's head, of course, to
search for a link between the pink smoke in the mountains and the
wave of strange acts that, like a deluge, rushed ashore . The sudden
flare-up of passion in the painters ' guild was just one of the many
ensuing episodes .
Stories like these began to circulate:
Early one morning a highway patrol inspector was supposedly
seen at one of the major intersections. He was shaving, sitting on the
roof of a patrol car in front of a huge round mirror installed there
to facilitate traffic safety, but certainly not for the convenience of
shavers.
Rumor has it that in the Carthage Bar one evening black
marketeering voluntary militia men sort of beat up a Dutch tourist.
They were listening, you see, to some old baroque songs and he, you
understand, was disturbing them-either by trying to peddle some
piece of merchandise or by asking them to fix him up with a girl. Yet
if one takes into account the special relationship between the Dutch
and the People's Voluntary Militia of Pompeii, this is probably the
least credible detail in all of the many strange events that were
reported.
And something else, too. One couple at a dance held in the club
at the Woodworking Plant shed all their clothes and gave a public
exhibition of the act of coitus . What's more , they not only escaped
being beaten up, but even enjoyed the loud applause of the other
dancing youths. And, in addition, the club's director appeared
