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— «O’K», — said Steve, — «I’ll give you a chance. If you take some things for my friend in China, I won’t say anything to your dearest papa».

«Thank you, Steve», — Sarah stopped crying and Julia noticed a blink of hope in her eyes.

— «What must I take?»

— «A brief-case, just a small brief-case with presents. I’ll call you tomorrow», — said Steve and left.

Julia felt that he was plotting something and right she was.

«A fool», — thought Steve, — «they’re all the same, these pretty dolls: want to get pleasures for nothing».

Steve was driving his new silver-green Mercedes so fast that Julia was afraid they would crash into something. Luckily they didn’t, and after half an hour of crazy driving, which Steve had positively enjoyed, he parked his car in front of an old red-brick house somewhere near Westhill Park. It was getting dark and the only thing Julia noticed while Steve waiting for someone to open the door was dirty windows and shabby walls.

A pale punk-looking boy of about twenty let them in and Julia found herself in a large untidy room, the decoration of which betrayed an absolute absence of taste on the part of its inhabitants. Everything was tasteless: green plastic furniture, red carpet, cheap abstract paintings on the blotchy wall-paper, a big Victorian bed — an easily recognisable fake, all presented a strange mixture of styles, which was unpleasant and even shocking. And the smell: «What an awful smell», — reflected Julia, — «as if the room hadn’t been aired for ages».

Julia thought she would never last through that evening: her soul-bearer was drinking whiskey and watching idiotic video-films. Steve and his punk-looking companion laughed like mad at scenes which made Julia sick. Several times she was about to click her fingers, but the memory of tears, running down Sarah’s beautiful face stopped her. She wanted justice: if there is no God, she will do justice and return the radiant smile to that charming girl.

That night Julia had to live through the filthiest thing she could ever imagine. — «Disgusting! And this obscenity, this violation of Nature’s greatest law has been made legal, it is becoming the norm! And if society accepts a clear case of abnormality as the norm, it can only mean that this society has gone off the rails. Crazy people are no longer considered to be crazy, and they are gradually ousting normal people. „Displacement of the social norm can lead to catastrophe“, — Jim used to say. Yes, poor Cocos are ousting us, we shall all have to turn into rhinoceroses one day» — Julia was so horrified by these dark Ionesco-like prospects that she shivered and wept all night. Steve had an awful night too, «Damn it all, what a headache, never had it before. As if someone is weeping inside me and hurting my temples with a hammer… Damn it!»