over.
Rodion. You forgot to add “boy”. Say it and I'll leave.
Olga. Boy.
Rodion leaves. Olga falls into a chair and cries silently. Golyshkin enters.
Golyshkin. Olenka! Why are you crying?
Olga. Not at all, Stalver Udarpyatovich.
Golyshkin. Really? Maybe, maybe… Since recent time I haven't been feeling normally. I always hear some voices, some steps… as if my house has been inhabited by ghosts. Do you know what I think about it?
Olga. I have no idea, professor!
Golyshkin. The reason is Hermes Trismegistus.
Olga. Oh, professor!
Golyshkin. Oh, please, don't interrupt me, Olenka! You don’t quite understand whose spirit we have awoken. He was the greatest rebel of all times and peoples, just terrible! In one of his books titled "The Emerald Tablet", written several millennia BC, he wrote: "As above, is so below, as below, is so above, and there is no small and great, but everything is one." Do you feel what satanic pride is hidden in this phrase?
Olga. But does his pride have anything to do with all that?
Golyshkin. I fainted and did not say farewell to him. He got offended by this and decided not to return to the other world until he takes revenge. And now his spirit is wandering around my apartment, absorbing my energy. I am getting weaker, and he is getting stronger hour by hour.
Olga. But if it is so… What should we do then?
Golyshkin. We have to send him back to his world. Otherwise, he will become omnipotent soon, while we will all die, one by one.
Olga. If it is necessary, I agree to another spiritual seance. I think others will also agree.
Golyshkin. There are very few of us. During the time that I was unconscious, Hermes Trismegistus has become too powerful. A hexagram is not enough now to send him back against his will. A combination of hexagram and pentagram is needed, a combination of microcosm and macrocosm, of human and divine. The eleven-pointed star is the ultimate goal of all true magic. This was stated yet by the great Francis Barrett in his book “The Magician”.
Olga. So, do we really have to invite neighbors? Can't we get by with those who are present here?
Golyshkin. A number of eleven is a symbol of the Great Creation. Otherwise, nothing will come out of it.
Olga. Then we need to turn to Myshevsky for help. For the sake of his own life, this person will do the impossible.
Golyshkin. You're right. But still he won't save me. I will die as Hermes Trismegistus wishes.
Olga. Do you really believe some spirit’s prediction? After all, I could make a mistake when writing. A saucer is such an unreliable thing!
Golyshkin. Everything coincides.
Olga. What do you mean? Stop torturing yourself with such silly illusions!
Golyshkin. Do you remember what Hermes Trismegistus said?
Olga. Of course I do! Every word.
Golyshkin. He said: I want the death of the one whose father died when the iron man fell from the top …
Olga. That’s nonsense!
Golyshkin. But not for me. My father, a KGB general Udarpyat Rodionovich Golyshkin, died from a heart attack. He died immediately after the rebellious crowd in Moscow had overthrown the monument to Dzerzhinsky from its pedestal, who was the first Head of the KGB department. Dzerzhinsky used to be his idol. And he couldn’t get over it.
Olga. Do not make yourself an idol…
Golyshkin. So, everything coincides. I will die.
Olga. We are all mortal.
Golyshkin. But Hermes Trismegistus mentioned the date. "Until the Earth is covered with a white shroud." That is, before winter.
Olga. Stalver Udarpyatovich!
Golyshkin. Don't console me, Olya! I have put up with this thought already. Besides, today I have heard such awful things from Rodion, my only son, the meaning of my life… So, I have no reason to live any longer. Nobody needs me. Nobody loves me.
Olga. But what if you're wrong?
Golyshkin. Unfortunately, that’s true!
Olga. But I know for sure that you are wrong.
Golyshkin. Why am I wrong?
Olga. You are wrong thinking that no one loves you.
Golyshkin. How can you prove it?
Olga. I only have my blind female heart. And it tells me that it loves you.
Golyshkin. Olya! I can’t believe it!
Olga. Neither can I. Maybe let’s test my heart on a lie detector? Or will it be enough to kiss me? And if it doesn't beat more often, then it's lying.
Golyshkin. Olya!
Olga. No words needed. Just kiss me. And put your hand on my heart.
Golyshkin kisses Olga. Rodion appears at the door. Having watched them for a while, he leaves. Myshevsky enters.
Myshevsky. Oh, it looks like I'm not in right time!
Olga screams out and runs away.
Golyshkin. Hmm… You see, Mr. Myshevsky…
Myshevsky. My congratulations, professor! You’ve captivated such a woman! I get envy and admire you!
Golyshkin. With your unexpected visit, you’ve embarrassed Olga Alekseevna.
Myshevsky. Please excuse me, if I was impolite.
Golyshkin. It was just an innocent kiss…
Myshevsky. It didn't look so. Anyway, it could be innocent of your part, professor. But in that case, be careful, for you are playing with the innocent girl's feelings!
Golyshkin. Do you really think that Olga Alekseevna has some feelings about me?
Myshevsky. Definitely! She told me that herself.
Golyshkin. Really?
Myshevsky. Poor girl… she is suffering from unrequited love.
Golyshkin. Is she really suffering?
Myshevsky. Sure she is! It seems to her that she is not the right match for you, Stalver Udarpyatovich. After all, you are a famous professor of Philosophy. And she is just a nurse from a district clinic.
Golyshkin. Hmm… What nonsense! Love equalizes everyone.
Myshevsky. So, do you love her, professor?
Golyshkin. Olga Alekseevna is a gift of my destiny by the end of my life. Do you remember how wonderfully a poet expressed it? “Oh, how in our declining years we love with tenderness and bias!… Keep shining farewell light, oh, yes shine on you light of final love of ours!”
Myshevsky. And are you ready to accept this gift?
Golyshkin. Why not?
Myshevsky. Hmm… Just think: how long can Olga Alekseevna survive in your tiny dusty little world? She will die like a free bird in the cage.
Golyshkin. Oh, don't say about death! Do you remember the prediction of Hermes Trismegistus?
Myshevsky. Then
