This book is a collection of short stories. They are made up of warm and bitter memories of childhood, of beloved people, of the mountain Kazakh settlement. There are also stories about Petersburg—gloomy, foggy, yet still shining. The heroes of these stories are ordinary people: common collective farm workers, city dwellers, children, circus performers, teachers, waiters, old men and old women. In short, everyone— and those we meet every day in our cities and villages. These are stories about people who have stayed in the author’s memory forever, in her heart.