I stare at them, and the picture overlays reality. Two tall teenagers I saw… good heavens, the last time was seven or eight years ago. Maksim and Kostya. The sons of the Pozharskys—my friend Anya’s sons. Boys who once looked at me with a mixture of embarrassment and admiration. Their eyes have changed completely. Now they burn right through with their certainty, mockery… something predatory. Very male. After my divorce, I decided to be alone with myself and nature at a ski resort on New Year’s Eve, but at the airport I meet my friend’s sons. They’ve grown a lot. They look at me in such a way that I’m certain: this vacation will blaze on the snow with forbidden feelings. They’re scoundrels who have turned my life upside down.