A piercing wind with snow turned the presence of passers-by on the street into a real test. Prickly snowflakes, falling on exposed areas of the hands and face, painfully pricked, forcing them to pull their heads into their shoulders and quicken their pace in open spaces.

The city, despite the fact that it was not yet late in the day, was practically deserted: no one wanted to fight the elements, because it did not promise anything good, including an increased risk of catching a cold and a complete lack of pleasure from walking. Tatyana, with an effort to overcome gusts of wind and a blanket of snow, opened the front door of the building and, entering inside, almost immediately ran into the ubiquitous neighbor from the first floor.

• Ah, Tanechka, hello! What kind of weather we have today! The local gossip’s voice felt a desire to talk.
• Hello, Roza Lvovna, – the girl answered, making an attempt to slip past the pensioner to the elevator. However, the gray-haired woman who came out of her apartment to throw some unnecessary things into the garbage chute grabbed Rogova by the hand.

“Tell me, my dear, is everything okay with your husband?” asked Roza Lvovna, looking inquisitively straight into her eyes. “Of course, as always,” answered Tatyana, with an effort pulling her hand out of her interlocutor’s tenacious grip.

“That’s strange,” the pensioner rolled her eyes in bewilderment. “Why?” Rogova blurted out automatically.

“I don’t want to upset you, but I can’t keep quiet anymore either,” Roza Lvovna made a dramatic pause. “You see, the whole house is already talking about the affair between your husband and that…” The gossip girl nodded somewhere upward, hinting at someone from the upper floor.

“Speak more clearly!” demanded Tatyana, standing in front of her neighbor in complete mental confusion. The girl’s head began to fill with disgusting scenes of adultery, which she had seen in melodramatic TV series.

• How much clearer could it be? – Roza Lvovna switched to a whisper. – Antoshka got involved with this Lyarva, Krivova. Did she bewitch him or something?