ABSTRACT
Around four o'clock, a new customer stepped over the threshold of the second-class restaurant. "Greetings." He crossed the room diagonally and sat down at an empty table.
About twenty minutes passed. Volodia, the waiter, gave his unfinished cigarette to one of his colleagues to hold, with his right hand smoothed over the piece of a Russian folk ornament hanging off his left sleeve, and moved toward the customer. Having approached the table, he silently pointed to a napkin lying in the center of the table, on which was written, 'This table is not being served."
