“I enter the classroom, stumble over the threshold and have difficulty maintaining my balance. The usual laughter is heard in the group: last time, I remember, I really screwed up. I catch the falling glasses, catch them on my nose and go to the board. On it is the inscription: “Ptitseron is a blockhead.” Ptitseron is me, Andrey Ivanovich Ptitsyn. The nickname was invented by the soul of the group, headman and guitarist Zhenya Basov, and the inscription was made by him. Zhenya repeated Cicero’s speeches to me three times, and, therefore, the inscription is fair. I wipe it off with a rag and turn to the audience. I’m wearing a blue jacket purchased at a thrift store fifteen years ago, wrinkled checkered trousers from the same place, and a red and yellow tie with monkeys on it. A shirt from the “Nu, Pogodi” company to match the tie and patent leather boots with a pointed toe from the NEP times...”