---

Against All Odds

By Anna Mikhalevskaya

Translated by Elvira Rizaeva

 

Time is slipping away drop by drop, along with sweat on deceptively calm faces. He runs through the shafts of stairs, through abandoned tunnels. Seeps through the ceilings into echoing hangars, stumbles upon crooked figures, shakes oilcloth curtains, rolls empty mugs, beats metal on metal, guts backpacks stuffed to the top with yesterday — a small find! — and rushes on. A rat’s tail flickers around the corner; Time snaps his teeth in vain, losing his prey.

His paw catches a stuffed animal, a knitted bunny with one button eye. Time greedily opens the funnel of his mouth where ages have perished more than once, and immediately snaps it shut. He cannot swallow the toy. The bunny has an owner. (Continue Reading…)