Painting by Semak Oleh

At Arabatskaya Strilka, at the “Geolog” base, amidst the smell of chebureks and hot concrete, everyone knew him — once he was both a rural businessman and a gangster in one. The “eight” on the license plate — PLAYBOY, a gold chain gifted by an authority who disappeared in Crimea, and a gaze that could stop an opponent before a word was spoken. He wasn’t the strongest, but he always won, sitting in the shade of a plastic umbrella, with a toothpick in his teeth and a tank top that had seen more than the local cop. Now he’s silent — not because he has nothing to say, but because those times have already said everything for him.