Switzerland

Mikhailovskoye - still the same peaceful atmosphere. Alexander Sergeevich sat on a bench and recalled a wonderful moment, again and again the image of Anya appeared in his mind: her smile, outfits and their joint rides, and also heated debates about the fate of Russia with her husband Yermolai Fedorovich. Pushkin recalled many things that day.

Suddenly, a message came - the accounting department of Covent Garden, was interested in where to transfer royalties from the shows of "The Tale of Tsar Saltan".

"Wow?!" - Alexander Sergeevich thought, remembering Onegin's proposal to go to Switzerland. “Very by the way, I’ll open an account there ...” - the poet continued to reflect, delving into the contacts of the smartphone, looking for Evgeny’s phone number.

- Hello Zhenya! Is your idea about Switzerland relevant? When are you ready to go? Pushkin asked.

- Yeah right now. I am young, life is strong in me, what can I expect, melancholy, melancholy! Sasha, with you at any moment. Tomorrow I'll find out when the next flight to Geneva or Zurich. I hope you don't care...

- I don't care - Pushkin went to the house, it was necessary to contact Covent Garden, settle some legal subtleties.

"He was overcome with anxiety,
Wanderlust
(Very painful property,
Few voluntary cross) "-

Three days later, Airbus with Pushkin and Onegin on board made a soft landing at Zurich International Airport. On the way from the plane to the taxi, the friends shared their impressions of the flight over the Alps and made plans for the coming days.

Having settled in the central area of ​​the Old Town at the Adler Hotel, which dates back to the 16th century, Alexander Sergeevich asked Onegin to draw up a travel plan for a week, while he himself began to study the conditions for opening an account with Credit Suisse, one of the oldest and most prestigious Swiss banks. It was this financial institution that was recommended to him by his English colleagues.

The next morning, friends went to the bank to quickly settle the business part of the trip and go on a trip.

Bank employees greeted Pushkin with interest in a top hat and with a cane, and when Onegin took out a lorgnette to study the conditions for opening an account, the specialist serving Pushkin forgot about his duties, looking at the mysterious Russians.

Suddenly, five armed men quickly entered the hall. Shouting in German, threatening with machine guns, they demanded something from visitors and staff. Customers fell on the floor, and the cashier took out a bag of money. One of the attackers gave the order to leave. They began to shoot indiscriminately in all directions, talking loudly among themselves in the purest Russian.

- Peter, what shall we do? one of the attackers asked.

- Rodion, take two hostages, Parfyon, look outside, how far is the police from the building - answered Peter.

A man armed with a machine gun approached Pushkin, who was lying on the floor, and said:

- Hey, Pushkin and you - he pointed at Onegin with a barrel - got up and went! Run!

Alexander Sergeevich took the top hat and cane, and Yevgeny grabbed the lorgnette lying on the table.

- Well, you found the clowns, couldn't you take normal hostages? This out, the spitting image of Pushkin - Peter said ironically - but oh well, it's time to leave.

Putting Pushkin and Onegin in front of the door and hiding behind them, Peter continued:

"Shut up, let's finish it, okay?"

The friends nodded.

- Yes, they also understand Russian! exclaimed another attacker.

- So much the better, it will be easier to manage them so that they don’t do stupid things, otherwise they don’t want to kill - with these words, Peter pushed Onegin and shouted in broken German that they had taken hostages and demanded to let them go to the car and not catch up, otherwise the captives would die .

The police let the robbers with the hostages to the car and the car rushed forward. Where and for how long they went, Pushkin and Onegin subsequently could not remember. Upon arrival, they were taken to a barn, where they brought food and locked them up. It was getting dark outside, the friends ate and fell asleep, not thinking about tomorrow.

At night, they were awakened by automatic bursts and screams. When all was quiet, the barn door opened, and a man stood on the threshold.

- Fedor Mikhailovich, detective - he introduced himself.

- Eugene Onegin - answered Onegin.

- And this is Alexander Pushkin, the great Russian poet - Evgeny continued.

- “We are savages, we have no laws, we do not torment, we do not execute,” Dostoevsky said - let's go, we will take you to the hotel, and tomorrow morning I will wait at the station, you will have to explain yourself.

In the morning, friends arrived at the police, Fyodor Mikhailovich was friendly, which could not be said at the time of meeting. After filling out the protocols and observing some formalities, he said that he had been following his scumbags for a long time. That Rodion Raskolnikov and Parfyon Rogozhin ended up in the same colony and fled from there. What, as luck would have it, they met with Pyotr Verkhovensky in Moscow and already then planned to rob a bank, but in Russia they were afraid to realize their plan and went to Myshkin in Switzerland, and that only now they managed to catch them.

- Money is all the meaner and more hateful because it even gives talents. And they will give until the end of the world. You will say that this is all childish, or, perhaps, poetry, - well, it will be more fun for me, but the matter will still be done - Fyodor Mikhailovich tried to explain his fugitives.

After exchanging contacts and saying goodbye, they agreed to meet in St. Petersburg.

- The climate in Geneva is the worst, and at the present moment we have had a whirlwind for four days, and such a whirlwind that even happens in St. Petersburg only once a year. And the cold is terrible! Fyodor Mikhailovich was indignant. Everyone here is drunk! There are not so many brawlers and noisy drunkards even in London. And the lake is amazing, the shores are picturesque ... and in a dream you will not see anything like it.

Three days later, Pushkin opened an account, and then the friends traveled around this small but very beautiful country. They visited the Basel Art Museum, the Chillon Castle, the Abbey of St. Gall, the Lausanne Cathedral. We visited the ancient parts of the cities of Geneva and Bern, the Rhine Falls, the terraced vineyards of Lavaux, the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area. We enjoyed the scenery of Lake Lugano and the Matterhorn peak.

Pushkin was grateful to Onegin for the idea to go to Switzerland, and the criminal plot in the bank became an occasion for reflection: “Shouldn’t I write a detective?”

05/02/2020