Reading Master and Margarita - 18

Chapter 18

Hapless Visitors

The title of this chapter is ‘Hapless Visitors’. This chapter introduces a few new characters and exposes quite a few unwanted practices in the Soviet Union.

You, probably, remember that in chapter 3, when Berlioz decides to go out of the Patriarchy Park and inform the authorities about the mysterious professor, the thin checkered man accosted him and asked whether he should send telegram to his uncle in Kiev. The tall, thin man, as you know was Koroviev and this uncle is going to be one of the main characters of this chapter.

Berlioz’s uncle, Maximilian Andreevich Poplavsky was an industrial economist. He was staying on the Institute road in Kiev, was a well-known intellectual of Kiev. For the past few years he was thinking of changing his base to Moscow. He tried to exchange his flat in Kiev with any flat in Moscow, gave advertisements to this effect in the newspapers, but didn’t succeed in getting a flat in Moscow. And now, suddenly, he gets a telegram from his wife’s nephew, ‘Just run over by tramcar funeral on Friday at 3.00 pm come – Berlioz’.

Poplavsky thought over the telegram for a long time: the sender was Berlioz, he says that he is crushed by the tramcar, then how is he sending the telegram; and if he is no more, how does he know that the funeral is going to take place on Friday at 3.00pm.

The Uncle, we must confess, was not very sad at the sudden demise of his wife’s nephew. An idea flashed into his mind: this was a chance to occupy the three rooms of nephew in Moscow; such chance will never come again; he has to go to Moscow and prove that he is the sole legal heir and is obliged to take possession of the three rooms occupied by Berlioz in flat No. 50 of 302B; and hence he decided to go for the funeral.

Poplavsky reaches Moscow on Friday. He goes to the Sadovaya, Building No. 302 and enters the Housing Committee’s office.

We know that President of the Committee, Nikanor Ivanovich is in Stravinsky’s clinic, the Secretary too is missing and the sole member of the Housing Committee, who is very worried and frightened, is suddenly called out by a visitor and he too disappears.    

Poplavsky goes directly to the flat and he is received by Koroviev, who was crying so inconsolably while narrating description of the accident that Poplavsky started suspecting whether this man has designs on Berlioz’s flat. To Poplavsky’s question, ‘who sent him the telegram?’ the cat Begemoth said that it was he who sent the telegram. And asks Poplavsky, ‘So what?’ He demands Passport, and Poplavsky, with his hands trembling, hands over the passport to him.

Begemoth comments, “Who has issued this Passport? Office No 412? There they issue passport to anybody… I would have looked at your face and never given you any passport!”

Poplavsky is categorically informed that his presence at the funeral is cancelled; he should go back to Kiev and live without dreaming about any flat in Moscow. His briefcase is thrown down the stair case; he is pushed out of the flat and pushed from the stair case.

Poplavsky was really intelligent; he could assess the might of these ‘elements’ and having done that thanks God that his life was spared.

He was pushed so hard from the staircase that he flung out of the window on landing and found himself sitting on a bench in front the store room of this building.

Suddenly, a sickly, melancholy man asks him where is flat No 50. Poplavsky gets curious, he wanted to know how this man will be treated by those goons and so, he decides to wait till he comes back.  

However, the man from Kiev had to wait longer than he supposed. The stairway was for some reason deserted all the while. One could hear well, and finally a door banged on the fifth floor.

Poplavsky froze. Yes, those were his little steps. 'He's coming down ...' A door one flight lower opened. The little steps ceased. A woman's voice. The voice of the sad man - yes, it's his voice...

Saying something like 'leave me alone, for Christ's sake ...' Poplavsky's ear stuck through the broken glass. This ear caught a woman's laughter. Quick and brisk steps coming down. And now a woman's back flashed by. This woman, carrying a green oilcloth bag, went out through the front hall to the courtyard. And the little man's steps came anew.

'Strange! He's going back up to the apartment! Does it mean he's part of the gang himself? Yes, he's going back. They've opened the door again upstairs. Well, then, let's wait a little longer ...'

This time he did not have to wait long. The sound of the door. The little steps. The little steps cease. A desperate cry. A cat's miaowing. The little steps, quick, rapid, down, down, down!

Poplavsky had not waited in vain. Crossing himself and muttering something, the melancholy little man rushed past him, hatless, with a completely crazed face, his bald head all scratched and his trousers completely wet. He began tearing at the handle of the front door, unable in his fear to determine whether it opened out or in, managed at last, and flew out into the sun in the courtyard.

The testing of the apartment had been performed. Thinking no more either of the deceased nephew or of the apartment, shuddering at the thought of the risk he had been running, Maximilian Andreevich, whispering only the three words 'It's all clear, it's all clear!', ran out to the courtyard.

A few minutes later the bus was carrying the industrial economist in the direction of the Kiev station.

Who was this thin melancholy man? He was Andrei Fokich, manager of the restaurant at the Variety. He came to see Woland and reported that in yesterday’s magic show the currency notes picked up by public had turned into wrappers of some bottles. The restaurant had sold various items to the audience, who had given him these notes. As a result of their disappearing, he had suffered a huge loss, and he had come to complain about the same. But when Fokich showed these wrappers to Woland, they had again turned into currency notes.

But Woland scolds Fokich, saying that the things in his restaurant are horrible: the tea is just hot water, the cheese was very stale….he emphasised that the eatables should be extremely fresh.

Fokich was given some freshly roasted meat with lemon squeezed over it in a gold plate, while he was offered a seat, the chair broke down, the wine from the glass spilled on Fokich’s trousers and made them wet.

Fokich was scolded on another account as well. About the gold coins and currency notes treasured below the floor of his apartment. Begemoth declares that all this will be of no use, as he is going to die of cancer of liver after nine months in the government hospital.

Fokich comes out, but he remembers that he has forgotten his hat in apartment No50; when he goes back he is given back his hat by Hella; as soon as he puts on the hat on his head, it turns into a kitten, who scratched his head and jumps away from there.

Fokich goes to the doctor and pleads to save him from this cancer.

Bulgakov introduces two doctors as well in this chapter. Dr Bouret and Dr  Kuzmin.

The doctors are depicted in a dignified way. Prof Kuzmin refuses to take any extra money from Fokich, examines him thoroughly and declares that as of now, he has no trace of any cancer in his body.

But Bulgakov teases the doctor as well…..the currency notes left by Fokich on his table turn into a kitten, then into a sparrow who was dancing on one leg and winking at the professor.

Professor Kuzmin tries to call Prof Bouret, to find out what is the meaning of all this,  but instead of calling Bouret, called a leech bureau, said he was Professor Kuzmin, and asked them to send some leeches to his house at once.

Hanging up the receiver, the professor turned to his desk again and straight away let out a scream.

At this desk sat a woman in a nurse's headscarf, holding a handbag with the word 'Leeches' written on it. The professor screamed as he looked at her mouth: it was a man's mouth, crooked, stretching from ear to ear, with a single fang. The nurse's eyes were dead.

'This bit of cash I'll just pocket,' the nurse said in a male basso, `no point in letting it lie about here.' She raked up the labels with a bird's claw and began melting into air.

Two hours passed. Professor Kuzmin sat in his bedroom on the bed, with leeches hanging from his temples, behind his ears, and on his neck. At Kuzmin's feet, on a quilted silk blanket, sat the grey-moustached Professor Bouret, looking at Kuzmin with condolence and comforting him, saying it was all nonsense.

What made Bulgakov punish the doctor; I am not able to guess. The dancing sparrow had broken the photograph showing the batch of ’94 pass out students from the medical college….may be something had gone wrong in the Kiev Medical Institute? Well, Bulgakov graduated from there….

If you can enlighten me on this account, I shall be very happy.

So, we see that Poplavsky was punished for his greed, his desire to possess the flat in Moscow; Fokich was punished for adulteration in food items. Bulgakov had shown this pathetic situation of Dining Halls and restaurants in some other works also.

Many more incidents took place in Moscow on that night, on Friday. We can say that Woland and his team was in full form to punish those who deserved punishment for various social misdeeds.

Bulgakov does not mention all of them in this chapter as he is in a hurry to visit Margarita.

We shall follow him…..