A Simples Life_ The Life and Times of Aleksandr Orlov - Aleksandr Orlov [7]
Anton was determined to prove there was something in his comparings.
For support himself, Anton thought he would try entertaining. Performing in the middle of Red Square was magiciankat, the Great Furdini. He did terrifying things like pretend to cutting up young meerkats and making them disappear. Anton offered to be his assistance, but after three nights of having his whiskers nicked by throwing knives, he retire. He decided to pursue less scary career and went to the Hotel Sovieto Splendido around the corner and got job as disher washer. In the evenings he practised his comparing which left him exhaust during day. Eventually he was caught falling asleep in the soapy water and given sack and thrown out into Red Square. Lying with his whiskers in the gutter, he felt sadder and more useless than he had ever felt sad and useless in all his whole life. But just by his nose was the foot of a big meerkat with bad breath. He drag Anton to his feets and tells him it is his lucky day. Anton not feel lucky, but big whiskery meerkat told him he going to make him a star. Anton, with no better thing to do, followed him down the steps to a dark and smelly cavern.
THIS is advertisement for my Papa’s first employer, Furdini the magiciankat. His signature illusion, The Underwater Paw-Cuff Escape, was the chatter of Moscow at the time.
HERE is Papa Anton at height of his career. He has just land knockout blow on a mongoose.
When he got there, he saw many meerkats in boxing rings, punching twenty-seven bells out of each other. It all look very violence. But the bad breath meerkat (who turned out to be Moscow’s most ruthless boxing promoter) told Anton that he was purpose builts for boxing.
Before he knew it, Anton was getting ready for first fight – against Masher Egorov, the middleweight meerkat champion of Soviets. But not only did Anton avoid too much damage to his handsomeness, he knocked Masher clean out. This was beginning of Papa Anton’s next job, as professional boxerkat.
It was a long way from his dream of professionally comparing meerkats but it kept the door from the wolf.
HERE is selection of old painted portraits my Papa used to compare. Clockwise from top left: Factorykat; Boxerkat; Accordiankat; Hunterkat.
CHAPTER The 9
The Shop at Last
BY now Anton was living in small bedsit and making a few more roubles because he was winning a lot of his boxings. It was hard work, and often he was bruised, but it was a living.
One day there was knock on bedsit door. When he opened it, he saw a familiar bedraggly face. It was Stanislav. He had now finish school and had come to join his friend. Good old faithful Stanislav.
Anton was very happy to see him, and together they decided that Anton must finish the boxings, and they must set out to make their fortune comparing meerkats.
The next morning they loaded an old cart with as many meerkat paintings as they could carry and made their way to Moscow flea market (which, puzzlingly and disappointingly, was not actually a market for flea selling). Anton neatly arranged the portraits of Knightkat and Paintkat, and Soldierkat and Factorykat, and Stanislav got on a box with his speaking trumpet. They did not have success. Passer-bys could not work out what point of comparing meerkats was.
Passer-bys could not work out what point of comparing meerkats was.
“ALONG the street came Maxim Mandovich, Mayor of Moscow, and his beautiful daughter Valeria”
Anton and Stanislav decided to swallow their prides and sight their aims lower. They bought up all the scruffy muskrat portraits they could find and made their way to the seedy back alleys. Throughout the nights, they would let dirty old muskrats compare creepy muskrat paintings. It was shameful time.
During the days, they continued comparing meerkats in the market. They painted