Chapter 1 Summary

Alexander "Shurik" Bayless wakes up at six o'clock on the morning of his eightieth birthday and begins to think philosophically about his life. At eight o'clock he hears an insistent knock on his door. It is Frosya, the woman in whose house he has lived for more than twenty years. She greets him with affection in her voice, and wishes him a 'Happy Birthday'. The day is August 14th. She has brought him a little package, which she presents to him with tears in her eyes. She tells him that she loves him. He hears the voice of Frosya's dead father, Kirill in his ear. It is an echo from the past. The voice is telling him to go to the house of his daughter, and to "..tell her that it was good." Shurik asks this ghostly voice what this means, and it...