From his darkened apartment on the outskirts of Moscow, villainous young Vladik Tarkaskov sat perched on his fire escape looking outward. It was to this very fire escape that Vladik retreated at each days end and it was here where he concocted his plans for evil. It was here where he sat, looking down on the city he had so ferociously grown to detest, and though he could never have predicted it at the time, it would be here that everything in his world would change forever.There was no specific reason, nor particular event in Vladik’s past for him to feel the way he did but each morning as he rose, the desire to cause harm came over him as if he was nightly injected with a powerful drug.
As with all other mornings, Vladik began his day in the sad (park) just down from his flat. Though he cared for few things in his life Vladik frequented this location each morning on account of one very specific canine. Bubs, a small fawn-colored boxer could always be found running up and down the thinly planted grass patches and approaching fellow dogs for a sniff and a play. On the third bench from the end, closest to the street lamp, Vladik would sit for exactly 22 minutes and watch with the faintest hint of a smile while sipping his morning chai (tea).
This particular morning, Vladik’s senses we on higher alert than usual. A master of Unagi, he was always aware of his surroundings and over the past few days, he noticed small changes in his routine. Where once a blue compact car parked, a lime green Vespa now resided, and two months ago, the man who for three years now had been delivering his mail, had been replaced with a short, slender female with piercing eyes. Aware of these differences Vladik raised his guard and proceeded to complete the final phase of his plan for destruction.
After leaving the park, Vladik stopped by the hardware store, the pochtovoe otdelenie (post office) and the bakery – each playing a specific role in his plan. 13 long hours later, tired both mentally and physically, Vladik traipsed home. He turned the corner onto his street, passed the park he visited each morning, passed the house with the broken gate, passed the lime green Vespa parked in what was now it’s usual spot, and up the steps to his flat. As he fumbled in his pockets to find the keys, he noticed his new mail person exiting the building. “It’s a bit late for this,” he thought, “Just delayed I guess,” he mumbled under his breath as he began stomping up the stairs.
He entered his flat, dropped his bags in haste, grabbed a red apple off the counter, and his book from the floor and headed out to the fire escape. Not three minutes after the stress of the day began to fade did the barking of a dog in the distance catch his attention. Now distracted, a chill came over him so he entered the house to retrieve a blanket. Back on the fire escape now, warm and able to put the barking out of his mind, his thoughts fell back to the tortured characters of his novel. Suddenly, there was a shaking and he jolted his thoughts from the book as if awoken from a deep dream. There was a shadowy figure approaching him from the side and the sound of the barking dog was now directly beneath him. As he turned to run inside he discovered he had been locked out. Trapped on the fire escape he felt a wave radiate through him like someone was shaking a carpet out in his insides. He felt rigid, stiff, unable to defend himself.
As he came to, he was surrounded. There was the new mail lady, the baker, the hardware store owner and perhaps most surprising of all, Bubs. The mail lady came forward and addressed Vladik with a statement it seemed she had rehearsed for five years.
“Vladik Tarkaskov, we have been watching you. We have been studying your movements, your intentions, and even your thoughts. It was bubs here and his specially treated collar that drew you to that park each morning and allowed us to keep tabs on you. You see, based on your genetic makeup we created a scent uniquely enticing to only you. This smell is so strong and so much a part of you that it would be impossible for you to deny its lure. We know what you eat, who you see and what you do every minute of every day. My name is Izabella Belakov, I am a spy with the Katkavsky Agency and you are coming with us".
Unable to respond, raise a protest or fight back, Vladik found himself gliding along side this group of seemingly unrelated people. Though he couldn’t express it to anyone but himself. He was happy. He was peaceful. This was right.
