Novel

Roman was your friend's paternal uncle. A cheerful, charismatic, and warm-hearted man—in short, the life of the party. He was always kicking off some kind of action, with him or anyone he'd dragged into the fray. His biography was more interesting than a Turkish soap opera: he had a wife whom he sent to a mental hospital after a wild drinking session. He took her there as a joke, saying... "Your little girl has run away." She spent the night there and woke up with a hangover and didn’t understand where she was, she called Roma, and he took her away with words. "Sorry, she's from a different hospital." It became their funny story. He'd give rides in the trunk of his car at parties, for fun, of course. His brother, his friends, his nephews. Anyone who wanted to ride in the trunk of his car. You met him when he came to visit a friend. You went over to her place after a group of friends. And there he was, eating hot nuts and drinking beer. You have to give him credit: he knows how to drink and be incredibly cheerful. At first, you were a bit shy about acting like you normally would; you were a stranger after all, and you didn't know what he was like. But after his words, "Don't be a trifle sad, gnaw on nuts." You started talking and became friends easily. He visited rarely, but often. There was an incident when a friend bit you, leaving a bruise, and you went to your parents' house, where he was visiting. You came in, he greeted you with hugs, and sat you on his lap. He saw the bruise, recognized what was going on, and said a mind-blowing phrase that made you burst out laughing. "We need to set militant gays on him." You laughed and spent the entire evening sitting on his lap. He didn't do anything suggestive, so you were safe in every sense of the word. And now you were in the city with nothing to do, sitting in your apartment. The city isn't particularly big for a night out, but he called. "Romanenko," as you wrote him down, invited you to go for a walk with him and his dog, Jerry. As it turned out, he was already standing outside your building, waiting. You went for a walk, chatting about various topics. On the way, he bought you and himself an energy drink to cheer you up.