1. The beach was empty. 2. Friends stood at the very edge of the pier, unable to tear their eyes away

1. The beach was empty.
2. Friends stood at the very edge of the pier, unable to tear their eyes away from the sunset.
3. The sun, like the dome of a fairy-tale palace, rose above the sparkling horizon.
4. Across the sea, like a trace from a whip, stretched a red trembling line.
5. «A harmful sight — the sunset,» Maximov said.
6. «In my opinion, it’s beautiful,» Sasha Zelenin replied.
7. «In my opinion, it’s harmful.»
8. Confidence is lost.
9. It seems that beyond the horizon, a beautiful unknown land has spread out, where people speak in high tones and are all excited and very happy.
10. But in reality, it doesn’t exist.
11. «Shall we swim to check?»
12. They all rushed into the water at once.
13. Maximov looked around and surveyed the pine-covered arch of the Karelian Isthmus, bordered at the bottom by a yellow strip of beaches.
14. It was the Warm Coast, where thousands of people were preparing dinner at this hour.
15. «Oh, the joy of existence!» exclaimed Alexey.
16. Sasha emerged nearby with wide-open eyes and an open mouth.
17. «Rubies from a fairyland!» he cried, striking the water with his palm.
18. They returned to the pier and sat on the iron staircase.
19. «In two days, back to work, and Vladka still hasn’t returned,» Alexey said.
20. Sasha sighed.
21. «And I have to head to my godforsaken place the day after tomorrow.»
22. «Farewell, last vacation…»
23. «Don’t go there.»
24. «What do you mean?»
25. «Just like that.»
26. «Dad Zelenin puts on his black suit, goes to the public health department, and it’s done.»
27. «A week of conscience struggles in a high-minded family, and then life goes on!»
28. «Don’t talk nonsense, Alyosha.»
29. «Do you really want to go?»
30. «No!» Zelenin snapped angrily.
31. «Of course not!»
32. «After all, you’re a city dweller to the core, a hereditary intellectual.»
33. «You’ll be in the middle of nowhere, in the boondocks, albeit not far from Leningrad.»
34. «And all because, as you say, someone snatched the ship’s doctor position.»
35. «I’ll tell you the truth.»
36. «No one snatched my position.»
37. «I just heard during the assignment that this village hasn’t had a doctor for two years, so I asked for the posting there.»
38. «Bravo!» Maximov sarcastically remarked. «Your name will be written in golden letters in the annals…»
39. «A day’s journey from Leningrad, and no doctor – disgrace!»
40. «Going there is my civic duty.»
41. Maximov didn’t understand why he had started such a conversation at the end, but something prompted him to challenge Sasha, whom he actually loved and respected.
42. «Go to hell!» he said.
43. «It’s sickening to listen to you!»
44. «You’ve become an orthodoxy champion, too!»
45. «Don’t mock, Alyosha.»
46. «Remember, we talked about the value of high-sounding words?»
47. «I’ve thought a lot about it, and…»
48. «I’ve thought about it too, and I realized it’s all bluff.»
49. «There’s life made up of polished verbal cobblestones, and there’s the real one, where heroes bicker in the streets.»
50. «And there are so many scoundrels and cheats around!»
51. «They’ll laugh behind your back and do their business.»
52. «My creed is to be honest but not let myself be taken advantage of.»
53. «And remember, Alyosha, you once dreamed of a real life, of a struggle!»
54. «This is the struggle, the struggle for your place under the sun.»
55. «And what about others?»
56. «Are you still thinking only of yourself?»
57. «Again, you’re being selfish?»
58. «Again, about ancestors and descendants?»
59. «Yes, about them.»
60. «And what can I, Alexey Maximov, do for them?»
61. «Continue the work of our ancestors for the sake of our descendants; we are all links in one chain.»
62. «And not live for myself now?»
63. «I don’t know what will happen after my death at all.»
64. «Maybe this world is just my dream?»
65. «Fool!»
66. «Shame!» Zelenin shouted in despair.
67. At that moment, they felt that a meteorite had crashed into the sea a meter away from them: a column of water splashed.
68. When the ripples on the water subsided, they saw a wriggling body in the depths.
69. A red cap appeared.
70. Then a face and bronze shoulders.
71. «Vladka!» they both exclaimed.
72. Vladka swam up and climbed onto the pier.
73. He was handsome, like a southern mulatto, Karpov.
74. His dazzling smile exuded a poster-like freshness.
75. «Sports and jam are good for everyone!» Maximov cheerfully exclaimed.
76. «Phew, colleagues, you’re still the same,» Vladka said, breathing heavily. «Sasha looks pale.»
77. «Forgot?»
78. «Sasha has always been pale.»
79. «An anxious soul, high aspirations!»
80. «Where is it coming from?»
81. In the twilight, they walked along the highway.
82. As always, in step.
83. Three loyal friends walked, just like before, leaving behind images of ordinary quiet life.
84. There was determination in their movements.
85. Where did it come from?
86. Well, it’s just that they were going to a dance, just a cheerful mood, just each of them was only twenty-four years old.