All the way to our flat, I scroll my phone trying to find a solution to our disaster. What do people do when they are being flooded from above? I mean, what do they do to deal with the matter efficiently? All the websites offer an identical tick-the-box route: First, attempt to resolve the problem peacefully, and, in case that fails, go to court. It’s all fine and well, and easy in theory, I sigh. Egor pours his heart out to the taxi driver, and they are engaged in a lively conversation blaming careless neighbors, faulty plumbing fixtures, irresponsible block management companies, the government… you name it.

A few more kilometers, a few more turns, and we are home. Upon entering the flat we see a big stain on the ceiling of the kids’ bedroom and the wallpaper in the corner is damp and peeling off. The renovation of this room was completed just a few days ago. Now we will need to redo it. Pour in more money, spend more time… just because someone living above was not careful enough. They are the reason for our mess, yet we are to clean it up. I hate my neighbors with every fiber of my soul.

Next we go upstairs and ring our neighbor’s bell.

“It seems the doorbell does not work,” Egor remarks and presses the adjacent bell. We hear the flat door being unlocked and a female voice asking, “Who’s there?”

“We are your neighbors from the seventh floor, flat 156,” Egor explains. “We need your neighbor from flat 162; our flat is being flooded! But their doorbell doesn’t work.” The old lady, uh-ohing, opens the entrance door into the shared hallway with their flats. We enter.

“Has Oleg made a mess?” she asks no one in particular. “He’s a good guy,” she continues, “but he drinks heavily. And when he’s drunk he cannot control himself. He’s been like this since he got back from the Chechen War. When Nina, his mum, was alive she tried to keep things in order. But now no one is there for him.”

Meanwhile Egor is banging on Oleg’s door. The noise he is making does have an effect, and we hear footsteps, then the door is flung open.

“Get out of here, motherfuckers! This is my home!” A man with a bloated brick-red face and bloodshot eyes clenches his fist to give a punch, but Egor is quick to step aside. The drunk hits the opposite wall. He groans, but turns back ready to attack again. He steps towards Egor, trying to grab him. Instead he finds himself in a joint lock unable to move. Well, having an athletic title in sambo can certainly come in handy. The man makes a growling sound.

“Oh, you’ll break his arm,” the old lady laments. “Now do let him go.”

“Don’t worry. He’s all right,” Egor assures her. “They say it is good to be close to one’s neighbors.” Egor looks at me, “Now, the guy needs to get back to normal, and we need to help him.”

Then he instructs me to go buy some food and the ingredients for a cocktail to sober him up. I do as requested and also fetch some plasticware because I doubt there is anything clean and usable in the flat. Egor mixes the ingredients and makes the attacker drink it. The latter has no choice but to do so, though he grimaces with every sip.

“Do you really have to contort your face like that?” Egor sounds a bit offended. “Take it like medicine.”

After he finishes his drink, the man looks down, breathing heavily, and then raises his eyes to us. The change is startling. His look is no longer glassy, but rational, his manner subdued.

“Egor,” my husband extends his hand for a handshake. The man gazes at him as if doubting what to do next.

“Oleg,” he replies at last, slightly touching Egor’s hand.

“Oleg, our flat is below yours and we are being flooded. There’s a big stain on the ceiling and the wallpaper is wet.”

(…to be continued…)

Transadaptation Volume 5 – Of Flowing Vicissitudes

January: The Night the Stars Stopped Shining – Sarah-Leah Pimentel (South Africa)

February: Three Sides to Every Story – Krisztina Janosi (Hungary)

March: Rain Trap – Adriana Uribe (Columbia)

April: Priorities – Narantsogt Baatarkhuu (Mongolia)

May: The Night in Heaven – Armine Asryan (Armenia)

June: Witches Don’t Burn – Alejandra Baccino (Uruguay)

July: A Regular Flat – Mateusz Tymoszewski (Poland)

August: Many Happy Returns – Svetlana Molchanova (Russia)

September: And Now, It Will All Go Downhill – Jonay Quintero Hernandez (Spain)

October: Planet Qirim – Anastasiia Leonova (Ukraine)

November: You Are Her, Aren’t You? – Seyit Ali Dastan (Turkey)

December: Culture Shock – Veronika Groke (Austria)

Background – Context

Transadaptation Volume 4: Material Dissent – Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2023)

Transadaptation Volume 3: Evanescent – Young Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2022)

Transadaptation Volume 2: Conceived – Childhood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2021)

Transadaptation Volume 1: In the Middle – Prelude to a Contemporary Transadaptation, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2020)

Peripatetic Alterity: A Philosophical Treatise on the Spectrum of Being – Romantics and Pragmatists by Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)

La Syncrétion of Polarization and Extremes Transposée, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)

The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2018)

L’anthologie of Global Instability Transpuesta, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2017)

From Wahnsinnig to the Loony Bin: German and Russian Stories Transposed to Modern-day America, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2013)

Emblems and stories on the international community

Perception by country – Transposing emblems, articles, short stories and reports from around the world

Credits

Top row (left to right): Russia – Dacha – Artic photo (Shutterstock), Saratov, Russia – Cityscape along the Volga – Viktor Karasev (Shutterstock), Voronezh region, Russia – Dacha – thekovtun (Shutterstock)

Center image: Altai, Russia – Dacha – Nick Night (Unsplash)

Background image in lower half: Saratov, Russia – Kirov Avenue – Aleksei Butenkov (Shutterstock)

Lower left image: Saratov, Russia – Over the Volga – Sergey Lavrentev (Shutterstock)

Lower right image: Saratov, Russia – Downtown – Cad Wizard (Shutterstock)

Source: The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed