After lunch at the bakery I was alone. Zhavatokhun-aka, Sunnat and Ummat had left to town to buy flour. I was preparing half finished flat cakes using the dough that had remained in stock, when suddenly the man of about sixty by the name of Karabay came in.
- Assalyam aleikum - he said.
- Valeikum assalyam, Karabai-ata - I greeted him.
He entered the room and sitting down on a stool said:
- Ahmin, may there always be peace in the whole world, Allahu akbar!
Then he asked:
- Well, how are you?
- Very, well - I said stretching him a piala of tea - have some hot tea.
He thanked me sipping slowly the green tea, which is very good for a thirsty man in hot weather in Central Asia. Drinking it and lending his ear to the music he said:
- Will you make it louder, this tapuerkoda of yours?
I turned up the volume of the tape recorder. It was the song of didactic sort called "Don"t offend the weak".
Not wishing to be in the way I started kneading dough. When the song ended I was paralyzed with wonder. Karabay-ata was crying. His beard grew wet with his bitter tears.
- What"s the matter with you, granny? - I asked.
He wiped his tears with the sleeve of his overcoat and said:
- Oh, sonny, I am deeply moved by this song. It has really touched my heart... You see, I used to work as a butcher at one time. I was a strong and tough young man. Once I was selling meat in a state of intoxication, knife in hand. It was a long sharp knife which I whetted with a knife-sharpener off and on. I had that habit, you know.
One day a very old man by the name of Mukhammad Ismail came up to me and stretching me the money said:
- Assalamu Aleikum, Mullah Karib, will you give me a kilo of mutton, please.
I wrapped a kilo of mutton in a piece of paper and gave it to him. He unwrapped the package and said:
- Excuse me, Mulla Karabay, will you give me some mutton fat, instead of the bones?
I got furious and walked out of the counter. I started walloping the old man, i.e. Mulla Mukhamad Ismail. He fell down.
I said:
- Ah, you damned aging brain! And whom shall I sell the bones? Tell me...To your granny, eh?
I beat him for quite a while, and when I stopped the old man got up and hardly found his cap. And you know what he said? Oh my! The words are still breaking my heart!.. He burst out crying again and said putting his cap on and shaking his head:
- Sorry, Mulla Karabay, it"s no fun getting old. I have grown thin of late. Did your fists hurt when you hit me in the ribs?
Saying this he kissed my hand which had just beaten him. He kissed my hand, do you understand?
Karabay-aka raised his hands which had once beaten Mulla Mukhammad Ismail and said contemptuously:
- I sometimes want to cut off my hands which hurt Mulla Mukhammad Ismail! Do you hear? The words Mulla Mukhammad Ismail said pursue me up to this day giving me no rest!
Old Karabay wept like a child, without feeling embarrassment. I started consoling him:
- Don"t cry, Karabay-ata. You"d better pray for him. He will surely forgive you.
Without saying good bye, old Karabay went out into the street wiping the tears off his face.
He walked crying bitterly. It was cold, and it was raining. .
I looked to see where the former butcher was going and sighed with grief.
- What a punishment! - I thought. They are right when they say that old sins have long legs.
Karabay-ata - a polite form of addressing aged men, where "ata" denotes "father" and is used as a suffix at the end of the name