LUKA. How about the others--d'you know them all?
MIEDVIEDIEFF. I must know everybody in my precinct. But I don't know
you.
LUKA. That's because, uncle, the whole world can't stow itself away in
your precinct--some of it was bound to remain outside . . . [_Goes
into kitchen_]
MIEDVIEDIEFF [_crosses to Bubnoff_] It's true--my precinct is rather
small--yet it's worse than any of the very largest. Just now, before
getting off duty, I had to bring Alyoshka, the shoemaker, to the
station house. Just imagine--there he was, stretched right in the
middle of the street, playing his concertina and yelping: "I want
nothing, nothing!" Horses going past all the time--and with all the
traffic going on, he could easily have been run over--and so on! He's
a wild youngster--so I just collared him--he likes to make mischief--
BUBNOFF. Coming to play checkers to-night?
MIEDVIEDIEFF. Yes--I'll come--how's Vaska?