Farms. Each one has a strip measuring three hectares. The strip is about three hundred meters deep and one hundred meters wide. Almost the entire strip is occupied by a greenhouse. In fact, the entire strip is taken up by the greenhouse, except for the walkway along the greenhouse, the workshop attached to it, and the estate.
In the greenhouse, tomatoes are growing. It turns out that tomatoes are these six-meter trees. The top three meters, with leaves and fruits, are suspended vertically, while the lower part, bare and without leaves, lies horizontally and is nourished from a bag the size of a flower pot. Several tubes lead to the bag. It’s a matrix, in general. In the workshop, there’s a sorting conveyor. From the workshop, the tomatoes, already in boxes, all perfectly uniform and slightly under-ripe, are loaded onto an arriving truck. The smell of tomatoes is everywhere.
In the workshop, there’s still a lot of junk — from a welding machine to a forklift. The workshop opens onto a paved area, which is entirely covered in cobblestones. On the cobblestones lies a brown dog. Its coloring (with markings on the muzzle and tail) and head shape resemble that of a German Shepherd. However, its body is more slender, its legs are longer, and its ears stand up better. The ears are constantly in motion. If something seems off, the ears are accompanied by barking. The dog barks more out of pleasure, as if the boredom has been broken, rather than out of anger. When it saw me for the first time, it ran up barking, seemingly intent on eating me. I offered my hand for it to bite. It stopped. My hand began to stroke its neck. The dog fell silent, leaned against my leg, and when its owner called it, it didn’t even think about leaving me.
In the greenhouse, some poor workers are toiling away, speaking in their own incomprehensible language. They arrive for work in a group of eight in an old Dacia. Right next to the greenhouse and the workshop, a new residential building is being constructed. It’s two stories tall, in a modern style, with a flat roof, panoramic windows, and a terrace—all the usual features. The construction is almost finished, with the final plastering and flooring already done. It’s a bit of an odd choice to have the kitchen on the second floor. Well, yes, if the garage is on the first floor and the terrace is right above it next to the dining area. But how are they going to haul groceries up to the kitchen every time?
The estate also has an old house. In fact, everything described is located in the yard of the old house. The old house has a couple of hundred square meters of lawn. There’s a hedge, a flowerbed, a barbecue, and a firewood shed—it’s a cozy little lawn. The old house consists of two sections, clearly built at different times due to the family’s growth. The houses are old, covered like ancient ships with barnacles, with a bunch of little things that people have brought inside and can’t seem to take back out. Photos, souvenirs, seashells. Oh, and there are commercial floor scales, serving as a piece of decor. In another corner, as if also part of the decor, is the casing of a Macintosh desktop from the heyday of desktops. Not just the casing—a complete computer, but without a monitor. The keyboard is right there. There are no other Macintoshes in the house. Apparently, they had their fun. The other 6 or 7 computers are all Wintel. A few of the computers have two monitors each. This is in the office on the first floor—where the company’s business is conducted. The floor is made of specially uneven marble tiles with large joints. There’s a carved sideboard. A modern kitchen with expensive appliances. A cozy dining room. A pantry, about 8 square meters, where bulk food supplies are stored—mostly boxes of drinks. Oh, and there are tomatoes. Hmm, not the same variety as in the greenhouse. The pantry has a constantly running air conditioner, creating a cool cellar-like atmosphere. There’s another pantry, but this one has windows. Inside, there’s an ironing board, a washing machine, and a dedicated person who stands and irons. The second floor is an attic. A staircase leads up to it, made at a time when staircases were considered furniture. Carved balusters. Wood. The house on the second floor has parquet flooring and carpets. The carpets are laid haphazardly—sometimes they hang on the wall.
The owners’ bedroom. There’s a portrait hanging on the wall. The owner’s wife has a hairstyle from the ’80s—permed and voluminous. The husband is a well-fed young man with thin mustaches—still very much the ’80s. It’s a wedding or wedding-like photo. Now, the wife has maintained her figure, but at 50, she has aged. The husband has become thinner and more bitter than he was in his youth. After all, they’ve raised at least two children, and it seems they are building a new house for one of them.
Children’s bedrooms. A boy and a girl. They have clearly grown up and probably don’t even sleep in their rooms anymore. But the decor has been preserved and maintained.
What were you doing? We were cleaning the old air conditioners in the old house and installing two new ones in the new house.