Sergei Nikolaevitch, a round little man with a plump, light-complexioned face, gazed first at the master of the house, then raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘I had no first love,’ he said at last; ‘I began with the second.’

‘How was that?’

‘It’s very simple. I was eighteen when I had my first flirtation with a charming young lady, but I courted her just as though it were nothing new to me; just as I courted others later on. To speak accurately, the first and last time I was in love was with my nurse when I was six years old; but that’s in the remote past. The details of our relations have slipped out of my memory, and even if I remembered them, whom could they interest?’

‘Then how’s it to be?’ began the master of the house. ‘There was nothing much of interest about my first love either; I never fell in love with any one till I met Anna Nikolaevna, now my wife,—and everything went as smoothly as possible with us; our parents arranged the match, we were very soon in love with each other, and got married without loss of time. My story can be told in a couple of words. I must confess, gentlemen, in bringing up the subject of first love, I reckoned upon you, I won’t say old, but no longer young, bachelors. Can’t you enliven us with something, Vladimir Petrovitch?’

‘My first love, certainly, was not quite an ordinary one,’ responded, with some reluctance, Vladimir Petrovitch, a man of forty, with black hair turning grey. -The Torrents of Spring.

“ Spring 2010. No.1 ”

01. Federico Aubele – Otra Vez
Amatoria (ESL Music, Inc., 2009)
02. The Clientele – Never Anyone But You
Bonfires on the Heath (Merge Records, 2009)
03. April Smith and the Great Picture Show – Colors
Songs for a Sinking Ship (Little Roscoe, 2010)
04. Devendra Banhart – Some People Ride The Wave
Cripple Crow (2005)
05. Holly Golightly – It’s All Over Now
Up the Empire (Sympathy 4 the R.I., 1998) (Live)

note: Ahh, spring is almost here. The snow is melting and your eyes are scanning the horizon from bedroom window. Your head is full of thousand plans. Drawing them in scrap papers to explore and conquer the backyard hills, and calling friend for secret meetings at the tree house. There will be more paper hats, wooden swords and unlimited supplies of lemonade and candies than last year. The world will be ours. This summer will be the most glorious ever.

image: swisscan