Daniel Charms, 31 Plays, #2

(art: Trevor Brown)

Things that happened

One day Orlov stuffed himself with so much mashed beans that he died. And Krylov, on finding out about Orlov, died too. And Spridinov died also, but for no reason whatsoever. And Spiridonov's wife fell off a kitchen cabinet and died as well. And Spridonov's children drowned in a pond. And Spiridonov's grandmother became an alcoholic and ended up on the street. And Mikailov stopped combing his hair and fell sick. And Kruglov sketched a drawing of a lady holding a whip and went mad. And Perevostov received four hundred roubles by wire and got so cocky about it that he got kicked out of work.

Good people are simply incapable of getting a firm foothold in life.