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a matter of pride or a banal wish not to get tied down, just
the fact that he was too much Action Man, too much
“Avanti!”, and the girls were like birds he changed in his
pursuit of something that was nothing to do with them.
That was not in the slightest to belittle them, so girls were
often part of his life, he was not picky, and glad to have
someone.
At that time I had just disentangled myself from my
librarian and felt a wild surge of energy, which made me
chase after three or four girls at the same time,
lightheartedly, with no strings, I was a fast-flowing stream –
while talking to one, I would be in the arms of another, not
quite sure which was my type, which one to choose and,
quite apart from women, I was interested in art and
religion, went back to martial arts, opened a business,
constantly on the go, forging ahead, growing my strength. I
came back from training sessions on shaky legs. My mom
did not see the winner standing in front of her, but girls
did.
Alik was a shooter. We met eight years ago, in 2003. I was a
know-nothing cub reporter on local television, running
errands for my own inexperience, Alik had just come back
with his latest trophy or medal from competing in St
Petersburg, and I had to do a piece on him for the news
program.