Cult

by Lyubko Deresh

People always asked him if he was the Yurko Banzai. "No," Yurko Banzai would say with a smile, and, anticipating the next question, add: "We're not even related."

Banzai was a senior studying biology. He was one of the top students, and so was sent as an intern to a boarding school associated with the university to teach biology. Until he was told the name of the town, he had no idea that such a place even existed. Midni Buky, "copper beech trees," was its name.

The town was far away, two and a half hours by a train that stopped like a spaniel at every doorpost.

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