: The narrator walks from one city to another. On a deserted highway, a stranger catches him and shows a shorter storyteller a shorter way. The narrator does not believe in the disinterestedness of a stranger.

The narration is conducted on behalf of the narrator, whose name is not mentioned.

The narrator admits that he loves more people than some people like dogs. However, with all his love for people, he had never met a truly disinterested person. Only one guy flashed a “bright personality” in the life of the storyteller, and even then it is not known “what thoughts he had when he was doing his selfless work”.

Being in heavy thought, the narrator recalls this story.

That summer, the narrator rested in the Crimea and once decided on foot to go from Yalta to Alupka. He decided to go along the highway.

To the left, of course, is the blue sea. Ships are sailing. To the right are the damn mountains. Eagles flutter. Beauty, one might say, unearthly.

The day was hot, and soon the narrator was not up to beauty. He quickly got tired, sat down to rest and then noticed that some kind of person was following him. It is deserted all around, only "eagles flutter." With all his love for people, the narrator did not like to meet them in desert places - “there is a lot of temptation”, so he got up and went, looking around at times.

The stranger stubbornly followed the narrator. When he went faster, the stranger also quickened his pace. Dreaming alive to get to Alupka, the narrator ran. The stranger also ran, waving his hand and shouting "Stop, comrade!"

Finally, the narrator was exhausted and stopped. A poorly dressed stranger ran up to him and advised him to go to Alupka not along the highway, but on a shorter road along a path that tourists are not aware of.

To the narrator this disinterestedness seemed suspicious, and he said that he would better go along the highway, but then the stranger asked him for a cigarette, they talked, suddenly became friends and quickly went along the path to Alupka. The stranger turned out to be a very nice person working in the food industry. All the way he laughed at the narrator because he was trying to escape from him.

In Alupka, friends said goodbye. The narrator was thinking about a fellow traveler all evening.

The man ran, gasped, ruffled his sandals. And for what? To say where I have to go It was very noble of him.

Now, having returned to Leningrad, the narrator thinks: maybe that companion was not so disinterested. Maybe he just wanted to smoke or it was boring to go alone, so he fled. Who knows.