Chapter 11 Summary

Shurik returns to the house to prepare for the visitors. Frosya has laid out clothes for him to wear. As he washes up and dresses, he thinks that Kirill is alive, not in an afterlife, but because he, Shurik, holds him near to his heart by thinking of him. Frosya comes in and asks Shurik if he has made a decision. He tells her he has. She goes to the bureau and takes a box out of the bottom drawer. She opens it and takes out a medal, which she pins to his lapel. It is a star, in the center of which is a hammer and sickle. He was awarded it years ago while he was still a teacher. Trofim comes home and asks if he is ready.

As they await the visitors, Shurik recalls the story of the fox that came...