Ivan Dimitrov is 27 years old and a graduate of Bulgarian Philology. He is the author of Local Foreigners, a book of short stories, and the novel Life as a Missing Spoon. His short stories were nominated for the debut book competition of Ars Publishing House and his play Separation at First Sight was one of five nominees for the Slavka Slavova chamber play competition of Theater 199 in the spring of 2010. He was one of the top five in the Sofia Poetics Festival contest. In the same year his play The Eyes of the Others was one of the five nominees in the competition of Theater Sofia.

A baby's howl rang out from the neighbouring room.

"Sorry, the baby just woke up, we'll have to take a break from the interview for a second. I'll put him to sleep again and come right back."

"No worries. Like I said, I'm not in a rush."

She left the room, leaving him alone. Now, when she wasn't in front of him, the invisible line disappeared and he approached the desk. He ran his hand over it – oak, a vintage piece of work. He knew that without even thinking – he'd been fired from the wood-working shop only five months before. His friends had urged him to go into business making special-order furniture, but he didn't want to bother. He was sick of wood, he felt like working with some other material, he just didn't know what yet. He often wondered if he shouldn't go to college, but had no idea what to study. He was 29 already, and he'd graduate in four, five or six years. It seemed too late to him.

He walked around the desk and peeked at the monitor. An open Facebook page. Who wasn't on Facebook these days?

In the other room she was hushing the baby, murmuring to it, singing a song. It quickly stopped crying. Hearing rustling, he went back to his seat.

"Sorry about that, but babies just can't wait," she said.

"I know."

"Do you have kids?"

"No."

"What about a wife?"

"I thought the two usually go together… In other words, no."

"You really should have a kid! I'm serious. You can't imagine what an amazing effect children have on men!"

"First I’ve got to find myself a wife."

"That is a lot harder," she admitted.

Since coming back, she had been standing at the other end of the room, in front of the door. The invisible line again took up its place between them.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?"

"So if I've understood correctly, you're looking for someone to fire?"

"Exactly. I can't fire one of my employees. They do good work, plus it would be bad for team morale. So that's why I've decided to hire somebody to fire."