The bookkeeper, Chichishev, was in military service and in charge of old supplies. He had received the rank of sergeant, but there was nothing military about him. He was just an ordinary bookkeeper, no longer young, who did his job well. He could hardly talk without his calculating machine. If someone would ask at five o'clock, "What time of day is it?" he would soon hear five clicks on his abacus by way of an answer. Or if someone would say, "When a man (one click of the abacus) lives all alone, life is difficult. He (click! - click) should get married."
- From "We Never Make Mistakes" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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