–Sir, unfortunately, your room will be ready by three o'clock. Please wait in the meantime.
–Yesenia! You'll have to keep me company until three o'clock.
–Aren't you tired? Would you like to take a nap in a armchair by the fireplace?
– Napping during the day in this splendid city, in the company of such a charming girl! That's outrageous.
– Then let's go, sir!
They walked along the streets of May Fair, and the girl told the guest about London.
Solomon liked the company of Yesenia more and more. The ease of communication, the eternal charming smile on his face-all this attracted him very much.
– Listen Yesenia! If you don't mind, let's have some to eat. I won't turn down an English steak with chips.
– That's a good idea. There's a cheap but cozy pub not far away where the chef makes wonderful steaks. Let's go.
– A fine drink, – Solomon said, smacking golden ale in the pub.
– The ale is pumped from barrels stored in cellars. Previously, the water in the Thames was a source of all sorts of infections, including plague, and the inhabitants used ale as drinking water.
–So the plague killed the people here to?
–It did, and more than once. Rats and fleas. The banks of the Thames were crawling with them. There were many inhabitants. They settled in the slums next to the river. The years 1665 and 666, Satan's numbers, were fateful for London. It began with the great plague. People were not buried in time, and corpses were dumped into the marshes. At the same time a great fire broke out in London. All the shacks and wooden buildings burned. The city was nearly destroyed, but most importantly, the slums and rats disappeared, and with them disappeared the plague.
Solomon listened carefully to the story.
– And where are these swamps now, where they threw those who died of the plague?
–They are right under us, – Yesenia said in a whisper.
–Under us?
–Yes! The May Fair was built on the site of former swamps where corpses were dumped. Then there were fairs, hence the name. Well, now there are expensive hotels and restaurants.
–Are you saying that under us are the bones of those who died from the plague?
Solomon's eyes sparkled, either from ale or from the word "plague".
–Yes! Thousands of bones, victims of a terrible epidemic. But now it is not customary to talk about it out loud. You see, Solomon, everyone forgot about the plague. For many, it simply does not exist.
– Because doctors and antibiotics were able to curb it and keep it under control. But, as soon as this control relaxes, the irreparable happens.
