: A gymnasium teacher, afraid of everything in the world and living according to the orders of his superiors, decides to marry. A long matchmaking takes the teacher out of his “case”, and he dies, frightened of real life.

The hunters Ivan Ivanovich and Burkin stopped for the night. They shared life stories with each other.

Burkin began to talk about his colleague, a teacher of the Greek language Belikov.

This man wore dark glasses, a sweatshirt, a warm coat, an umbrella and galoshes, even in warm weather. All his things were in a case, and he himself was in constant alarm "no matter what happens."

In a word, this person had a constant and irresistible desire to surround himself with a shell, to create for himself, so to speak, a case that would unite him, protect him from external influences.

Belikov was afraid of absolutely everything. Any kind of violation, evasion, deviation from the rules drove him discouraged.At home, he also had solid fences: a bathrobe, cap, locks, bolts. Belikov’s bed was like a box, and he slept, hiding with his head. He did not hold a female servant, because he was afraid of gossip. Old Athanasius was his only servant.

At all teacher meetings, Belikov complained, offered to expel students and punish everyone for not following the rules.

Burkin was stunned by Ivan Ivanitch by saying that one day Belikov nearly got married. A new teacher, Kovalenko, was sent to the gymnasium.

He did not come alone, but with his sister Varenka.

When they met Belikov, she attracted his attention with her singing. And then the whole teaching staff remembered that Belikov was not married and that they should be brought together with Varenka.

Varenka was 30 years old, and Belikov was over forty. She was not opposed to getting married, especially since her relationship with her brother was not smooth. Varenka began to show a clear favor for Belikov, and he kept weighing upcoming duties and responsibilities.

... the decision to marry affected him somehow painfully, he lost weight, turned pale and seemed to go even deeper into his case.

Meanwhile, someone drew caricatures of him and Varenka, and Belikov experienced such ridicule very hard.Then, when Belikov was walking with Burkin, Kovalenko and his sister rode bicycles to meet them. Varenka, as usual, laughed out loud. This fact terribly outraged Belikov. He began to tell Burkin that it was worthless for a teacher, especially a woman, to ride a bicycle.

With this thought, he visited Kovalenko and made all his comments. To which he, in turn, in a rude manner made it clear that he would do what he liked. Persistent Belikov was eventually lowered from the stairs. When he rolled down the stairs, Varenka came in with two ladies and, looking at him, burst out laughing.

And with this booming, filled “ha ha ha” everything ended: both the matchmaking and the earthly existence of Belikov.

Returning home, Belikov removed the portrait of Varenka from the table, lay down and no longer got up. A month later he died.

The weather was cloudy and rainy, at the funeral everyone was with umbrellas and galoshes. Everyone felt freedom and relief when Belikov was buried.

Now, when he was lying in a coffin, his expression was meek, pleasant, even funny, as if he were glad that he was finally put in a case from which he would never come out.

But they soon discovered that it was not easier to live. Life has remained just as dull and dull.

Ivan Ivanovich noted that we live in a city in a stuffy, cramped place, write unnecessary papers, play a screw - all this is a case.

Ivan Ivanovich pondered everything about the difficulties of life, about things that haunt him: lies, insults, humiliations. Burkin suggested just going to bed and ten minutes later he was sleeping.And Ivan Ivanovich could not fall asleep, and then got up, went outside and lit his pipe again.