The Dream by Fazil Iskander. Short summary

5 seconds

The husband returned unexpectedly from a business trip and saw a strange man in the living room. «Something has changed in our lives,» said the wife. The man remembered that he had had a bad dream the night before.

1 minute

The husband returned from a business trip and walked into the house. In the living room, he saw his wife, his six-year-old son and a strange man sprawled out in a chair.

«Something has changed in our lives,» the wife said. The woman reported that she now lives with another man. The baby didn’t mind the new daddy, either. The husband recalled having a bad dream the night before.

The husband jumped on his rival and started punching him in the face. He punched as hard as he could, but his opponent didn’t react in any way. «It didn’t hurt him at all.» — he thought grudgingly. The stranger told him in a casual tone that he and the hero’s wife had been living together for six months and had now decided to get married. The stranger began to play with the hero’s son, and the boy laughed happily.

And suddenly he woke up. The man was at home in his bed. His son and wife were asleep in other rooms. He was relieved to realize that it was just a bad dream.