Sigmund in a Cafe (Russian: «Зигмунд в кафе») is a short story by Victor Pelevin, published in 1993.
[1][2][3] The story belongs to the early stage of the writer's work, and applies a characteristic author's trick: playing with the reader's expectations and unpredictable ending.
He sees the displeasure of the woman who has noticed the snow crammed into the unzipped handbag carried by her companion, the long umbrella that the lady has placed in the corner, "for some reason having turned its handle down.
This is followed by a detailed description of the episode of changing a burned-out light bulb, in which the characters do not say a single word and exchange gestures.
The following episodes (blowing a long stream of tobacco smoke through tobacco rings, children playing with disheveled dolls and shapeless pieces of colorful plasticine) and seeing an avant-garde canvas on the wall, showing two open pianos "in which lay the dead Bunuel and Salvador Dali, both with oddly long ears," cause Sigmund to exclaim and worry: "Aha!