My mama visited for a couple of weeks in October. As we drove back from the road trip South, in the Valley, the boring part, I asked, randomly, if grandpa Sasha, her father, went to college. Grandpa died while mama was pregnant with me, so I didn’t get to meet him. Heard this and that about him, but not much since I’ve grown up.
Here is what she told me. Continue reading “About Grandpa Sasha”
“Did your father leave many bequests, Mr Strange?”
“No, madam. None. He hated everybody.”
“Ah! That is fortunate, is it not?”
– Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Do You Have Any Family Here?
A new acquaintance would soon ask about my family. “They are all back in Saint Petersburg,” I’d say, “…No, no one in the States, all by myself.” It doesn’t seem weird to me. It must seem weird, because I haven’t met many other people likewise removed from any family, not lately. “Do you visit them often then?” the small talk would continue. Last time, 3 years ago, and then 10 years before that.
During the 10 years, Continue reading “Weird Families. Where Leaders Are Made”
HC SVNT DRACONES
This is Part 3 about haunting stories. Links to the beginning: Part 1, Part 2.
Part 3. The family story
On a Sunday morning, I call Mom on Skype. She is babysitting nephew. Several days prior, I called for Mom’s birthday, from work, Skype on my cell; the connection was bad, and then it broke and I went back to work.
1. Tanya’s pencils
May 1994. Paris. I am at a little shop, say, on Rue Mouffetard, with Marina, Shura, Seryozhka, Tanya. I am 16, awkward and self-conscious. Tanya is 12. Tanya accidentally drops a box of little pencils Continue reading “Regrets”
Love letters understated 