Excerpt
“Sorry if I seem a bit dazed by all this. I guess—I just didn’t know that my mother–that is, we just don’t talk much. She rarely talks at all any more, as you might know?” They looked confused, so she went on, “Ever since my brother’s accident, she hasn’t been herself, but still…” She wasn’t sure she wanted to elaborate on the painful story, and she wondered why they had not heard of it. Putting these thoughts aside, she added, “Well, how wonderful. I have family in Russia and I never knew!”
Misha smiled and raised his bottle high. “I propose a toast to family.” Solemnly they toasted this thought with gassy water as if drinking fine champagne.
★
“It’s like being told that you own a piece of the Kremlin,” she said later that evening to Paul over dinner. They were the last two in the dining room.
“Wow, that’s incredible. I would have liked to meet them,” he said. “Will you see them again?”
“They returned to Tula last night, and Misha suggested that I phone or send them a telegram towards the end of our Volga cruise. We’ll be flying out of Moscow so I think we can get together when the group returns here.”
Paul looked thoughtful. “How did you know they were really your cousins?”
“What do you mean? Of course they are. They had a letter from my mother to show me.”
“Well, here I am being the cynic again…it’s just that lots of people would like to leave the country but they’re not allowed. Or did you know that? Even some Jews are not allowed. But if they got the name of a possible sponsor in Canada, someone who has Russian background and might be convinced that they’re legitimate family…”
“What a thought! I’m ashamed of you, Paul.” But Jennifer frowned. “It’s true there were some gaps in their knowledge…but Misha said how sad his father was when he arrived back in the village to find his family gone…”
“But Misha wouldn’t have been born then. Anyone could invent that.”
“Really, Paul! Why are you doing this?”
Libros Libertad 