‘It’s all over the place.’ Tight California congressional races are still too close to call.”
I was beginning to see that we had much more in common than the commonality of our name.
“Why don’t you tell me something about yourself that we could be friends over a beer or three and have a laugh about it,” he said. “Tell me about your life.”
We sat there in silence while I told him that my father and I had been separated for more than sixty years. I told him that my father didn’t know that he was dead.
“I’m sorry,” he said. When he spoke, I could tell that this was the first time he had spoken about his father to anyone. “My God, what a story.”
I wanted to tell him more, but thought of what we had discussed earlier.
“You have a lot in common,” I said. “I’ve been wondering why we don’t just leave the country. It’s just so ugly, and the whole thing has been going on for decades. Let it go. Let it all be over and let’s not have anything to do with each other anymore.”
He nodded.
“There are many places in the world you could go.”
“You mean Russia? You’re not going there, are you?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I want to be able to look back and say that I went back to the place where I wanted to be. I want to go back to the place where I was happy.”
“It’s a beautiful country,” he told me.
“My father is from there. He had always wanted to live there.”
“Where are his graves? I never knew he had one. I always thought he was in Pennsylvania.”
“He left his whole life in Pennsylvania to go to Russia. My mother and I brought him back with us and we buried him at the family’s place. He really liked that country. He was very happy when he lived there because he didn’t have to work so much. He never complained about the hard times in the States and he had the freedom to play and have fun with his kids. I’m sure he was happy. He would be proud of you.”
“I wish I had thought of that sooner.”
“No, no, don’t say that, Robert. You couldn’t go back to