{"id":3429,"date":"2010-04-01T01:10:19","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T06:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=3488"},"modified":"2010-03-15T03:29:38","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T08:29:38","slug":"greetings-from-afar-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/04\/01\/greetings-from-afar-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Greetings from Afar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Playmate<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

All children, or almost all of them, go through a stage in which they invent imaginary playmates. Russian children are no different from any others in that respect. Viktor and Katya Boikia\u2019s little girl, Vika was no different. When Vika was about five years old, she was constantly talking to her parents about her friend \u201cNatasha\u201d. Of course, her parents didn\u2019t pay much attention to her. They thought that it was funny, and sort of amusing\u2026 except for one thing\u2026 \u201cNatasha\u201d was always hungry\u2026 Vika was always going to the kitchen and raiding the refrigerator, cookie jar, or bread bin for food\u2026 \u201cfor Natasha\u201d. Now, Vika, unfortunately, takes after her father, who is a short, stocky man with a tendency to gain weight rapidly\u2026 so after a while, Viktor and Katya began to become a little concerned. <\/span><\/p>\n

One evening, last summer, about ten o\u2019clock, Vika was in the process of making one of her \u201craids\u201d when her mother stopped her and confronted her. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be eating at this hour, you know. It isn\u2019t good for you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not for me, Mama. It\u2019s for Natasha\u201d. Vika beamed. \u201cShe\u2019s always hungry\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d Katya Boika, said somberly to her child, \u201cyou tell Natasha that it isn\u2019t good to eat at this hour. She\u2019ll have to wait until morning like the rest of us\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll right, Mama\u201d. Vika nodded. \u201cI\u2019ll tell her\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next evening, it was the same\u2026 about ten o\u2019clock\u2026 half an hour after Vika had been put to bed. Once again, she was in the kitchen, foraging for food \u201cfor Natasha\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once again, Vika\u2019s mother sent her back to her room with a stern admonition concerning \u201cNtasha\u2019s\u201d late night eating habits. \u201cBad enough in the daytime\u201d, Katya told Viktor, as they settled back in to continue watching television. Down the hall, they could hear Vika\u2019s voice as she somberly delivered the message to her imaginary friend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not too long after that, Viktor\u2019s father passed away. The family, of course, traveled to St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) for the funeral, and to help tie up \u201cloose ends\u201d. St. Petersburg is a lovely city\u2026 a tourist mecca, and the traditional capital of the Russian Tsars\u2026 and known throughout the world for having withstood a three year long siege by the Germans during the Second World War. Over half ot the population died in the \u201cSiege of Leningrad\u201d\u2026 mostly from disease and famine\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after their arrival in Viktor\u2019s boyhood home, Vika began to investigate the flat. She had, of course, been there before, but with the adults so preoccupied, she now had a more or less free run, so long as she didn\u2019t break anything\u2026 about which she had been sternly warned. Vika was a currious child, and the big flat on Nevski Prospect was fascinating to her. It had been in her father\u2019s family for many years, and was filled with momentos of generations past. <\/span><\/p>\n

No one paid much attention to Vika for about an hour\u2026 then, she came running up to her mother, shouting, and waving a small, framed photograph\u2026 “Mamma\u2026 Look! It\u2019s Natasha. What is her picture doing here in Grandfather\u2019s flat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shock, horror and realization crossed Katya Boika\u2019s face as she looked at her daughter, and then at the aging photo. It was an old family portrait, taken shortly before the Second World War. Viktor had shown it to her once. In it, among others, were Viktor\u2019s grandparents, whom he had never met, along with his father and his aunt\u2026 who had died\u2026 during the Siege of Leningrad\u2026 some fifty years before\u2026 at the age of five\u2026 of starvation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a0 2009 by J. Lee. Choron: All rights reserved unless granted specifically by the author in writing<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Playmate All children, or almost all of them, go through a stage in which they invent imaginary playmates. Russian children are no different from any others in that respect. Viktor and Katya Boikia\u2019s little girl, Vika was no different. When Vika was about five years old, she was constantly talking to her parents about her friend \u201cNatasha\u201d. Of course, her parents didn\u2019t pay much attention to her. They thought that it was funny, and sort of amusing\u2026 except for one thing\u2026 \u201cNatasha\u201d was always hungry\u2026 Vika was always going to the kitchen and raiding the refrigerator, cookie jar, or bread bin for food\u2026 \u201cfor Natasha\u201d. Now, Vika, unfortunately, takes after her father, who is a short, stocky man with a tendency to gain weight rapidly\u2026 so after a while, Viktor and Katya began to become a little concerned. One evening, last summer, about ten o\u2019clock, Vika was in the process of making one of her \u201craids\u201d when her mother stopped her and confronted her. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be eating at this hour, you know. It isn\u2019t good for you.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s not for me, Mama. It\u2019s for Natasha\u201d. Vika beamed. \u201cShe\u2019s always hungry\u201d. \u201cWell,\u201d Katya Boika, said somberly to her child, \u201cyou tell Natasha that it isn\u2019t good to eat at this hour. She\u2019ll have to wait until morning like the rest of us\u201d. \u201cAll right, Mama\u201d. Vika nodded. \u201cI\u2019ll tell her\u201d. The next evening, it was the same\u2026 about ten o\u2019clock\u2026 half an hour after Vika had been put to bed. Once again, she was in the kitchen, foraging for food \u201cfor Natasha\u201d. Once again, Vika\u2019s mother sent her back to her room with a stern admonition concerning \u201cNtasha\u2019s\u201d late night eating habits. \u201cBad enough in the daytime\u201d, Katya told Viktor, as they settled back in to continue watching television. Down the hall, they could hear Vika\u2019s voice as she somberly delivered the message to her imaginary friend. Not too long after that, Viktor\u2019s father passed away. The family, of course, traveled to St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) for the funeral, and to help tie up \u201cloose ends\u201d. St. Petersburg is a lovely city\u2026 a tourist mecca, and the traditional capital of the Russian Tsars\u2026 and known throughout the world for having withstood a three year long siege by the Germans during the Second World War. Over half ot the population died in the \u201cSiege of Leningrad\u201d\u2026 mostly from disease and famine\u2026 Shortly after their arrival in Viktor\u2019s boyhood home, Vika began to investigate the flat. She had, of course, been there before, but with the adults so preoccupied, she now had a more or less free run, so long as she didn\u2019t break anything\u2026 about which she had been sternly warned. Vika was a currious child, and the big flat on Nevski Prospect was fascinating to her. It had been in her father\u2019s family for many years, and was filled with momentos of generations past. No one paid much attention to Vika for about an hour\u2026 then, she came running up to her mother, shouting, and waving a small, framed photograph\u2026 “Mamma\u2026 Look! It\u2019s Natasha. What is her picture doing here in Grandfather\u2019s flat?\u201d Shock, horror and realization crossed Katya Boika\u2019s face as she looked at her daughter, and then at the aging photo. It was an old family portrait, taken shortly before the Second World War. Viktor had shown it to her once. In it, among others, were Viktor\u2019s grandparents, whom he had never met, along with his father and his aunt\u2026 who had died\u2026 during the Siege of Leningrad\u2026 some fifty years before\u2026 at the age of five\u2026 of starvation. \u00a9\u00a0 2009 by J. Lee. Choron: All rights reserved unless granted specifically by the author in writing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}