Chapter One

The Soviet Way

It looked like a Facebook video link. The thumbnail picture depicted a middle-aged woman looking at the camera. She wasn’t smiling. She wasn’t stern either. She looked rather judgmental. Her chin was up, her head was slightly tilted to the left, and her eyes appeared to look down on you. She had a white evening dress on. She was squeezed between some people. The bodies of the two individuals were partially in the picture, not enough to make out their gender though. Behind the woman, there was a filing cabinet?! Maybe it is a picture from an office party? From the 90’s? Or somewhere in Brighton Beach? There was a caption in Russian. It was her name: Zinaida Badhan. Being of middle age, she must have been born and raised in Communist Soviet Union…

I clicked on the link.

It took me to a Facebook page where this woman appeared to have authored an article about children’s obligatory duties towards their parents.

My mom texted me this link. Here we go again, I thought.

Zinaida stated that children were ultimately in debt before their parents for being born, raised, fed, clothed and cared for. Zinaida didn’t hide her disdain for children who abandoned their parents.

I hesitated. I always do, before deciding to respond, in a civil and respectful manner, to the text message apparently sent to remind me about my duties to awaken some love and trigger guilt and shame for my behavior. This is how my mom expresses her love to me.

Fuck it! I’ll respond. After all, conflict is a good thing! It ripens an argument faster. Conflict is a duel. Either, one of you walks away with a “saved” dignity, or both become irreparably damaged.

[to be continued]