Scene 88

Scene Eighty-eight...St. Petersburg
Time: Afternoon, Saturday, October 26, 1946
Place: The beach
Storyteller: Janet


Nothing like a stroll along the shore after ballet class. It cools the sore feet. That looks like Sergey coming my way. Good. I need to talk with him.

"Master, do you have a few minutes? I could use some advice."

"Of course."

"Madame 'C' suggests I spend my senior year in Paris and take dance lessons after school hours."

He looks sad. "That would be excellent for your Rockettes career. Anna and I will help you find teachers...and it will be best for me, also. I love my wife, but you are like a haunting ghost from the past."

Tears flow down my cheeks.

Sergey continues, "You remind me of my old country. I had to leave, but miss it...Russia before the revolution...St. Petersburg. My home has changed names twice since then. 1914, Petrograd. 1924, Leningrad. I still can't call it that. I won't. Someday it will be my St. Petersburg again. Someday..."

"I hope it's soon, Sergey."

"Enough about me. How is your dad doing?"


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