Saying goodbye to my brother at the airport, my mother burst into tears: “We probably won’t meet again in this world… My mother is over seventy. She’s a little unglued. So she decided to see her brother and sister one last time. My uncle lives in Altai. Firstly, my mother and I visited him. And now we were on our way to Anapa, where my aunt lived. In six months, at Katie’s wedding,” my uncle laughed. “Of course I’ll invite you,” I laughed. “And don’t giggle,” my uncle smiled back. Just don’t get it wrong. He has a birthmark… The weather in Anapa was wonderful.
We were met by Aunt Anna and her husband Alex… The next morning, my younger cousin Mary and I went to the sea. We splashed around and basked in the sun. When we were hungry, we ran home. After a hearty lunch, I wanted to sleep. But Mary wouldn’t let me. She dragged me to the sea again, with the intention of going to the movies later. When we came out of the water again, two young men approached us. “Do you know how to get to Newton Street?” one asked. Mary explained. The other looked at me carefully, then asked: “Excuse me, is your name Katie?
When he saw my eyebrows rise in surprise, he hurried to continue, “You live in London, and you have a friend named Louise. She is my sister. I saw you in my sister’s photographs. I liked you, and I got to know you in detail. And then I noticed a birthmark under his left ear. The four of us went to the movies. And in the evening we took a long walk along the waterfront. As we were saying goodbye, Mike said that he and his friend were ending a business trip today and were leaving tomorrow, and he asked for permission to call me and asked for my phone number. He got both. Ten days later, he met my mom and me at the airport. And six months later, we got married.
