|
Like most Russia girls Marina could not even admit to herself that she wanted to be a Russian bride to a western man, never mind telling her friends that, and far less her parents. With them she talked about science and a possible future in biology, which the whole family loved. They also discussed articles printed in academic periodicals, attended every performance put on by Russia theaters on tour in Siberia. And meanwhile, her life was not just passing by but flying by impossibly fast, leaving only changes in her character and little wrinkles-nothing for anyone else to notice yet, but all too evident to her-to remember them by. (Cosmetologists say that wrinkles start at the age of 20 or even sooner, and she was 29 already!)
She began by taking a good look at the boys in her college and later surveyed her male colleagues at work. And always there was something not quite right. Perhaps that was why she had skipped straight from "too soon" to what some might call "too late." Like most Russia girls she decided to study first so that family would not get in the way of her future career.
Then there was graduate school, and then her thesis. And when she made up her mind that it was time-and Marina, a level-headed Russia girl, decided at a very early age that stupid crushes and dumb little love affairs were not for her, that she was going to approach the problem sensibly and settle it once and for all-it turned out that her choices had dwindled to nothing. As for most Russia girls the correlation between her desire and her opportunities was rather like that old joke: "I want to buy a Mercedes but I can't. I can buy a goat, but I don't want to."
|
|
|
