KIEV, UKRAINE, 1940S
Little Victoria got a new dress for her aunt's wedding, a present from her father’s patient Tatiana Anisimovna, big and soft woman with round face, sad smile and small knot of hair on the back of her head. She had progressive kidney failure and her skin was pale and pasty. Her husband returned from the war a General only to find his wife sick with no hope to survive her disease, never mind to have a child. Tatiana showered Victoria with all her unspent love. 1940s wedding dresses
In the city with bombed, crumbling buildings, closed stores, hunger and unthinkable poverty, she planned a surprise for her little friend.
It was a real undertaking; first, Tatiana seduced her husband, the decorated air force General to get her a parachute.
“Are you going to jump, Tanechka? What did I do?” teased the young General happy to fulfill his wife’s any wish. When the beautiful white silk with the help of Tatiana’s scissors and thread became a girl’s dress, she embroidered the bottom and the sleeves with piercing blue cornflowers.
Victoria could not let her hands go. The warm neck of Aunty Tanya smelled like bread and flowers. She loved this woman so much. She never saw such a beautiful dress and Aunty Tanya said it was hers! Even Babushka cried when she saw her “maidele” in the new dress.