Today I am 75. We had a table for eleven in the yard: neighbours, two cousins, the family of the neighbour's son, and Lena Pak with her husband and a very serious cake. It was cold. My wife said "outside, so that the ancestors can see". The ancestors did not complain.
Vika called through a program that the network lets through, but the picture was in squares. Her face broke into pieces and came back. Roman called from Almaty and the line dropped at the moment he began to sing. I listened to the beginning, "Happy birthday to you", and then the silence, and then Nelli sang the rest, in a high thin voice that I have known for 49 years.
When I blew out the candle I wished for the same thing as every year: that the box will not be closed. Nelli asked what I wished and I said "nothing, just a good rice year". She knows me, she did not believe it.
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