NOVEL
Woody Paul Gray
Instead of introduction
Yesterday, after several years of absence, my kid bro made an appearance in Facebook asking me for a friend request. I was thinking just for seconds, whether to accept or decline it. After all I clicked the first one and here he came: Semen Siryi shared a link with me - a Morgan Freeman`s political video clip - demanding from President Donald Trump to tell the American people the truth about Russia`s election meddling.
My response was quick and sharp:
-Well, it`s not enough to share a link sitting in a luxurious condo apartments drinking a delicious evening coffee and sipping your favorite wine, while your native Ukraine is struggling to defend it`s territory and citizens from the deadly dangerous neighbor killing thousands of fellow- Ukrainians and your junior brother residing in a grotty one-bedroom flat with no furniture, except for the small kind of sofa, a table, with no fridge, no running hot water and a balcony with no roof. That`s the only apartment I could afford for the miserable retirement payment of 949 UAH, the lowest payment in the country, which was just recently increased up to 1 373UAH. that equals $50.00. per month. The last time I paid the rent for the apartment to the landlord I gave him only 950 UAH. I just didn`t have more. Within the last two weeks I didn`t have a penny on me and I`d have to wait no less than one week more, before I receive the next payment for my private English classes I provide via Skype and in my apartment. Actually, I had been in quite a desperate situation, as there was no food left in my flat, except for a plate of porridge. Luckily, that day I received a telephone call with the proposition to go to the forest to pick up mushrooms. Oh, God! Miracles do happen! (Mushrooms are fresh vegetarian food). I, though, warned my friends, that I didn`t have salt and oil to prepare the food. They were so kind, as to spare me some oil, salt, potatoes, garlic, onions, etc. That evening I had a grand meal.
Next day I had the first class with the student, who missed nearly two months of our lessons and I, naturally, didn`t get the money. Then during our lesson came the message from the bank about the additional 400 UAH to my retirement payment that I received on my account. That was awesome! What a lucky day!
That`s not enough to share a link with your brother. You`d better write a comment to it showing what you really think about it. What concerns me? I`d watched the clip as soon as it appeared. Besides, since January 2017 I have been writing the comments on different Russian forums (Russian media websites like RT, Life, etc.) fighting the Putin`s trolls first in English, after which they called me an American or a Canadian journalist(well-paid), CIA agent. Later, when I shifted to Russian, they called me the Ukrainian reporter, or, the SBU spy. Basically, I was tough writing sometimes, as dirty as they did. There was still the difference in style between us. My comments were grammatically and lexically correct and rather long, whereas their`s were totally rude with the usage of slang, as a rule. Since recently, the moderators of the Russian sites, where I commented, basically blocked me, I guess because of the great amount of followers I`d obtained.
So, bro, share your feelings, but not the links. You`re becoming as infantile, as the majority of Western society is often accused of.
Last year, spending my summertime near the town lake, I had a chat with a friend of mine telling him a story from Yalta. I got acquainted
with a young Afro-American man, who worked as a doctor at the local hospital. He had a white wife and two gorgeous Afro-American kid daughters. We talked English, of course. The young man told me, that the salary, he received, as a doc, wasn`t enough to survive for the family of 4 in a resort town of Yalta. The solution came from the young man`s brother. He was a New Yorker then, nor a rich man, but neither a drug dealer, just a blue-collar employee. He suggested his kid brother to send him $300.00. per month. Sending the money on the regular basis made the young family quite happy, as it turned out to be a substantial addition to the family`s budget. Why couldn`t your brother sent you $300.00, or, at least $100.00. per month to make your life less miserable? Why should he? He doesn`t owe me anything. And besides, he`s not an Afro-American. He`s a Ukrainian by origin. And there`s a famous Ukrainian proverb: My house is in the outskirts and I don`t know anyone (meaning I don`t care). You know I don`t have a brother or a sister. Otherwise they would help me, this way or the other. (My brother lives overseas in a luxurious condo-apartments, drives an expensive sports car, has a well-paid job. My sister lives in this town owning three apartments (one two-bedroom and the other two one bedroom flats).
There was another story about the grandma of my pupil, who lives in America and pays for the private English classes, I conduct to her granddaughter residing in Yalta. Once I asked her to pay me in advance due to my hard financial circumstances. She agreed and without any further delay sent me the money. But before that, we had a chat. It turned out, that a decade ago she also lived in Yalta. There was once a situation when she, a teacher of the local college, facing temporary financial problems had to address one local businessman asking to borrow her some money, she needed desperately. The man was kind enough to sponsor her. Sometime later the woman returned the loan back. My new friend not only gave me the money in advance. She spared me $500.00. totally within two years sending me presents in the form of $100.00. bills every Christmas and birthday. It was so sweet of her. Time passed and I wrote her a message saying that my situation got better and I don`t need the money any more. Moreover, I promised to return back the money I owe her providing additional private English classes for her grandaughter within the next school year.
So, bro, the idea to join the Facebook and ask me for a friend`s request after years of absence was wrong, totally wrong. Now all our mutual friends, at least, those, who have good command of English, would have the opportunity to get acquainted with the details of our family life, which my sister tried so hard to hide. I wonder, why don`t you just enjoy the luxurious life you`re having out there overseas, totally forgetting about your past, your relative ties, etc.
My warning had an immediate effect. In just an hour or so both the link and my comment disappeared, most likely deleted by my bro.
In the middle of the night I woke up and a brilliant idea came into my mind to write about my family life.
Saturday, October 14, 2017 03:25 a.m. Ivano-Frankivsk
