Boomerang of Happiness - 12

When they arrived in Dushanbe, for the first three weeks Alex and Anna were put up in a temporary apartment owned by the Ministry of Defense. Anna immediately pointed out how “provincial” and small the city was. The apartment was conveniently located downtown, so on the first evenings Alex and Anna took walks around downtown, but Anna didn’t really like that and on the third day Alex went for a walk by himself. The apartment was minimally furnished and had a small poorly equipped kitchen. Using that as a pretext, Anna managed to get herself out of cooking, and they lived on what Alex knew how to make, mostly scrambled eggs, sandwiches, and pasta.

Alex would go for his training and information sessions during the day while Anna stayed in the apartment, mostly watching TV and only occasionally getting out to buy some groceries or to walk around. She was bored and constantly complained about Dushanbe.

“And they call it their capital???” she’d say with condescension. “It’s just a big village with marble government buildings, there’s nothing to do here!”

“What exactly did you expect you’d be doing here?” Alex asked, perplexed.

“Going to movies and theater at least, like I did in Novosibirsk!”

“Honestly, how many times did you do that in the entire time that I’ve known you? We only went to the movies a couple of times. And then, of course, that one time when we went to Novosibirsk together for that foreign film festival.”

“Well, at least I had a choice there! I could go anytime if I wanted to! And here they have only one half-dead Russian drama theater and a couple of cinemas! And did you see them? It’s like they were built in the 1920s and never got repaired! There’s nothing on TV, just three channels and one of them is entirely in Tajik! And this thing where everything is in Tajik, I can’t even figure out the street names! This city is impossible to live in if you don’t know the language!”

“Well, since you have nothing to do anyway, maybe you should take some Tajik language classes,” Alex suggested.

“And why would I do that?” Anna snapped angrily.

“I don’t know, maybe because it’s one of the oldest languages in the entire Soviet space,” Alex said calmly and patiently. “Did you know that Tajik is a modern version of Farsi? Ibn-Sina and other great medieval Oriental poets spoke and wrote in it.”

“Are you kidding me???” Anna clearly didn’t understand Alex’s genuine desire to find something for her to do. She thought he was just showing off, indirectly accusing her of being ignorant. “I live here and now, why would I care about some medieval Farsi-speaking healers and poets?”

“Because their language survived to become the modern-day Tajik that you are so upset about not understanding.”

“No, that’s not what I’m upset about. Why can’t they put up all the signs in Russian as well? It’s the Soviet Union, after all, and Russian is the official language here. Like in Alma-Ata, almost everything was in Russian.”

“Should I remind you the name of the republic we are in? It literally means ‘the land of the Tajiks.’ They do what they think is best to preserve their old culture and language. Besides, you are not fair, I see a lot of Russian signs as well.”

“Well, you must be walking in other parts of the city because I don’t see any,” Anna would say belligerently.

They had arguments like this almost every day, and Anna would go on and on in her complaints about the city and how everything scarce and poor was in it. Early into their living together, Alex realized that the only way to shut Anna up was sex. When he felt she was spiraling out of control with her grievances, he’d come up to her, gently embrace her, look straight into her angry eyes, and say, kissing her on the forehead, then cheeks, and then lips, “C’mon, the main thing is that we are together, isn’t it? You said you’d go anywhere with me, even to the edge of the world. Here we are, at the edge of the Soviet Union, and why don’t we just enjoy each other?” They would immediately get carried away, and Anna would always give herself fully to love-making, as if it was the only thing that mattered at the moment. She didn’t talk at all and if Alex tried to whisper something tender and silly into her ear, she’d cut him off by saying, “No words needed. Just shut up and do me like it’s our last time.” He didn’t mind that, but after they were done and rested, she’d start complaining about her miserable life in Dushanbe again.

“Wait till you get to Khorog,” Alex once cut her off, annoyed by her complaints.

“Khorog?!? You didn’t even mention that to me.”

“Did, too. I told you that’s where my post was going to be, high in the mountains of the Gorno-Badakhshan Region.”

“But you told me I’d be staying in the city…”

“Khorog is a city,” Alex cut her off, putting emphasis on “is.” “A city in the Pamir mountains, where a very distinct ethnic group of Tajiks lives. They say, Pamirians are all taller, leaner, and more beautiful. Fun fact: most of them have dark hair and blue or green eyes, nice contrast, you know…” At this point, Alex was firing off this information almost as quickly as Anna usually would, as if afraid to give her a point of entry for interruption.

“I don’t care!” Anna suddenly shouted. “I’m not going there! I told you I didn’t want to go to the mountains!”

“So, if you are not going there, where will you go? Back to your parents?” Alex asked calmly, as if he was talking to an unreasonably demanding toddler.

The idea of going back to her parents cooled Anna off. “No, you know I can’t go back to my parents! They’d think that our marriage failed and blame me for it because they love you so much! I think they love you more than they actually love me now! I don’t know what you told my father at the wedding, but he was completely taken in by you! It’s like you are their son now, rather than I’m their daughter!”

“So, what do you suggest we do then?” Alex said, ignoring most of her rant and staying on point. “I have to go to Khorog in three days, that’s where my post is.”

“Remember you said that you’d be staying there and I could stay in the city?” Anna was grasping at straws at this point.

“First, I meant Khorog. Because my actual post will be even higher in the mountains, about 20 miles away from Khorog toward the Pamir glaciers on a winding mountain road. Second, how come now you don’t mind staying in Dushanbe, after your endless complaints about it all this time?” Alex asked, frustrated with how quickly she turned things around.

“I mind, oh, how I mind!” Anna barked. “But it’s better than being in the mountains! I never agreed to that.”

“Really? I clearly remember how you said you didn’t want to have a weekend husband because the only way for us to make it work would be if I come to the city for the weekends.”

“I thought you meant Dushanbe, and I didn’t even know what a hellhole this was going to be! I can only imagine how much worse the freaking mountainous Khorog will be!”

“Going back and forth between Dushanbe and Khorog for me would have been impossible. It’s an 11-hour drive through the Pamir mountains or a 45-minute flight. My bosses would have never approved this type of travel for the weekends. And then there’s another leg from Khorog to the post itself…”

“I don’t care about those details!” Anna exclaimed. “I see what this Dushanbe is, I can only imagine how bad Khorog will be.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have a chance to verify how vivid your imaginations is in three days,” Alex noted to himself that he started to use the passive-aggressive language his mother was so good at. He added in a more conciliatory tone, “There’s no other way around it.”

“Please, Alex, can you ask your bosses if I could stay here in Dushanbe?” Anna begged.

“Already did,” Alex lied firmly because he knew what the answer would be without even asking. “They said no way, you are my wife and you knew who you married. It’s just like military wives have to follow their husbands.”

“But I’m not in a military wife!” Anna protested meekly.

“Sorry to disappoint you, honey, but being married to me is worse than being a military wife. I work in a top-secret sector of the military, even though as a scientist I don’t wear the uniform. I thought you knew that…”

“But…” Anna started.

“No buts,” Alex interrupted her. “Here’s the thing: You either go to Khorog with me in three days, or return to your parents. No third option here, and I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

To Part 13

Back to Part 11