Sergeyich tries to contact Vitalina

Sergeyich tries to contact Vitalina after discovering a long-delayed New Year’s card from her and Angelica. He manages to place the call, but when a familiar voice answers, he cannot speak; he hangs up and listens as the unanswered exchange gives way to silence.

The Card and the Impulse to Call

Returning home after delivering the mail, Sergeyich finds the letters in his jacket pocket. He lights two church candles beside a third already burning on the table and opens the first envelope. The New Year’s card is signed by Vitalina and Angelica, wishing him wisdom, health, and peace. Its arrival recalls how he had spent New Year’s Eve alone, waiting for midnight, drinking honey vodka, and going to bed. The greetings make contact feel newly possible, but also sharpen the sense of time and distance between the family and him.

The Attempt

Sergeyich’s attention turns to the mobile phone lying beside the alarm clock. He finds the family’s number and presses the call button almost accidentally, then raises the phone to his ear. When Vitalina answers and asks who is calling, he wants to respond but cannot bring himself to speak. He hangs up without identifying himself. The small, completed action of placing the call thus fails at the point where it might have become a conversation.

Silence and Estrangement

After the call, Sergeyich lowers the phone to the table, bows his head, and weeps. The phone rings back, but he listens for several minutes without answering; by the time he recognizes that the device has gone quiet, its ringing seems to continue in his ears. That lingering echo turns the failed contact into an image of the relationship itself: a connection has briefly been attempted, yet neither reconciliation nor an exchange of words follows. The scene ends only when the imagined ringing fades and silence returns.