Angelica

Angelica is the daughter of Sergey Sergeyich and Vitalina, and her name marks both an early conflict between her parents and the possibility of a bond that outlasts their separation. Her father first registered her as Svetlana, but Vitalina changed the name to Angelica when she left him and took their daughter with her. Although Angelica lives far from Sergey Sergeyich, he continues to regard her as his daughter without qualification; handwritten cards, his attempt to send a greeting, and later family news make her presence a persistent part of his life.

Identity and the Naming Dispute

Before Angelica’s birth, Sergey Sergeyich and Vitalina argued in his dream over what to call their daughter. Vitalina rejected the ordinary names he proposed and insisted that she wanted to call the child Angelica. Sergey Sergeyich objected that a name so conspicuous would invite ridicule in their village, while Vitalina answered that they could leave if people laughed. The disagreement ends in the dream with him assuming that she could not register the child without him, a thought that exposes his confidence in his own authority rather than resolving their dispute.

The later account establishes what happened: Sergey Sergeyich registered the baby as Svetlana, and Vitalina changed her name to Angelica when she left him and took her away. The outcome gives the dream’s argument a second meaning. Angelica’s name is not merely a choice between familiar and unusual names; it is the surviving trace of a family division in which her parents made separate decisions about the child’s identity.

A Daughter at a Distance

Sergey Sergeyich receives cards signed by Vitalina and Angelica, including New Year greetings and a card for Defender of the Fatherland Day. At first, Vitalina has signed for both herself and their daughter. On a later card, however, Angelica writes her own name. Sergey Sergeyich studies the handwriting and notices that mother and daughter share small, similarly formed capital As, even as their Es differ. The detail delights him: the handwriting lets him perceive kinship in a form other than resemblance of face or features.

He displays the cards with their written messages facing outward and looks at them while eating. They prompt him to write a greeting for the approaching International Women’s Day. He decides that the message should be addressed to Vitalina and Angelica together, rather than separating the two in his mind: he imagines the family as divided into two parts, not three, and hopes that the parts may someday be joined again. On the back of a photograph, he writes, “Dear Vitalina and Angelica,” then adds “My” at the beginning. He supplies his new address, 37 Shevchenko Street, and hopes Vitalina might think that he has moved only one street away.

Family, Separation, and Recognition

When he later reflects on his life in Crimea, Sergey Sergeyich thinks of the bees as the only family he has left, while recognizing that Vitalina and Angelica live in Vinnytsia. Yet he distinguishes his relationship to them: Vitalina is his ex-wife, but Angelica remains his daughter wherever she lives and however much they quarrel. He wonders whether she has a boyfriend and what she tells him about her father. These thoughts make clear that distance has not erased his sense of parental attachment, even though the evidence does not show the two speaking directly during this period.

Sergey Sergeyich’s imagined walk through the vineyards briefly brings his former family into the landscape around him. He pictures Vitalina and Angelica accompanying him, then imagines Angelica responding joyfully to the place. The scene is a private construction rather than a reunion: she is present in his thoughts, while the actual family remains far away. Its contrast with the surrounding village and countryside makes his longing visible without changing the fact of their separation.

News of Angelica and Renewed Contact

Later, while speaking with Vitalina, Sergey Sergeyich asks how Angelica is. Vitalina says that mother and daughter had quarrelled the previous day but made up over breakfast. She also tells him that Angelica has a boyfriend ten years older than herself, whom she has not introduced to her mother; Vitalina worries that he may be married. Sergey Sergeyich responds that Vitalina should find out, perhaps by spying on them, briefly taking up the role of a concerned father despite the distance between him and his daughter.

The conversation occurs as Sergey Sergeyich asks Vitalina to help Aisha, the daughter of a Tatar man he knew, settle in Vinnytsia and continue her studies. Vitalina agrees that Aisha can stay with them if necessary, and Sergey Sergeyich recognizes that his former wife has taken both the request and him seriously. Before ending the call, he asks Vitalina to pass on his greeting to Angelica and tell her that she should listen to her mother. When Vitalina thanks him for the greeting card, he does not understand which card she means. The exchange thus joins a practical act of help with an imperfect but renewed family connection: Angelica remains absent from the conversation, yet her father’s card and his concern for her are acknowledged between her parents.