The Black Sea is a longed-for destination whose nearness offers little comfort to those unable to reach it. For Sergey Sergeyich, the sea becomes a promise of an ordinary pleasure just ahead; for Aisylu, it is a wish repeatedly postponed. By the time he finally travels away, the unmade visit is bound to the fate of Bekir, who had promised to take him there.

Aisylu’s Deferred Visit

During Sergey Sergeyich’s third dinner visit to Aisylu’s home, the sea comes up again. She speaks of it with a gentle, distinctive note in her voice and says she would like to go to the beach, though somehow it never works out. She has not been there for five years, despite Akhtem having offered to take her. He had driven friends from St Petersburg to Kacha, the nearest coastal village, but Aisylu’s own visit remained unrealized.

The visitors’ memory of the coast carries a small comic reversal: friends from the north brought Akhtem and Aisylu a large box of Turkish delight from Russia, not realizing that eastern sweets were easy to find in St Petersburg and might seem an absurd gift for Crimean Tatars. Against that laughter, Aisylu’s unfulfilled wish to see the sea again is quietly persistent.

A Promise of a Visit

Bekir responds decisively when the sea is mentioned. He promises that they will go soon, just after the weekend, with Sergey Sergeyich coming along and Aisha staying behind to look after the house and animals. The promise gives the beekeeper a concrete expectation: he may soon see the Black Sea and perhaps swim, even without swimming trunks.

After dinner, Sergey Sergeyich declines tea and a ride back to the apiary, choosing instead to walk. Near the mosque, the salt in the warm wind makes the coast feel close. He thinks that in a couple of days he will see the sea, perhaps even go into the water in his underpants. The prospect briefly opens onto his loneliness: he wonders who would care to look at an old man, and thinks that perhaps only his bees need him. The sea is thus not merely scenery or recreation, but a glimpse of a life beyond the isolation he feels.

The Unvisited Sea

The promised excursion never happens. Later, while travelling with Aisha, Sergey Sergeyich remembers Bekir, who never managed to show him the Black Sea. He regrets both the young man’s fate and the sea he did not see. The paired losses make the missed visit more than a broken plan: the coast remains a measure of what the war has taken from ordinary life, including a simple journey that had seemed only days away.

From the road, families are still driving toward the sea. Their movement contrasts with Sergey Sergeyich’s backward glance at the passing cars, searching the windows when he recognizes plates from his native region. The Black Sea remains physically near and accessible to others, yet for him it is inseparable from displacement, regret, and Bekir’s unfulfilled promise.