Sonya's Childhood House

Early 1970s, USA

[The choice of language for their dialogue is irrelevant.]

Sergey: "Is this the house in which you grew up?"
Sonya:  "Yes. My mother had (or should I say will have?) a garden over there. There was ..."

Sergey reacts, appearing to become upset by her comments.

Sonya:  "What is wrong?"
Sergey: "I am sorry."
Sonya:  "Why?"
Sergey: "You lost all of this."
Sonya:  "Don't be. I have gained more than I lost. When I was young I had my parents. Now I have you and all our friends."
Sergey: "Seeing this, it makes me realize that what you had told me of your childhood, how nice it was, is true."
Sonya:  "We don't need stuff to be happy. I was alienated when young. I have always had a sense that I did not belong. I feel a part of something now. I am needed and am not forced to fit in. ... I may have been lucky then but I am lucky now."
Sergey: "You had a good life."
Sonya:  "Appearances can be deceiving. Life in the US, as everywhere else, is complicated. While it is true that here we would be safe, we would have technology to make our lives easier, that doesn't make us happier. Even people in the upper middle class would be subjugated to the needs of capitalism. And while it is not so bad for people with money, this doesn't make things good for everyone. ... Besides, if anything, it is not being confined to what people consider a good life which makes me happy. That is what freedom is."

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Background Notes:

This occurs after the time period of the story. I have some details of what comes after, but nothing is precise and may be rearranged (redesigned and researched better) if I do tell them. This is why the setting time and place are not well defined. This also means that this may not be cannon.

Sergey and Sonya were sent to work in the US due to a comment Sonya made which angered her bosses. They are working at the embassy, so still KGB, but legal. ... This is in part a reference to the beginning of Sonya's story when she basically says that she will not speak out against the Soviet government in order to not be sent back to the US. It is also a reference to a practice which actually occurred in the Brezhnev era. Mostly, though, I wanted to point out that not everyone wants to be in the US. ... The reason she made the comment is that despite whatever loyalty or restraint she has, she still has her own opinions, and is still libertarian.

They had taken the opportunity for Sonya to show Sergey her childhood home. While Sonya had previously told Sergey about her childhood and what life in the US is like, this is the first time he has actually seen something from her life before she ended up in the past.