The Museum of Abandoned Secrets

us.”
    ***
    From Daryna Goshchynska’s Audio Archives:
Night on the Dnieper. Boozerov.
    Format: MP3
Sampling: 22 kHz
Bit rate: 88kBit/sec
Created: 04/27/2004
Modified: 04/27/2004
    I didn’t want to scatter the fish—so I didn’t call out to you.... Voice, you see, it carries far at night—someone coughs on Trukhanov Island, and you can hear it all the way over here. Crawfish? Yes, boys trap them at night here...and a ways over, beyond the Paton Bridge. You can buy some; they sell them for two hryvna a piece.
    A drink?—of course, anytime! Good thinking that you brought some, it’s an indispensable part of fishing, ha...like tackle. I have some with me, here. In a flask. Would you like some? No? And you...what’s your patronymic? Adrian Ambrozievich? Yes, it’s cognac. Transcarpathian. I always bring some when I go fishing. Here’s to your health!
Bud’mo
, yes. We had this delegation from Israel once—took them to dinner at The Presidential, top-notch, everything like it’s supposed to be...and their interpreter did notknow this word, he asked, whose “buddy” are we talking about? Ha...well,
bud’mo
!
    Uff
. Have a pickle—it’s homemade, marinated. I highly recommend it; my wife’s a wiz at these.
    Yes, we cooperate with them. With Israelis, and the Poles. Mainly on the Holocaust, we have the war period fairly well represented as it is. With the Poles, we also work on Starobilsk, where their officers were executed in the camp, the ones from Katyn group. Pardon, I didn’t catch that? Sure, if we need something from them, they don’t turn us down either...
    Oh, in that sense.
    I know, Nika told you.
    You know, she has the highest regard for you. Highest. She’s an ambitious girl, thank God...I’ve no idea where she gets it—I was never known to have any special ambitions, and my wife’s the same. And you know—I’m happy to see it. I’m happy. Having ambition in life—one needs that. Yes, we hope so, knock on wood.... Her teacher praises her too...her professor, I mean. Of course, one worries, how else? She’s my only one, you see. Do you have children?
    You must. Children, young people, are a must. Absolutely. Otherwise—what’s there to live for?
    Oy, stop with that talking, as they say in Odessa! Work—please. You know what they say: it’s not like work will run away, and someone else can drink the vodka. Here, let’s have another round. To your health!
Bud’mo
! Have a pickle...homemade.
    Yes, so that’s how it goes.
    And as far as my Jewish origins are concerned, I know everything I need to know already. I don’t need those...Israeli contacts for that.
    Only, I must ask you—this is all just between us, okay? Not a word to Nika. She doesn’t know everything, and she doesn’t need to...
    Fuckin’...! Lost it! That was a bite...beg pardon. We should talk quieter, the fish—they’re smart. Some, you know, grab the bait and don’t even touch the hook. Like people.
    That’s alright though. We’ll bring them, as they say, to light. Let me just hook a new worm...
    Yes, according to Israeli law I am, basically, Jewish. The way they have it, one’s nationality comes from your mother. If you’re born to a Jewish woman—you’re a Jew. But then my daughter is not, because her mom’s Ukrainian. It’s funny, a kind of a...zoological nationalism. I never understood this; we used to all be—Soviet people...alright, Russian, what’s the difference. But what country we had! Everyone was afraid of us. Oh! Now it’s coming, good things come to those who wait, as my father-in-law used to say. Fishy, fishy in the brook, Papa catch him on a hook...
    And you are from Lviv, Ambrozievich? Well, then, we’re compadres. I was born there too. Peace Street, former Lontsky Street...the MGB prison. Yes, that’s where I was born. In prison. So the organization, you could say, is where I come from, my native land. For life. My native land and nationality...and my mother, the woman who gave birth to me—she also had a relationship with the organization. She was sent to infiltrate the banderas in ’45...with a particularly important mission. That’s how it goes...
    Only it’s not a woman’s work. God forbid.
    I do know her name. Lea Goldman—that’s how she was called. My mother, the woman who gave birth to me. In Israel, by the way, she is listed among the victims of the Holocaust. As perished in 1942 in Przemysl, in the ghetto. That’s how it goes.... And you say—approach your