Taking Pictures

I wasn’t aware that there were not many photographs of Sergei until a reader called it to my attention.  She had just come across my blog and sent me a very touching email.  I did a quick Google search to check it out for myself.  I found about a dozen pictures that are actually of Sergei Kourdakov.  I didn’t count the repeats or the different book cover photos.  The other hundreds of pictures that popped up in my search were related in some way or other to the word “Sergei.”  But they were not what I was looking for.

I also checked the photographs in each version of Sergei’s book.  My hardback copies of The Persecutor and Sergei each have the same twenty-seven pictures in them.  My paperback copy of Forgive Me, Natasha has only thirteen pictures.  My sister’s paperback copy has even less photos in it.

One reason there aren’t many photographs of Sergei is because he only brought a few with him when he defected.  He stashed personal papers and photographs in a waterproof pouch that he fastened securely to a belt.  He hoped they would survive, along with him, during his treacherous swim to freedom.  Sergei showed me his photos and identification papers that were secured in the plastic pouch.  All these items are pictured in the hardback version of his book.

There would have been a lot more pictures of Sergei if he had lived longer.  No one expected Sergei’s life to end so suddenly at the age of twenty-one.  In retrospect, I wish I had taken a few more pictures, but I don’t like interrupting the moment to pose for the camera.  I prefer to keep many memories to myself.

After hearing from another reader, a young French student, I decided to add two more pictures of Sergei to the side bar of my blog.  I wanted to share the humorous side of Sergei.  If you read The Persecutor you wouldn’t know Sergei even had a humorous side.  In one photo, Sergei surprised me when he suddenly scooped me up in his arms.  In the other picture I retaliated by trying to pick him up.  Sergei was so startled by my actions that he was almost knocked off balance.  He threw his head back and could not stop laughing.  I had never seen him so completely carefree until that moment.

I was young . . . I thought we had forever to take pictures.