HAPPINESS HAS NO EYES

From "Stories from America" by Mikhail Fomin

It’ was midnight in New York. We were leaving for another city at dawn. When went out of the hotel to get to the airport by taxi, the taxi was waiting for us. The taxi-driver was glad to meet us. While talking to us on the way to the airport, all of a sudden he asked us in Russian:

"Why don't we speak Russian?"

"You are speaking English all the time", I said in Russian: "Oh I am Russian. I’m a native speaker of Russian. I have already been living in America for thirteen years. Now it’s 1990. How lucky I am! You are from Russia!"

Since we spoke Russian, our taxi-driver had had a chance to speak his native language. He was very happy and excited. We had a lovely and sincere talk. And his final question at parting from us was:

"Do Russian people living in Yakutia speak to you in Yakut?"

"Yes, certainly. Some of them know our language well and speak to us in our native language."

"What nice people they are! It’s a great happiness to anyone to speak one’s native language!" said the driver.

Translated by Nadya Varlamova