The Ukrainian dentist

Rhonda and Nick are having a picnic in Podilskyy Park. It is late summer and the leaves on the birch, black alder and hornbeam oaks are beginning to turn. The grass between them is soft and sweet. The air carries a faint scent of vanilla.

- Elizabeth Smither

Their new Ukrainian friends, Danyo and Vktoriya, stagger under a load of rugs, picnic baskets, bottles; they flop down and Danyo stretches out his arms as if he is blessing the landscape like a priest. He pats the rug and invites Rhonda to sit beside him. Nick opens the first bottle of Chernigivske while Vktoriya unpacks the picnic: varenyky, chicken Kyiv, potato salad, poppyseed rolls, broken glass cake. “Budmo,” they say, touching glasses.

Rhonda and Nick have been in Vinnytsia for only a month. Nick works as a construction supervisor at a chocolate factory. They met Danyo and Vktoriya in a nightclub called Planet Moda Bar. At the end of the night they danced together in a ring. Danyo is a computer engineer and Vktoriya an emergency room nurse. During the day, while Nick works, Rhonda explores. She is a gifted explorer, adventurous but wise.