One winter, a man came in. He was tall and wore a sheepskin coat. His face was red from being outside in the cold… Later, Mom returned home. She closed the door, letting clouds of steam into the house. She said, ‘Oh, Pavel, here you are! ’ She looked happy. I thought, ‘Pavel? Who is he? ’ Mom took off her coat and sat on the chest at the other end of the table. They started talking quietly. At first, I didn’t understand what they were saying. Mom was looking down and fidgeting with scissors. Now she seemed nervous. The man looked directly at my mother as if trying to persuade her to do something. Then I realized — he wanted to marry my mother! This wasn’t part of my plan at all. We lived very well with my mother. I always empathized with her and said, ‘Mom, you should eat too! Why do you give everything to me? ’ And here is this unknown man! Who knows what it will all come to…

In the early spring of 1965, Vasily arrived in Novosibirsk unexpectedly… I had a canvas with the painting ‘Conversation’ on my easel. I had already signed it up to be displayed at the second regional exhibition in Omsk. He sat on the floor in front of the painting, just like he did in front of my graduation work in Kiev. Who taught him to look at the canvas like a professional, from below? He said, ‘Look at this painting… Why is it so good? Because you depicted your own life, it is all dear to you…’