The lasagna is, as luck would have it, more than edible. The cake is maybe a little lopsided, but it looks good. Kirill's father is a very talkative and friendly man, though Kirill seems a little embarrassed by him.
"You see that photograph behind you?" Mr. Sorokin asks you during lunch.
You turn to see a framed photo of Kirill on the wall. He's a few years younger and decked out in a medieval costume.
"He played Hamlet!" Mr. Sorokin says.
"It was just one monologue in a silly theater competition," Kirill explains.
"He won!" Mr. Sorokin tells you.
"Only because everyone else was bad," Kirill says.
"I have video of it!" Mr. Sorokin stands up and grabs his laptop from the living room.
Kirill calls something out to him in Russian. It doesn't take a Russian-speaker to be able to tell he's begging him not to do whatever he's about to do.
Mr. Sorokin place the laptop in front of you and Kirill and stands behind you as the video plays.
"Oh my god, why?" Kirill groans.
In the video, the younger Kirill strikes a dramatic pose as he looks off in anguish into the distance. The monologue is in Russian, but you get the gist of what's going on.
"Please turn it off," Kirill begs his father.
"Why aren't you proud? You were amazing," Mr. Sorokin says.
Words you never could imagine your own father ever uttering.