In the Soviet period of deficit I possessed a toy doctor’s kit: thermometer, stethoscope, scissors, syringe, and spatula in a plastic box with a red cross.

There were no storage containers available back then. It is hard to imagine for those who were not born at that time: there were not even packing bags, everything was wrapped in paper.

And so my dad, a creative man with many hobbies who needs places to store “little things” for hunting, fishing, photography, autos, and music, spotted my plastic box with the red cross.

He offered me a trade. I had to give up my beautiful blue box in exchange for a small, opaque, also plastic, box. I didn’t agree right away. But at one point I just wanted to do something nice for my dad, so I went along with the exchange. If I hadn’t agreed, that box would hardly be in storage now. It was only because of Dad’s thriftiness. I found the box in Dad’s garage, and it contained some fishing lures and lines. Now I will keep it to myself and remember my dad and my happy childhood. 

Tatiyana