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Clothes are a luxury. Nadezhda shares her only raincoat with Larisa. Alexander and Alexei, 16, have learned to go without anything new. The Vaktins have no telephone, so contact with friends is limited. The wooden cabinet and rickety set of armchairs in the living room, which also doubles as master bedroom, were bought 17 years ago. There will be no money to replace the furniture anytime soon. The family's only entertainment is an old Russian- manufactured TV on which Alexander watches the latest sports and Nadezhda her favorite soap opera.
Since the Vaktins have no car, rising fuel prices do not directly affect them. But the cost of train and plane tickets has curbed any vacation plans; a single train ticket from Voronezh to Moscow has jumped from 10 rubles to 230. Holidays are strictly limited to the family's dacha 16 miles away, which they reach by a special bus costing 14 rubles.
The Vaktins spent their lifetime savings to build the two-story country house four years ago. Alexander's sister supplied construction materials cheaply, since she worked in the trade. His mother helped pay for the bricks. The dacha cost about 10,000 rubles, a sum that could have bought two cars at the time. But the property is debt free, and the Vaktins relax there every Sunday.
Though life is more difficult than ever, the Vaktins still trust that the future will bring better times. For now, their children have enough to eat, their flat is cozy, and they have Elsa, an Alsatian, to keep the family smiling with her playful tricks and antics. "We can't complain," says Nadezhda. "But we hope things will get better." That is still mostly just a dream.
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CAPTION: THE VAKTINS' MONTHLY BUDGET