Yesterday, I saw this name on the list of the dead: V. Meglinskaya. I wanted to call Mishah at work because this is the last name of one of his colleagues in Moscow - she's Irina, but it could have been her relative. But then I got too upset to call him.

He told me in the evening that he had also noticed this name. He talked to Irochka on the phone about some work issues that day and at some point he said he hoped that was just a namesake of hers.

She hadn't seen the list yet. She said, "You know, we don't have any namesakes in this country - all Meglinskys are in some way related. My mother is V. Meglinskaya - but she's not flying any planes, she's at home, in Southern Russia. I'd know if she all of a sudden decided to fly to Volgograd from Moscow, right?" Then Irochka thought for a while, trying to remember any other of her numerous relatives whose first name starts with a "V" - "Venera," she finally said, a relative she hadn't seen or heard from in a very long time. She hung up right after that, and Mishah didn't have the guts to call her later to find out if that was indeed her relative Venera. He felt guilty for making Irochka worry - but I told him he shouldn't be.

Today, I checked the list again and noticed a correction: it's V. Miglenskaya - not Meglinskaya - now.