ABSTRACT
I had, I was told, a tyezka — someone sharing my name, a fellow Isaac — in Yoloten. This was curious: we are always intrigued by those strangely similar to ourselves, and all the more so in strange environments. The other Isaac, from what the Dagestani family I was talking to told me, was unfortunately sick. He did not have any family; his relatives had returned to the Caucasus, or they had gone to Russia, or they were not really Dagestani anyway. The story was admittedly confused. I gathered that Isaac's family had once been from Dagestan, but was not Dagestani. How any of this led to Yoloten was never clarified. The story ended there, and I never did manage to track down Isaac and speak to my tyezka. 1
