It all turned out easier than he expected.

The masculine voice on the line was courteous and velvety, he wasnt asked anything superfluous in fact, the conversation contained not a single note of vulgarity. The administrators manners called to mind a concert hall, elegant dresses, long-awaited vouchers to the orchestra seats. And, indeed, when he offered rank a girl for the evening, he descri!ed her as a violinist down on her luck, a musician from a good school reserved for demanding clients. "I can tell youre an intelligent man,# the voice war!led. "$oull !e satisfied% she is a &uscovite, an angel, with long, sensitive fingers...# At this, 'hites heart sputtered again, and afterward he was truly not disappointed, though the violinist turned out to !e a (krainian from )onetsk, confessing with a chuckle that she had no ear for music. They laughed together at the deceit over the phone, and then she was nice enough, especially when she disro!ed without any shyness or affectation under his intense ga*e. +er love seemed a !it mechanical, !ut the automatic nature of it didnt feel humiliating. ,he even said she en-oyed him, and rank !elieved it, in turn shaking off his !ashful constraint. .esides, the girl was called /atasha, a name ringing with sweet pain in his heart and adding content to prepaid passion. 0ust !efore parting, as he came out of the shower, rank saw his guest inspecting his wallet, which he had carelessly tossed on the nightstand. "I wanted to take a gander at your wife,# she laughed in response to his raised eye!rows. "All Americans carry photos around with them, right1 And you, Id wager, are not even married.# ,he looked at him with !ra*en eyes, yellow like those of a taiga lynx, and grinned from ear to ear, then they kissed good!ye and only the odor of her perfume remained in the room. rank drank some cognac from the mini-!ar and counted his money, prepared for the worst, !ut reali*ed he didnt remem!er how much cash he had, and -ust laughed at himself. 2verall, he had to acknowledge the evening was a success and he admitted this and drank himself drunk again. The nocturnal faeries at the !ar now looked like the guardians of a collective secret that !ound them to him, as well as a good half of those sitting here in the smoky twilight. 'ith a faint sadness, he peered into their faces, cogni*ant that his one life was not enough to learn all the paths through for!idden grounds. +e imagined how one could live for years here, in the city of sin, in lechery and alcoholic de!auchery, without once recalling a single ta!oo. In the morning he felt ill and wallowed in !ed until midday, then went to the central park and strolled for a long while. And then everything was repeated again% the newspaper ad, the phone call, and the insinuating !aritone. ,hop assistants and waitresses no longer interested him. The road to truth was much shorter, and it was not worth wasting his valua!le time. 2n this occasion they sent him 2lga, dark haired, with high cheek!ones and a slightly 3astern slant to her eyes. +e spent the evening with her, and then the three following nights. At first, though, it turned out em!arrassing% after two hours of lovemaking and a wholehearted good!ye kiss, he, pro!a!ly remem!ering the night !efore, decided to take a

peek in his ill-fated wallet and discovered the pocket of his pants dangling from the chair was completely empty. This was too much, and rank grew acutely alarmed. +e remem!ered right away that he was in a dangerous land where crime ran rampant and no one could !e trusted. 'ith shaking hands, he dialed the num!er of the insidious service and shouted at the dispatcher in a falsetto, full of weakness, knowing his senses had come to him too late. The dispatcher was genuinely surprised and promised to get to the !ottom of it without delay. or a 4uarter of an hour, rank stomped from corner to corner, cursing his own idiocy through clenched teeth. Then, as if !y some hunch, he kicked the hateful chair, forcing it toward the wall, and saw his lost wallet, which had fallen to the floor in the most harmless of ways. 3verything was there his credit cards and his money. ranks despair knew no !ounds. The escort service, as if out of spite, gave a !usy signal for a long time, and he mum!led in chagrin, his palms pressed to his temples. And once he got through, he unleashed such a !arrage of emotions, mixing up his 5ussian out of agitation, that it fully confused the owner of the !aritone, who !egan to -ustify himself without knowing what he was guilty of. ,oon all was settled. rank 'hite was assured with appropriate empathy that such a thing could happen to anyone, and there was no reason for worry or concern. And with regard to the girl, whom they had already asked for her side of the story, she would simply !e happy with the resolution and would !ear him no ill will. rank, however, ardently insisted he wanted to apologi*e in person. At this, the insinuating voice advised him to do it the very next evening, in the course of receiving romantic services, which, of course, 2lga would take gracefully as a com!ination of the pleasant with the useful. "3specially if its for the whole night,# the voice hinted cautiously, and they agreed on that, ending the conversation with considera!le warmth. The next day she came with a tur4uoise ri!!on in her hair. ,he was downcast and laconic, admitting with a sigh that no one had ever !efore accused her of theft. rank fussed a!out like an anxious newlywed, saying a lot of unnecessary words and not knowing where to place his eyes and hands. Then they 4uickly reconciled and headed off to dine at an Italian restaurant, and that night they hardly slept, sharing stories from their lives mingled with erotic games full of unexpected 4uirks. 2lga !rought elegant handcuffs, scaring him slightly at first, !ut they shone so invitingly and seemed so innocent, he was ashamed of his suspicions. +owever, the game they played, while remaining close to an innocuous -oke, revealed something really new. rank was !ewildered6 he was !eing offered an unaccustomed form of freedom. There was more to it than hed reali*ed at first sight, and he assumed 5ussian women were really and truly insane, perhaps ready to !elieve any!ody who was capa!le of sharing their own cra*y thoughts. +e was uncomforta!le for a moment with her su!mission, which went a !it too far, !ut then he saw the same was expected from him as well, and 2lga, his !lack-haired slave, was now waiting for him with an imaginary horsewhip. Then it !egan to seem natural and desira!le6 she said to him, "Trust me,# and he accepted trust as the essence of the action.

And, afterward, they whispered tender words, as if they had survived enough dangers together to suffice for a few years. 2lga left in the morning, and rank 'hite knew he was a!out to lose his head. +e roamed the &oscow streets, sleepy and sullen, muttering as if carrying on an endless dialogue with her. +e had never told any woman so much a!out himself supposing, reasona!ly, that none would listen6 this was also new, and it imparted a strange relief. +e suddenly reali*ed he had outgrown himself such as he was !efore and he wondered with fatigued irony what else might he have to explore and how many more nights like that were needed to get used to them and not !e surprised later. After lunch he dropped into a heavy slum!er, and then there was 2lga again and her impetuous whisper. They didnt speak now of their former lives, !ut a!out each other and the !urdens of loneliness, guardedly admitting mutual sympathy and selecting their words carefully to avoid !eing pathetic. Therefore, perhaps a lot was left unsaid, for which rank su!se4uently suffered, s4uinting his eyes in the daylight. 'hen the next night came, 2lga came too, wearing not tur4uoise, !ut a scarlet ri!!on in her !lack locks. +e lost all control and !lurted out to her everything a man who had !een snared !y the most enticing !ait could possi!ly say. 'hen it came to him promising to take her away to 'ashington, get her a -o!, and, who knows, may!e unite their lives at some point, 2lga s4uee*ed his hand from excitement or perhaps something else. rank suddenly collected himself and started kissing her in gratitude. 7ater, standing under the shower, he !erated his wagging tongue, recogni*ing he had gone too far. 5eturning to the room, he told her he was a!out to travel to another city on !usiness. It was !ecoming scary to continue their nightly appointments, like wandering into foreign territory where disguised traps waited. ,he shed a few tears and left her phone num!er, which he fervently pledged to call the minute he got !ack. ,o, they had said and done all that was proper !ut, left alone, rank sighed in relief. ,omething seemed out of hand6 he clearly needed a reprieve. All the same, he ought to finally get to !usiness% another city was not -ust a redeeming lie, and he had already gotten more from &oscow than he !argained for. +e had slept into the afternoon and was now sitting in a cafe with a view of the co!!lestones of ,toleshnikov grooming his somewhat som!er spleen and reliving the last night and his words, of which he should pro!a!ly !e ashamed. .ut he felt no shame whatsoever6 in fact, he liked himself for the first time in many years. 2f course, he had said too much without thinking, rank 'hite conceded, drinking the cocktail he was !rought. +e had pro!a!ly !roken the girls heart% she would !e hoping and waiting. 8erhaps she would even leave her profita!le !usiness, at least for as long as her hope endured. .ut one cant plan ones life around a womans tears6 thats too much trou!le and the conse4uences are unclear. And 2lga, after all, didnt have the nicest past% what if that later !ecame a sore point for him1 rank studied with interest two young lasses languidly traipsing !y, then waved to the

waitress, pointing at his empty glass, and felt himself to !e a freedom-loving male, full of vigor and desires. "Its too !ad for the girl,# he thought again with feigned grief, leaning !ack in his chair and stretching out fully. ".ut Axel was right% there are a lot of them, and the choice is so hard9# This false grief would have !een easily forgotten, however, had he !y chance known the thoughts of his recent lover, who was sitting at that very moment in a !ar in the southeast of &oscow. ,he sipped her martini, exchanging glances with the !artender, s4uinting contentedly as she anticipated intense shopping ahead. A profita!le client had turned up right on time6 2lga praised herself for the skillful game and pitied the American simpleton who seemed such an easy mark. +er conscience even !othered her a little, which happened 4uite rarely, and might !e considered an amusing exception. ,he recalled how rank had shoved money at her that morning to get out of the situation he had put himself in, and how she lathered on some fake waterworks to strengthen the effect. " ucking life9# she said to the !arkeep, as if he were an accomplice who should !e up to date on the latest, and he nodded his consent. "Im a &oscow !itch9# she added with pride, already slurring her speech a little, and the !artender grinned in reply. &eanwhile, rank 'hite, 0r., departing his caf: of choice, meandered in the direction of 8etrovka, mentally sending 2lga a fond adieu and preparing to forget a!out her forthwith and forever. 2n reaching the hotel, he headed straight for the concierge and asked him to order a ticket for the most comforta!le train to ,ivoldaisk and also to !ook a hotel room, prefera!ly a suite thinking in passing that he had spent too much already, !ut in this city it was impossi!le not to s4uander money. ,hortly thereafter, a cute maid !rought him an envelope containing all the essentials. +e checked out her legs as he signed the !ill, not even noticing the pearl !racelet adorning her wrist that could have told a great deal, even if not a single two appeared in the written total. The pearl gleamed with moonlight and the girls knees !rought to mind the most immodest thoughts. .ut rank 'hite, 0r. resolutely pushed them away, ordering himself to limit this evening -ust to solitary drunkenness.