So far, you’ve been squeaky clean. You got married and settled into suburbia, even obtained an American passport along with citizenship. After trying to make a go of being a conference interpreter, you switched to commerce, wholesaling food to the Russian Far East, in the form of ketchup, mayonnaise and sausages prepared to Russian recipes. You had a partner to take care of things on the other end, but who was that individual? How did you find him, or did he find you? Commercial skills are quite useful for anyone, especially spooks, now that I think of it.

Out of the blue, I met an older woman working at the FBI in counterintelligence, and mentioned that I was taking a Russian language course with you. Not surprisingly she speculated that you might be a sleeper. I immediately rejected that, as you were so busy and resourceful, both teaching us as well as selling prepared food to the Russian Far East. You made the rest of us look less than adequate, but I had to admire you for your drive. That was years ago, and since then I’ve had time to think about you, and might even agree with the FBI counterintelligence, pistol-packing woman with a Scandinavian accent, who has since retired.

That first year I remember when the official from the Russian consulate showed up at the class, earlier than expected. His presence knocked you for a loop and you were quite the nervous wreck, despite having recently netted your US passport. After he finished his vacuous talk and left, you followed him out the door, then returned in a few minutes. I couldn’t help but wonder why the pins and needles on your part. I suppose he was in the position to threaten your parents and siblings back in Russia, so perhaps that was the reason that you were so riddled with anxiety. You mentioned that the diplomats are all vetted by the FSB, which is the modern, post Soviet version of the KGB, and that Russia is anything but a free country as we know it.

That you are agnostic Jewish is a plus, in that it encourages and fosters the ability to function as an outsider. You mentioned once that during World War II your mother, having a Jewish surname and growing up in the Ukraine would have been an easy target for the Nazis. To have a better chance at survival her family changed their name to something gentile. As a result neither she nor her future children got a Jewish upbringing. Her future husband, your father fought in the war as an enlisted man, was taken prisoner, but managed to survive, as his surname is not Jewish.