Elena pointed to one of the few unoccupied tables.
“How much did we make?” asked Alex once they’d sat down.
Ivan checked his notebook. “Nineteen dollars,” he whispered.
“Then you owe me nine dollars and fifty cents,” said Alex, holding out his hand.
“Not so fast, kid. Don’t forget you’ve got a bigger challenge this afternoon, so we’ll settle up at the end of the day.”
“If any of them are as good as the guy on board three, we might even lose the odd match.”
“Which wouldn’t be a bad thing,” said Ivan, as a waitress placed two pizzas and a couple of Cokes in front of them.
“How come?”
“If you lose the occasional game, the suckers become more interested. It’s a gambler’s weakness. If they see someone else win, it convinces them it’s their turn next,” said Ivan, before he devoured a large slice of pizza. “Must remember to thank your mother,” he said, looking at his watch.
Alex glanced around at Elena, who hadn’t stopped turning out perfect pizza bases since they’d arrived. He wondered how long it would be before she was giving the orders.
“Right,” said Ivan, “let’s get back to work.”
* * *
When Alex arrived back home for dinner that night, he was surprised to find that Dimitri wasn’t sitting in his usual place.
“He was offered a job on a merchant ship bound for Leningrad,” Elena explained. “He had to leave on the first tide.”
“Do you sometimes wonder if Dimitri is too good to be true?”
“I judge people by their actions,” said Elena, raising an eyebrow, “and he couldn’t have been kinder to us.”
“I accept that. But why did he take such an interest in two Russians he didn’t know who might well have been criminals?”
“But we’re not criminals.”
“He had no way of knowing that. Or did he? And was it just a coincidence that he joined us on deck the first night we were on board?”
“But he’s a Russian, just like us,” protested Elena.
“Not just like us, Mama. He wasn’t born in Russia, but in New York. And I can tell you something else. His parents are very much ali
ve.”
Elena turned to face Alex. “What makes you say that?”
“Because when he helps you with the washing up, he sometimes takes off his watch, and engraved on the back are the words, ‘Happy 30th, love, mom and dad,’ dated 2-14-68. Only last year. So perhaps…”
“Perhaps you should remember that without Dimitri’s help, we wouldn’t have a roof over our heads, and there would be no possibility of you going to university,” she said, her voice rising with every word. “So I’ll say this once, and once only. You will stop spying on Dimitri, because if you don’t, you could end up just like your friend Vladimir, a lonely, sick individual with no morals and no friends.”
Alex was so shocked by his mother’s words that he didn’t speak for some time. He bowed his head and apologized, telling her he would never raise the subject again. After she left for work, he once again thought about her outburst. She was right. He couldn’t have done more for them, but what he hadn’t told his mother was that he feared that Dimitri was working for the KGB.
12
SASHA
London
Although Sasha worked hard when he returned to school for his final year, once the last football game had been played he hung up his goalkeeping gloves and began a strict regimen that even impressed his mother.