hide?” Damn! and Damn! again! Well… here goes.::::::
“Uhh… the thing is, I work for Dr. Lewis—Norman—like I said. But we’re also dating—”
—A whispery “Ahhhhh…” came out of A.A.’s mouth. She couldn’t hold it in… an irresistible ahhhhhh <<>>—
“—and Norman and—” Magdalena paused for one beat. ::::::“Mr. Fleischmann” or “Maurice”? Uhhh… Maurice.:::::: “Norman and Maurice are good friends, and so I’ve gotten to know him, too.”
A.A. gave Magdalena a super-toxic smile… Gotcha now, don’t I!… Oh, Magdalena knew what was going through her mind. <<>>
Just then… thank God. Here came Norman and Maurice, returning, weaving their way between the tables. They looked very jolly, very pleased about something. A moment ago, she wanted them to stay away long enough for the handsome Russian to make a move. Now—be thankful for small things! The two men were back and that was bound to change the subject, the subject being <<>>
“You’ll never guess who I ran into over at the BesJet VIP room!” Maurice was pumped up with pleasure. He was grinning and his eyes went back and forth from A.A. to Magdalena and Magdalena to A.A., twinkling—no, more than that… sparkling, shining, beaming. “Flebetnikov! Was he pissed! He was growling! He was roaring! You should have heard him! Some damned martinet—that was the word he used, martinet—how does he know martinet? He’s so bad at English—some damned martinet of a security guard held him back. ‘Some damn stupid redneck’—I don’t know where he picked up redneck, either—on and on about ‘some damn stupid redneck.’ He was lucky some damn stupid redneck didn’t come over and empty his big fat tub for him. By the time he finally shakes the redneck, he’s telling me, all the best stuff was gone. ‘All da bes’toff vas gon!’ ”
“So what did you say?” said A.A.
Norman chimed in. “AahhhHAHHHock hock hock you should’ve heardddahhhock hock hock, MauriceeeegghehehehahhhHAHAaghhhock hock hock! He tells the guy—he says, ‘Gosh, that’s terrible! I’m going to try to find someone who is on the boardahhhHAHHHhock hock hock! ‘Whose work were you interested in?’ he’s asking the guy. ‘Dosunt matter. Is all gon!’ ” Norman has to show he can do a Russian accent just as well as Maurice, of course. “And get thisss-s-s-s-s-sAHHHH hock hock hock! Then Maurice puts his arm around the guy’s shoulders and says, ‘That’s awful! I’m so sorRRAHAHAHAhhry!’ He’s so sorRRAHahahAAAHhhhry! I thought you were gonna shed some tears for himaahhhHAHAHAHAHHock hock hock hock!”
“Whatever,” said Fleischmann. “But he had it coming. He’s the kind of guy who just keeps pushing, keeps pushing, keeps pushing—the same way he pushed everybody aside until he was the first one through that door.”
Magdalena found herself feeling sorry for the fat man. Maurice Fleischmann, who had connections everywhere, he had the power to get some big redneck to take care of this big bear of a Russian billionaire with one telephone call. She lowered her eyes while she pondered. She didn’t notice the tall figure coming up behind Fleischmann until he had almost reached the table. Yes, it was him, finally, the Russian, Sergei Korolyov. She could actually feel a surge of adrenaline trigger her heart into a split second of fibrillation. ::::::Damn! Why has he waited so long? Now he makes up his mind… after Maurice and Norman have come back! Now there’ll be nothing but the usual when men with high opinions of themselves run into each other. They’ll spend the whole time trying to think of not totally obvious ways of showing off. Women’s rights? That’s a laugh. Women don’t exist when men like these meet… unless they happen to be stars of some kind themselves… We’re just here. We just fill up space.::::::
“Maurice!” Korolyov said in the heartiest possible manner. “I might have known I’d see you here!” (“I my-taf knohhhwn I’d zee you here!”) With this, he gave Maurice the sort of manly hug European men give each other—if they are on roughly the same social plateau. Then he gestured in the general direction of the exhibition. “See anything you liked?”
“Oh, a couple of things,” Maurice said with a knowing smile in order to make it blatantly clear that Oh, a couple of things was meant as a choice piece of understatement. “But first let me introduce you to my dear A.A., Marilynn Carr, my art adviser. If you want to know