As they entered the gates, Grigori hurried to his side, their first opportunity to speak in private since Austin’s request to visit the school.
– Leo, what is going on? Who is this woman?
Leo checked that no one else was in earshot.
– Grigori, I lied.
– You lied?
He sounded amazed, as if he considered Leo an automaton, incapable of anything as human as a lie.
– About the woman – Lena, she doesn’t love me. She barely even knows me.
– Does she work here?
– She works here. That much is true. I think, at least, I can’t be sure.
– Why did you lie?
– I don’t know. It just happened.
– What are we going to do?
Grigori had not removed himself from Leo’s predicament. He did not have the instincts of a typical MGB agent. They were a team. Leo felt a flush of gratitude.
– I’m going to try and persuade Lena to play along with the lie. Stay with Austin, slow him down, try to buy me as much time as possible.
The children ran forward, forming a circle as Austin entered the school. The playground had fallen silent. No doubt fearing that one of the children might say something out of turn, it was entirely possible that none of them had ever seen a black man before, an official spoke up, smiling broadly to cover the implicit threat.
– Children, you have a very important guest today. This is Jesse Austin, the famous singer. You must show our guest how well you can behave.
Even the youngest children understood the danger these men represented. Austin crouched down to ask a question. Leo couldn’t hear what he was saying. He was already on his way to the entrance.
Once inside, out of sight, he broke into a run, his shoes heavy on the smooth stone floor. He stopped a teacher, grabbing her arms, startling her with his intensity.
– Where’s the director’s office?
The teacher remained dumbstruck, staring at Leo’s uniform. Leo shook her.
– Where?
She pointed to the end of the corridor.
Leo burst into the room, causing the school director to stand up, paling with each second. Leo realized that the poor man believed he was being arrested. He was frail, in his late fifties. His lips were squeezed thin with anxiety. There wasn’t much time.
– I’m Officer Demidov. I need to know everything about a teacher working here. She’s called Lena.
The director sounded like a frightened child.
– A teacher?
– She’s called Lena. She’s young, my age.
– You’re not here for me?
Leo snapped:
– No, I’m not. I’m here for a woman called Lena. Hurry up!
The old man seemed to come alive with these words – someone else was in trouble, not him. He stepped around the front of his desk, keen to be as helpful as possible. Leo glanced towards the door.
– Lena, you say?
– Her subject is politics.
– A teacher called Lena? I’m sorry: you have the wrong school. There are no teachers called Lena here.
– What?
– There are no teachers called Lena working here.
Leo was shocked.
– But I saw her books. They had the name of this school written across them.
Grigori opened the door, hissing a warning:
– They’re coming!
Leo was sure of the school. Where was the mistake? She’d told him her name. Her name! That was the lie.
– How many teach politics?
– Three.
– A young woman among them?
– Yes.
– What is her name? Do you have a photograph of her?
– In the files.
– Hurry!
The director found the relevant file. He handed it to Leo. Before he could look through it, Grigori opened the door again. Austin and the officials entered the room. Leo turned to address them:
– Director, I’d like to introduce you to Jesse Austin, our guest. He wants to inspect a Soviet school before returning to America.
The director having barely recovered from the first shock was inflicted with a second – an internationally renowned guest and a group of top-ranking officials. The official who’d addressed the children outside now addressed the headmaster, using the same smile to mask his warning:
– We want to show our visitor that the Soviet education system is one of the best in the world.
The director’s voice had become weak again.
– I wish you’d given me some warning.
Austin stepped forward.
– No warning. No fuss. No ceremony. No preparations. I want to poke around, see what you get up to. And see how things work. Forget I’m even here.
He turned to Leo.
– How about we watch a lesson?
Disingenuous, Leo answered:
– A science lesson, perhaps?
– Is that what your girl teaches? Science?
Upon hearing the claim that a teacher was Leo’s girlfriend, the director stared at Leo. Ignoring him, Leo answered Austin’s question:
– No. She teaches politics.
– Well, we all like politics, don’t we?
Everyone laughed except Leo and the director. Austin added:
What was her name? Did you tell me before?
Leo couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned the name Lena or not.
– Her name?
Evidently he didn’t know her name. The director was too scared or too slow-witted to step in and help him.
– Her name…
Leo deliberately dropped the file – let it slip from his hand, the papers falling out. He bent down, picking them, glancing through them.
– Her name is Raisa.
*
The director led the way to Classroom 23 on the second floor, Austin by his side, the officials behind him, stopping occasionally to examine a poster on the wall, or peer into another lesson. During these breaks, Leo was forced to wait, unable to stand still. He had no idea how the woman who’d lied to him about her name was going to react. Eventually reaching the classroom, Leo peered through the small window. The woman at the front was the woman he’d met on the metro, the woman he’d spoken to on the tramcar, the woman who’d told him her name was Lena. It occurred to him, belatedly, that she might be married. She might have children of her own. As long as
