“He’s got big problems at the moment.”
“What kind of problems?”
“I can’t tell you. It’s to do with Cuba. He’s being pressured by powerful people to let something go ahead that he dislikes intensely.”
“Why doesn’t he just stop it?”
“It was set up before he became President and it involves a very high-powered agency and cancelling would have a lot of political repercussions. You’ll hear about it in the next few days.”
A week later Aarons heard the first radio reports of the Bay of Pigs disaster, and he read that the President had announced that the responsibility was his.
In the course of the following six weeks Aarons had three meetings with the Kennedy brothers, always at Hyannisport, and always he and Tania were treated as close family friends.
Aarons realised that the President was taking their meetings seriously when Malloy briefed him before the meetings on what Kennedy would like to discuss. Many of the questions were about the personalities of top Soviet leaders, their relationships with each other and their rivalries. Other questions were about the daily lives of Soviet citizens and their attitudes towards the government. But a lot of the time at their meetings was taken up with what the President called “what-if ” situations. What would be Khrushchev’s reactions if the USA did this or that? What if the Soviets made an aggressive move in Berlin and the USA made a move against Soviet interests in the Far East, would the Soviets trade for a stand-off? If the Soviets made an aggressive move and the Americans threatened to take action against them was Khrushchev strong enough to back down if he wanted to?
The more Aarons saw of Kennedy the more he admired him. It was encouraging that the American people seemed enthusiastic about his plans for a new America in his speeches about the New Frontier. He didn’t sound like a politician and he certainly didn’t look like one. He wondered if some day there would be a man like that as President of the Soviet Union. But the men in the Kremlin weren’t dreamers of dreams, they dealt in power not imagination, and their dour faces and their stony eyes were never going to charm anyone.
He was surprised when a few days later the Supreme Court decreed that the Communist Party in the USA had to register as an organisation under foreign domination. It seemed pointless, a thrust at Moscow that would anger them without achieving anything.
When Aarons picked up the phone the caller asked for Tania. It was a voice he’d heard somewhere before but he couldn’t identify it. He was looking at the photographs that Tania had mounted for an exhibition at a new gallery in the Village but he was vaguely aware of concern in her voice as she talked on the telephone. When she hung up she hesitated for a moment and when he turned to look at her he saw that she was obviously upset about something.
“What’s the matter, honey?”
“You didn’t recognise the voice?”
“I’d heard it before but I couldn’t place it. Who was it?”
“It was Jakob—my grandfather.”
“You mean Lensky?”
“Yes.”
He frowned. “Phoning here? That’s crazy.”
“He’s here in New York. Wants to come over and talk with you. He’s at the Plaza. I said I’d have to ask you.”
“Why didn’t he speak to me? Why ask for you?”
She shrugged. “I guess it’s all part of the silly games you people play.”
“You people?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. It was a shock.”
“Where’s he staying?”
“He wouldn’t say. He just gave me a number. It’s on the pad by the phone.”
“Did he say why he’s over here? Is it something to do with me?”
“He didn’t say but he was obviously worried about something.”
Aarons was silent for a moment, then he said, “I’d better call him.”
Lensky arrived at their apartment an hour later, looking noticeably older but not obviously worried. When Tania had made him welcome and settled him down she went off with her portfolio of prints to her friends’ gallery. She said she’d be back in a couple of hours.
They were sitting facing one another, Lensky with a vodka bottle and glass, Aarons with orange juice in a glass jug.
Aarons said quietly, “What’s it all about, Jakob?”
“It’s a long story but what matters as far as you’re concerned is that I’m pulling out of Moscow.” He paused and smiled, wryly, “I’m going to live in Israel. As a private citizen.”
“When?”
Lensky shrugged. “Now. I’m going to stay in the States for a few weeks to get my affairs straightened out and to get my Israeli passport settled.”
“What made you decide to do this?”
It was quite a long time before Lensky answered, not looking at Aarons as he sat thinking, then turning to look at Aarons he said, “Between you and me I’ve had enough of them. The rivalries, the vendettas, the sheer ignorance. At one time I thought I could influence them, show them a better way. A way that didn’t have thousands of my compatriots in prisons and tens of thousands more in labour camps.”
“Did you say all this to them?”
“Of course not. I told them that I’m an old man, I need the sun and a quiet life. Still willing to be a consultant if they wish.”
“And what was the reaction?”
“At first suspicion and then after some discussion they suggested a deal. I send them reports on the Middle East. I said I couldn’t abuse Israeli hospitality that way. They thought I was crazy but they agreed that I should only report
