“It’s funny that you think Americans are lunatics for smiling so much. I didn’t think New Yorkers smiled much at all.”
“More than Russians.”
“You’re probably right. You’d know better than I do what the differences are between living in Russia and living here.” He stretches, his smile gone now.
“So your work? What is it?”
“I own some warehouses in good locations. People rent them, and while their inventory is in storage with me, I help manage it and see to its transport.”
“Shipping and storage?”
“Yes.”
“Is it a good business?”
“Yes.”
“Is there a lot of math involved?”
“Some.”
“Is it just basic maths?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
“What?” he asks, watching me.
“I would like a profession. I was going to ask if you could tell me how to get into your kind of business, but maybe I will try for my dreams first. This is America after all. Dreamland.”
This makes him laugh again.
“What?” I ask suspiciously.
“Dreamland usually means something else. It’s where your mind goes when you’re asleep at night and have dreams. It refers to something that’s not real.”
“But people say America is land of dreams, no?”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Land of dreams and dreamland mean different things?” I scoff. “English, for me, is like playing Paganini on violin. So hard! Impossible at first, really.”
“Your English is fine.” His phone buzzes with a message, and he checks it. He’s not smiling now.
“What is it?”
“Nothing to worry about,” he says, putting his phone in his pocket.
“I must pay to have my phone back on. First, Egorov takes my phone from me, but I steal it back. Good. But when I runned away and hided, my money depletes, for room rent and food. Will you loan me sixty-two American dollars?”
He frowns. “He took your phone away? Egorov is such a cocksucker. Everyone needs a phone, especially someone new to the country.” He shakes his head angrily. “I’ll pay to turn your phone on. You don’t need to pay me back for that or anything else.”
“What about this money I take from you at the party where we meeted?”
“The money youtookwhen wemet. Consider it my gift to you.”
My brows rise in surprise. “Are you sure, Alexei? It was almost two thousands of American dollars.”
