The Geographer's Library

The Geographer’ s Library
Ostozhenka he was dividing his past life from his present one, or perhaps his
present from his future. “And you?” he asked.
“Oh,you know...I have a couple of projects, I suppose. More free time.
Army pension, no more uniform.” Voskresenyov fumbled for more telling but
vague fragments.
“I’ve never really understood you. What are you doing? What are your
plans? You know, I’ve heard rumors that you’re springing some Ingush jewel
thief from Magadan. Being kept very quiet. And can you tell me, you know,
why is it that I look like a man who’s spent forty years drinking and smoking
living in a cold climate and you’ve barely aged a day?”
“Pickle brine,” said Voskresenyov, slapping his cheeks. “My grandmother
told me—pickle brine on the skin every morning.”
Lubin chuckled uncertainly. “Pickles? Yes, well, I suppose if you say so,
perhaps. I’m not sure, though ...You know,you could buy the file,” he
almost spit. “Everything is for sale these days—if you wanted to keep that
information to yourself, you could easily just arrange to buy the file.”
Voskresenyov kept his expression fixed, though he knew as soon as Lubin
suggested it that this was what he would have to do. “Make a purchase from
the KGB?” he asked, feigning shock. “Who does one contact to do such a
thing?”
Lubin tore a flap from the box of Winston Lights in his pocket and wrote
a name on the white cardboard inside, handing it to Voskresenyov. “This is
your man. Very discreet. Anyone with enough money and aspirations in the
new Russia has been buying incriminating information from him. And
because everyone goes through him, everyone knows it’s him, so he’s untouchable.
Maybe it’s the other way around, though: maybe even though
everyone knows it’s him, everyone uses him, and that’s why he’s untouchable.
One or the other, anyway.”
“Yes, of course,” chuckled Voskresenyov, though he didn’t really know
why he should be chuckling. “Could I not just give the money to you? Would
you erase my record?”
“Me? Certainly not. I don’t do that kind of thing, and besides, what
would I need money for? But thank you for asking.”
For as long as the two men had known and done favors for each other,
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