Chapter 13: The Trouble with IvanIvan was tall, dark and eccentric. Cherished by his older, Eastern European parents, who, after several miscarriages and the sudden death of their first son, despaired of ever having another child, believed the sun rose and set on their handsome and perfect son. I’d attended countless extravagant parties at his house, and Ivan’s popularity never ceased to amaze me.
Of course, popularity and his parents’ dotage afforded him greater privileges, and in turn, greater eccentricities. He returned home after college, leased a house behind his parents’ business—a tiny market carrying European specialties—and worked as a real estate agent. The agency tolerated Ivan because of his extraordinary talent in selling high-end properties to the city’s elite, who were eage
