26
“I am sorry, but you cannot bring your own alcohol in here,” said a young woman, who was greeting guests at the door, “it’s not allowed.”
“But we’re not going to…” I was about to explain, but Max interrupted.
“My dear, have you heard what happened over there, not far from here,” Max motioned his hand indistinctly, “that there was a serious car accident just now?”
“Yes, one of our visitors mentioned something. Not long ago,” the woman was very young. Max leaned closer to her and read what was written on her chest tag. She backed away slightly.
“Yelena,” Max read aloud. “Lenochka! Can you imagine, we were actually victims of that accident. We’ve only been in Moscow since morning and now this! Awful stress! But what a city Moscow is, Lenochka! Are you from Moscow?”
“Yes.”
“Native?”
