Read Moonlight in Odessa Online
Authors: Janet Skeslien Charles
‘Odessa is certainly the right place for that.’
He laughed. ‘I know. During my first week, I gambled away $100,000.’
‘No! How could you?’
‘Are you going to yell at me again?’ he asked.
‘I don’t believe it! You have everything and you throw it away!’
‘You’re going to yell at me.’
‘If I’d had the opportunities you had, if I had one-tenth of what you have –’
‘You have more. You have Boba,’ he countered.
I smiled. He was right. I was infinitely richer. Not that I would admit it to him. ‘And speaking of Boba, don’t get me started. How dare you bribe her with mangoes?’
‘Any interest at all in hearing the end of the story?’
I remained silent.
‘All right then. Luckily, I lost the money to a gangster, who agreed to hold my stock in the shipping company as collateral.’
‘That was sporting.’
‘There was a price. If I couldn’t pay him back, he got to keep the stock which was worth much more than $100,000.’
‘Oh.’
‘Vladimir Stanislavski figured it would be easy money.’
Vlad? Of course. ‘So that’s why he came to our office so often,’ I said, feeling disappointed.
‘Maybe at first. But I paid my debt and he kept coming.’
‘What are you going to do now that your “sentence” is up?’ I asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ he said.
I realized I missed sitting in the boardroom, talking about literature and Odessa. A strange thing to miss.
My assistant did not announce him. David just walked through my door. I glanced up from my desk, expecting anyone – Grandfather Frost, even Tinkerbell – but him. He looked good, so good to me. He’d shaved his mustache. He was wearing a navy blazer like all the other men who worked in the financial district. The green of his silk tie brought out the flecks of amber in his eyes. Of course he was tan, he’d just come from Odessa. His dark hair had been cut too short for my taste. No matter. It would grow.
I stood.
He came to me. What would be appropriate? A handshake? Too formal. A hug? Perhaps not. I stroked his arm, touching him to make my eyes believe he was actually there.
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, chin thrust out.
He looked me up and down dispassionately. ‘Something’s different about you.’
He got himself a position on the board of directors and an office right next to mine. The first thing he did was to ask the company lawyers why I was still married. They explained that the paperwork took time. Through the office wall, I heard him yell, ‘I don’t want to hear any excuses! She needs a divorce and a work visa. And she better have both within a month.’ He made sure things happened quickly. Though he denied it, I believe that some goodwill was involved.
Rumors circulated. Would he be the new director of the San Francisco branch? How long would he stay? The women in the company bombarded his elderly secretary for information. Was he single? Was he interested in seeing someone? What were his plans? He told his family and colleagues that he wanted to be involved in
ARGONAUT
, but needed a break from the ulcers that had come from running a branch. He told me that he wanted to be at my side, even if it meant only at work.
Underneath the snow globe on the corner of my desk sat a copy of my divorce papers. I knew Vlad was waiting for a sign, yet I hesitated to send it. For the first time, I was happy and free. I wanted to enjoy this independence, for the moment, at least. I was free to go out with friends – Jane, Jono, Tans and I went to concerts, galleries, and cafés. Tans and David got on very well. All of us went to dinner often.
Of course, Jane bragged that she would be the godmother.
‘If you make me godfather, I’ll teach him how to play basketball,’ Jono lobbied.
‘Make me godfather and I’ll pay for his college,’ Tans replied.
I looked to David, who was looking at me, and wondered what he would offer. ‘What about you?’
‘I’m pretty sure you’re having a girl,’ he said. ‘And that she’ll be beautiful just like her mother.’
My eyes misted up. In Odessa, we say God loves three, but looking around the table, I thought he must appreciate five even more.
Things weren’t perfect. My studio was the size of a room in a
communalka
. Prices in San Francisco were even higher than those in Moscow. Though my job was more straightforward than it had been in Odessa, it was more complicated, too. I had to learn new laws and regulations and worked long hours. Most days, I did not leave the office before 7.30. I missed Odessa. Ask Jane. Anyone who has lived there is unable to forget the opera house (the third most beautiful in the world), the hospitality of the people, the monuments, architecture, the sea. How I longed for my native city. But as David reminded me – once Anna Akhmatova left Odessa, she left for good. There’s no use looking back, Boba said. You’ll only end up with a crick in your neck.
I was finally living the life I’d dreamed of when I was back in Odessa and looking towards America. When I’d wanted something – though what exactly I didn’t know – so badly. A feeling of contentment filled me. I lived in a city on the sea. I had good friends and a challenging job. I spoke English every day. I was bringing a new life into this world. Births happen every day, but it still felt like a miracle to me. I cradled my belly and thought of my little wonder. How much Boba and I would love her.
David walked through my door with a tray of coffee and cookies. I looked at my watch. ‘It took you three minutes and 19 seconds. Better than yesterday. Worse than the day before.’
He poured us each a cup of decaf. I took a sip and looked out the window.
‘Not bad,’ I said. ‘Not bad at all.’
My love and gratitude to Barbara & Ed Skeslien and Eddy Charles for making all things possible.
My friends Clydette & Charles de Groot have accompanied me on this journey and have helped me in so many ways. Anca Metiu and I meet once a week to write in a café, and her company and friendship have meant a lot to me. Sylvia Whitman of Shakespeare & Company has been a great source of encouragement and inspiration. This book could not have been written without the support that I received from the Soros Foundation and Dr. Robert Hausmann.
I am blessed to have the support and friendship of these writers, my first readers: Emma Jane Kirby, Jack Kessler, Kathryn Clutz, Amanda Bouchet, Anna di Mattia, Carolyn Skelton, Laura Mason, Edward Carey, and Elena Devos. Thanks to Sapna Gupta, Susan Moreau, Katya Jezzard, Jim Branin, Lauren Sinclair, and Josh Melvin. My thanks to Penelope Le Masson of the Red Wheelbarrow, who has been so kind to me over the years. She has the best stories. Thanks to Bridget Larson and Cindy Rogers of the Prairie Peddler in Shelby for their hospitality as I worked on my novel. Thank you to my teachers, especially Mr. Goodan and Miss Hanson. Love and gratitude to Kathy Skeslien, Madame Nathan, Sarah Andrews, and Kris James, who have always supported my work.
Now the road to publication. Many thanks to Laurel Zuckerman for encouraging me to attend the Geneva Writers’ Conference, which is organized by the amazing Susan Tiberghien. My agent Laura Longrigg has been a generous and gracious source of editorial acumen and wisdom. She and Stella Kane have exceeded my expectations in every way, and I thank everyone at MBA Literary Agents for their support and enthusiasm. I feel very lucky to have Bloomsbury as my publisher. On both sides of the Atlantic, they have been very supportive. Helen Garnons-Williams is an editor nonpareil, and I thank her for her insight and ideas. It has been a pleasure to work with Justine Taylor and Erica Jarnes, and I thank them for their close attention to Daria and her words. Of course, it is a dream to work with Alexandra Pringle. I thank Colin Dickerman for his initial enthusiasm and Kathy Belden for taking my book and me under her wing. Amy King, Natalie Slocum, and Sarah Morris created gorgeous cover art. In Germany, I would like to thank Joachim Jessen for bringing my novel to the attention of Christian Rohr of C Bertelsmann. He and Astrid Arz have been lovely to work with. I thank you all for your faith in this novel.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks to the subagents and publishers who have shown faith in the novel: Tassy Barham, Trine Licht, Milena Lukic, Vicki Satlow, Caroline van Gelderen, Martijn David of Uitgeverij Mouria in the Netherlands, Luciana Villas-Boas of Record in Brazil, Ornella Robbianti and Patricia Chendi of Sperling & Kupfer in Italy, Vesna Virant of Mladinska Bucuresti SRL in Romania, Jelka Jovanovic of Mladinska Knijiga Beograd in Serbia, Sif Jóhannsdóttir of Forlagid in Iceland, and Marika Hemmel of Damm Förlag in Sweden.
These discussion questions are designed to enhance your group’s conversation about
Moonlight in Odessa
, a wry, tender, and darkly funny look at marriage, the desires we don’t acknowledge, and the aftermath of communism.
For discussion
1.
Moonlight in Odessa
takes place in Odessa, Ukraine, in the mid-1990s. What is the significance of this time and place: the unstable period after perestroika when mobsters like Vlad and communists-turned-capitalists like Valentina took advantage; when government employees went to work but didn’t get paid; and when the Internet was not yet the sophisticated tool it is today? How might the story be different if it happened today? Would the story be the same if it were set in Moscow?
2. Daria’s grandmother influenced many of Daria’s decisions, from what she studied at college to who she married. Was Daria right to listen to her grandmother? At the risk of hurting Boba, should Daria have tried earlier to become more independent? Was Boba right to push Daria to leave Odessa? Did Daria regret her choice?
3. Mr. Harmon commits a terrible act. What does he do to earn Daria’s forgiveness? Do you think he deserves to be forgiven? Which was more convincing—his actual apology or his subsequent acts of atonement, such as continuing to send food to Boba?
4. Anti-Semitism is an insidious problem in the former Soviet Union. Did you see through Olga? Did she hide her true feelings from Daria, or did Daria just not want to see the truth about her neighbor?
5. Daria corresponds with several men over the Internet. How is meeting someone over the Internet different from traditional dating? How is it the same? Are dating sites such as eHarmony or Match.com the same as international matchmaking sites?
6. There are clues that Tristan may not be a teacher. He writes “Should I of waited?” instead of “Should I have waited?” (114), and “Its the most beautiful place” rather than “It’s the most beautiful place” (105). Should Daria, who is a stickler for proper English, have noticed these mistakes, or did she simply see what she wanted to in Tristan?
7. Did Tristan lie when he said he lived near San Francisco? How did Tristan and Daria lie to each other? Was their relationship doomed from the start?
8. Daria is bilingual and can communicate with English-speakers. How was her friend Oksana at a disadvantage because she couldn’t speak English? Do you think Oksana would have married her husband if she had been able to understand him?
9. What do you think about Daria’s response to America? Is she too critical? Do you think that homesickness or depression is a factor in the way she feels? Would she have had the same observations if she had lived in a city and worked in an engineering firm?
10. Daria loves the English language. How is this love expressed? She also loves literature. Does Daria understand something about Harmon when he tells her about his father using a quote from Babel: “You want to live, but he makes you die twenty times a day” (71)? Is literature a form of solace? How do words sustain us?
11. When Daria is anxious, she thinks of irregular verbs; when she is unhappy or nervous she thinks of lines of poetry from Vladimir Mayakovsky (“my forehead melting the glass”) (112), or Anna Akhmatova (“And he did not take his eyes,/Staring blankly, from my ring.”) (295); when she is happy, she plays with words (
fair/fare, board/bored
). How does Daria use poetry and irregular verbs to express what other language cannot?
12.
Moonlight in Odessa
takes place before Skype, low-cost calling plans, and inexpensive pre-paid phone cards were available. Daria’s phone bill was several hundred dollars per month, and Tristan explained that they had a budget and couldn’t spend so much money. Do you understand his point of view? Was he unreasonable or was Daria? Was he genuinely trying to save money or was he trying to limit Daria’s contact with the outside world? How did he try to make Daria feel at home and help her to adapt?
13. Online matchmaking sites enjoy booming business. Why do you think some American men go abroad to look for a wife? Why would a smart, talented woman like Daria marry a man like Tristan? Can these marriages work?