The Undesirables

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The first thing Karen did when the Leningrad trader kissed her was hold her breath. The second thing she did was wonder where he got the fish. She hadn’t eaten anything but stale bread since early November—no one in this starving city had—and that was more than a month ago. But somehow, the Leningrad trader’s breath tasted like anchovies. He must have bartered for them, just as Karen had agreed to trade him this kiss.

The trader tried to separate her lips with his tongue, but that wasn’t part of the deal, so she kept her mouth locked tight. She could feel him trying to grope her, but he couldn’t unbutton her coat with his gloves on, and it was far too cold to take them off. Eventually he let go of her and removed his lips from hers. Karen was glad of that because she couldn’t hold her breath much longer.

The Leningrad trader begrudgingly opened his duffel bag and handed over a shovel. Karen had brokered a four-way trade. She’d given her gold locket to Kaleena, who’d given a bale of chicken wire to Inna, who’d given a cup of flour to the Leningrad trader, who’d agreed to give Karen the shovel. It had taken Karen more than a month to organize the deal, to figure out who wanted what and how to get it for them. The Leningrad trader turned out to be the most difficult link in that chain because he wanted more than a cup of flour. He also wanted a kiss.

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