The cold war 11

Irina leaned back on her chair and looked over at her stepbrother, looking so prim and proper in his smart office outfit. “perhaps he can be useful”, she thought to herself, “I mean, if he’s going to be following me about like a lost puppy, I might as well give him something to do”.

“как твой русский сейчас”? Irina asked.

Ben looked over at her and smiled, “not good”, he replied, “but I know enough to understand you were asking me, how my Russian language skills are”.

“Well, that’s a start”, Irina said crossing her legs and watching Ben mimicked her actions, sliding his right legs over his left knee, causing his checked skirt to stretch to its limit.

“Is it important”? Ben asked placing his hands neatly on top of his knee.

“Yes”, Irina replied, “most of our clients are Russian or from countries that speak Russian, but I guess for now you can speak to our clients stateside, while you learn”.

“What learn Russian”? Ben exclaimed, “that would take months, I’m only doing this until the end of the month, you know”?

Irina let out a chuckle, “if you say so, Bunny”, she replied, “of course, if you want to quit, you can at any time, but those eyebrows aren’t going to grow back anytime soon and those lips are going to look rather full for a few months yet, besides why would you quit now, isn’t this more interesting here than working for peanuts on that pretzel stand”?

Ben let out a heavy sigh and dropped his head as though he was thinking, “well… I guess I could do one more month while my brows grow back in and I let these lips settle, but I’m not committing to anything now, I’m going to decide at the end of the month”, he announced finishing his sentence with a nod.

“Ok, no problem, but how about you download a few language learning apps in the meantime, I can even help you practice”? Irina replied.

“Sure, why not, it couldn’t do any harm to learn a new skill, but first, you still haven’t told me what you do here”, Ben stated trying to look serious but just looking cute with his lips pursed together into a shiny pink pout.

“Well… we help people”, she announced.

The room fell silent as the two siblings looked at each other across the desk.

“Help how”? Ben asked, “you do their shopping? Help them cross the street? Can you be a little more specific”?

“Ok fine, we help women from Russia and the former soviet states settle in America, we find them sponsors or husbands so they can get green cards”, Irina said before pausing to see Ben’s reaction.

“And who pays”? Ben asked.

Irina smiled, “good question, Bunny”, she thought to herself, “thinking about the money, perhaps we’ll make a businesswoman out of you yet”.

“Well, that’s the beauty of it”, Irina announced, “they both pay, the client coming over, pays us to find a sponsor, and the client in the states pay us to find them a woman”.

“And what do they want these women for”? Ben asked.

“Some are looking for wives and some are looking for reliable workers”, Irina replied, “but to be honest, who cares, as long as they pay, we don't ask too many questions”.

Ben suddenly got a worried look on his pretty made-up face, “but… this is… this is legal, right”?

“Of course, Irina replied confidently, “we’ve been doing this for years, everybody wins and surely if it was illegal, someone would have come and arrested us by now, don’t you think”?

Irina could tell by the look on Ben’s face, he wasn’t too sure and if truth be told, she wasn’t entirely sure everything they did was legal herself, but her mother had told her not to worry and she and had no reason whatsoever to doubt her.

“So, what do you want me to do”? Ben asked from across the desk.

“Well, at the moment we have more women wanting green cards, than we have sponsors, we need to get some new American clients on the books”, Irina announced.

“How do we do that”? Ben asked.

“Networking”, Irina replied, “I have a few contacts here in New York who can help us out, all we need to do is arrange some sort of social event, so we can discuss business and sign on the new clients”.

“Like a party”? Ben asked, “you want me to organise a party”?

“Exactly”, Irina replied, “you catch on fast; I’ll leave the details up to you and remember it needs to be classy. Do you think you can manage that”?

 A small grin appeared on Ben’s face, “no problem, easy peasy”, he announced in a confident voice.

(See image 6.2)