Bleeding Fiction

Constantine (also called Konstantin, Kostya, Kostyik and Kost) works in the office of our Moscow cooperator. He's the guy who they sent over because Lena couldn't come. He's flat out one of the nicest people I know and a funny guy to boot, so it's great to have him around. Even if he isn't Lena. He showed up yesterday and spent today in our office, doing whatever work it was he was brought here to do by the Work & Travel people. He popped into our office every so often to say hi and offer such quips as "New York's a great city; you wake up and you're already here," plus he ate lunch with us. In a way, it was a little bit like having lunch with Yakov Smirnoff ("You guys get a whole hour for lunch? Wow! Armen only lets us take twenty minutes and if we go out to get food he paces the floors if we're not back in ten. And we have to eat at our desks so we can answer the phones."). Plus he views Daffys as a shopping mecca, which is just too entertaining for words. It'll be a blast to have him around for the month.

Plus he's agreed to talk to Armen for me about letting Lena come to the States earlier. If there's anyone who can do it, it's Constantine. Or, as he puts it, "it all depends on Armen's mood. If things are going well, it'll be easy to break him."