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four weeks?" I had learned one Russian word, “Nyet,” meaning “no.” I also had been told in those days that if you, with American dollars to spend, didn't get what you wanted in Russia, you just had to holler for it. If you screamed loudly enough they gave in. So I cried, “Absolutely nyet.”

Did you get another girl?

Our man said mournfully, “I don't know what I can do.”

And I said, “I know exactly what you can do. That girl that took us around Odessa today! I would like her to be our guide for the whole trip.”

He said, “That's ridiculous. She's never been out of Odessa in her life.”

I said, “Well, you just told us that all this guide is going to do is take care of our baggage and see that we make connections. We're going to have a local guide everywhere we go. What a chance for a fine young Russian girl to see her country! We demand this girl.”

Well, there was quite an argument about this. Harold and Harvey were screaming with laughter, since they knew my interest was not entirely for guidance. Finally the manager said, “She won't go.”

I said, “Ask her--and in English, too.”

So after a lot of screaming he called up Mina, and told her, “These crazy Americans want you to come on this trip for four weeks with them, and they're leaving in about an hour. Do you want to come?”