The Charm School

toward them.
    Hollis focused on a man in his middle fifties, a handsome, well-groomed man wearing corduroy pants, a button-down shirt, and cardigan sweater. He sat with a younger man, and both were watching television. Hollis could see the screen; Tony Randall and Jack Klugman were having an argument in the kitchen of their apartment. Hollis couldn’t hear the sound, but he recognized the segment from
The Odd Couple.
    The young man howled with laughter at something, then turned to the middle-aged man and spoke in New York-accented English. “I still don’t understand if these guys are supposed to be Jewish or not.”
    The American instructor replied, “It’s a little vague.”
    “Unger is a Jewish name, right?”
    “Right.”
    “So Unger is maybe a white Jew.”
    “What’s a white Jew?” the American asked.
    “You never heard that expression? That’s a Jew who acts like a gentile.”
    “Never heard it,” the instructor said.
    The student thought a moment. “Bill told it to me. He said it was a compliment. But I heard from someone else it was a slur. Now you say you never even heard it.”
    The American shrugged. “I don’t know everything.”
    Burov turned to Hollis. “Is it a slur? Or a compliment?”
    Hollis replied, “It’s a rather nice compliment.”
    Burov smiled. “I think you’re lying.” He added, “There is some lying here. That has always been a problem. But we can usually check these things.”
    Hollis looked at the Americans in the room, his brother fliers from long ago, and his heart went out to them. He took Lisa’s arm and moved her out the door. Burov hurried out behind them, and they stood on the covered porch in front of the building. Burov continued his previous thought. “You see, the lies of omission are the most difficult. Our instructors do not volunteer a great deal, so—” He looked at Hollis. “Is something bothering you?”
    “No.”
    “Oh, yes, those men. How insensitive of me. They’re all right, Hollis. They’ve adjusted.”
    Lisa put her hand on his shoulder, and Hollis nodded. “All right.”
    Burov placed his can on top of the Coke machine. He waited a minute, then said to Hollis, “A man named Feliks Vasilevich called me from Minsk. He was upset over something you said about him, though he was somewhat vague on the details. I wonder, perhaps, if you know what and whom I am talking about.”
    “You’re talking about Mike Salerno.”
    “Yes, that’s right. How did you catch on to him?”
    “He stood to attention and saluted every time a Soviet officer went past.”
    “Come now, Colonel Hollis. I’ll let you be sarcastic, but this is lying, and I told you about lying.”
    Hollis replied, “The way he smoked a cigarette.” Hollis explained perfunctorily.
    Burov nodded. “I see.”
    Lisa looked from one to the other. She asked Hollis, “Mike…?”
    Burov answered, “Yes. Were you fooled, Ms. Rhodes? Good.” He looked at Hollis. “But you know, Colonel, if someone wasn’t aware, as you were, of wolves in sheep’s clothing, that minor mistake would have passed unnoticed. Oh, I don’t belittle your intelligence. But smarter men than you have been completely fooled by my graduates. Ms. Rhodes’ good friend Seth Alevy for one has been fooled several times by some of our Americans. The Kellums, to name but two.”
    “The
Kellums
?” Lisa said. “Dick and Ann?” She looked at Hollis.
    Hollis nodded.
    Lisa shook her head. “My God… my God… I don’t believe this.”
    Burov smiled in pure delight. “And there are three thousand more in America, in your embassies, in your overseas military bases. Fantastic, isn’t it?”
    Lisa stared at Burov.
    Hollis glanced from one to the other. He hoped that Burov understood and believed how little Lisa knew. He hoped too that Lisa understood why she wasn’t kept as informed as she wished to be.
    Burov turned to Hollis and asked, “And how did you discover the Kellums?”
    “Simple background check. They’re quite good actors actually.”
    Burov looked thoughtful. “We’ve had no contact with them for ten days, so we assume Mr. Alevy is debriefing them. That’s very upsetting. Is he a good interrogator?”
    “I have no idea,” Hollis replied. He asked, “With Dodson on the loose and the Kellums in Alevy’s hands, will you move the school?”
    Burov shrugged. “I’d rather not. But things are getting hot, as you say. What would you do if you were the commandant here?”
    “Well,