The Charm School

a hospital ship.”
    Lisa didn’t say anything.
    Hollis said, “I found out afterwards that I was the last pilot shot down over North Vietnam. I saw my name mentioned in a history book once. Very dubious honor. Simms has the equally dubious distinction of being the last MIA.”
    “My lord… what an experience.” She added tentatively, “Do you think… Simms… I mean, he never turned up?”
    “No. MIA.”
    “And… did you think… does it bother you to talk about it?”
    Hollis answered her unasked question. “I don’t know what I could have done for him. But he was my copilot and my responsibility. Maybe… maybe I don’t have the sequence of events right, the distance between me and him, the time when our choppers came in… I think I was out of it. I don’t know what I could have done for him. Except to swim to him and see to his wound and join him in captivity. Maybe that’s what I should have done as the commander of the aircraft.”
    “But you were wounded.”
    “I didn’t even know that.”
    “Then you were in shock.”
    Hollis shrugged. “It’s done. It’s finished.”
    She put her hand on his shoulder.
    A few minutes passed in silence, then Hollis said, “So, to come full circle, Ernie Simms was never on any North Viet list of KIAs, or POWs, so he’s still officially missing. Yet I
saw
them take him aboard alive. And now with this Dodson business I’m starting to wonder again about all of that. All the guys whose chutes were seen opening and who were never heard of again. Now I’m wondering if Ernie Simms and a thousand other guys didn’t wind up in Russia.”
    “In Russia…?” Lisa found her jacket under the quilts and got a cigarette out of the pocket. She lit it and took a long pull. “Want one?”
    “Maybe later.”
    “This is a mindblower, Sam.”
    Hollis looked at her. “A mindblower… yes.” He said, “Look, we should get moving.” Hollis swung his legs out of the bed, then walked to the trunk where his clothes lay.
    Lisa whistled. “Nice body.”
    “Cut it out.” He looked at her standing naked by the electric heater gathering her clothes from between the quilts. “You don’t have fat thighs, but your feet
are
big.”
    They dressed and went through the second bedroom into the kitchen, where Ida greeted them and gave them a washbowl of hot water, a towel, and a bar of soap. They washed at the side table that still had a tub of dirty dishes on it. Lisa excused herself and went out back. Hollis went out into the cold air and walked to the dirt road. The Chaika had not left any tread marks on the frozen mud, but the vehicle with it, a half-track, had left its tread marks. Why they hadn’t stopped and searched the village was anyone’s guess. “Luck.” He added, “Laziness.” Though maybe someone was looking out for them.
    Hollis walked on the mud path beside Pavel’s
izba,
entered the dead garden, and passed Lisa on her way back to the house. She said, “Isn’t this fun?”
    Hollis assured her it wasn’t and kept walking. When he got back to the kitchen, he found Pavel sitting at the kitchen table with Lisa. Also at the table were Pavel’s children, Mikhail and Zina. They were sharing a math textbook and doing homework, though it was Sunday. Hollis sat and Ida served him a boiled egg, kasha, and tea. The Russian tea was, as always, excellent. There was a stack of brown bread and a bowl of butter on the table. Hollis spoke to the two teenagers about school, then asked, “What is your favorite subject?”
    The boy smiled and answered in English, “English.”
    Hollis smiled in return. He continued in Russian, “I know all the students in Moscow take English, but I didn’t know they taught it in the country.”
    The girl replied in halting English, “Everyone in school learn English. We speak it sometimes between we.”
    Lisa said in English, “Who is your favorite American author?”
    Mikhail replied, “We know a few now we are reading. Jack London and James Baldwin.” He asked, “Does
The Fire Next Time
be printed in America?”
    “Oh, yes. I’ve read it,” Lisa answered.
    “They put him in jail?” Zina asked.
    “No. They gave him a big royalty check.
Komissiya
.”
    Mikhail said, “Our teacher say they put him in jail.”
    “No.”
    Zina said to her brother in Russian, “You see? Last year an instructor told us he was arrested after the book was published. This year another instructor told us he wasn’t allowed to publish the book