3
TREI
He knew what I had done.
What had I done?
The truth was, most Romanians broke the rules someway or another. There were so many to break. And so many to report that you had broken them.
A songwriter wrote negative lyrics about life in Romania. He was committed to an insane asylum.
A college student was discovered with an unregistered typewriter. He was sent to prison.
Complaining aloud could get you arrested as a “political agitator.” But I hadn’t complained aloud. I did most things quietly. Secretly. So what had this agent discovered?
Was it my homemade radio antenna? The jokes I composed? Was it the travel guide?
I bought English language stuff on the sly, through a neighborhood trader named Starfish. Reading English contraband bolstered my vocabulary. My last purchase was a handful of pages torn from a travel guide printed in England. Foreign travel guides and maps were often confiscated from visitors. Reading those pages, I learned why:
Abysmal conditions in Romania.
Nicolae Ceau?escu. Ruthless leader. Megalomaniac. Everyone under surveillance.
Worst human suffering of any country in the Eastern Bloc.
And this one—
Romanian people are intelligent, handsome, and welcoming, but forbidden to interact with foreigners. Imagine a madhouse where the lunatics are running the asylum and the workers are punished for their sanity. Best to avoid Romania. Visit Hungary or Bulgaria instead, where conditions are better.
The note about surveillance—it was true. Everyone was a possible target for surveillance. She, Mother Elena Ceau?escu, even decreed that balconies of apartments must remain fully visible. The Communist Party had a right to see everything at all times. Everything was owned by the Party. And the Ceau?escus owned the Party.
“Nice for them. They don’t have to live in a block of cement,” I once sneered.
“Shh. Don’t ever say that aloud,” gasped my mother.
I never said it again, but I wrote about it in my notebook.
My notebook. Wait. Was this about my notebook?
The agent motioned for me to sit. I sat.
“Do you know why you are here?” he asked.
“No, Comrade Lieutenant.”
“Comrade Major.”
I swallowed. “No, Comrade Major, I don’t know why I’m here.”
“Let me enlighten you then. You have an impressive stamp collection. You sold a vintage Romanian stamp. The transaction was with a foreigner and you accepted foreign currency. You are now guilty of illegal trafficking and will be prosecuted.”
A chill flashed across the back of my neck. My brain began to tick: The old stamp.
The U.S. dollar bill.
That was two months ago. How long had they known about it?
“I didn’t sell the stamp,” I said. “I gave it to him. I didn’t even find the—”
I stopped. It was illegal in Romania to say the word “dollar.”
“I didn’t find the . . . currency . . . until several days later when I opened the album. He must have slipped it in without me seeing.”
“How did you come to interact with an American teenager in the first place? Interaction with foreigners is illegal. You must report any contact with foreigners immediately. You are aware of that.”
“Yes, Comrade Major. But my mother cleans the apartments of two U.S. diplomats. That is on record.”
But there were things that were off record. At least I had thought so. I had met the son of the U.S. diplomat while waiting for my mother. We became friendly. We traded stamps. We talked. I glimpsed a peek at his notebook—and decided to start a notebook of my own.
“Your mother cleans the apartments of U.S. diplomats. How did she get that job?”
“I think . . . through a friend?” I honestly couldn’t remember. “I met the American while waiting for my mother. I often walk her home. My mother has a hard time seeing in the dark. It’s frightening for her.”
“You’re claiming you engaged in illegal currency activity with an American teenager because your mother is afraid of the dark? Your mother’s handicap has nothing to do with your crime. But punishment will extend to your entire family.”
A crime? My entire family?
But I had never accepted the dollar. It just . . . appeared.
How did he even know about it?
The pleading refrains of my mother and sister appeared in chorus.
Don’t tell anyone—anything.
Remember, Cristian, you never know who’s listening.
Please, don’t draw attention to our family.
I stared at the agent in front of me. A shivery sweat glazed my palms and an invisible moth flapped in my windpipe. In Romania, the Securitate carried more power than the military. This man could destroy us. He could put our family under increased surveillance. He could ruin my opportunity to attend university. He could have my parents fired. Or worse.