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ge d from page 21) not read the alphabet: I had diffi- culty with street names and the stops on the Metro. Kim was always there to act as guide. r In spite of the difficulties I have described, we were highly privileged, enjoying all the many foreigners, while living completely apart from the small foreign community of diplo- mats and Western pressmen 1D Moscow. Most of this group, whom I never met, lived in six or- seven so-called ‘ diplomatic blocks’ dispersed throughout the city, with usual militiaman standing guard outside each entrance. iet organisation called the supplies the necessary } chauffeurs, maids and translators, a method by which the authorities keep an eye on foreigners. It is a small inbred community, its mem- bers well known to one another, but always eager to meet a new face.’ We lived a long way from this enclave, under a different sort of control, but we, too, enjoyed per- haps the most valuable of ali mrivileges: a foreign account at mGUM, usually available ‘only for embassies, With the help once more of our Russian friends and y American passport, we were ble to open an account at this vast mportum, larger than . Harrods, ust across Red Square from the. facilities for “Watching me battle with the. anguage, the cold and the inevit- Able restrictions of our life, the Ryssians guessed that I was not Kim, of course, ¢ first on their list of priorities. Beit if | were to become restless and ‘cofplaining, they knew this would urely affect his work and possibly s state of health. And so I became an object of concern to the KGB, the secret police. As my first Russian winter drew to a close J took stock of what was Bin store for me. Several months I still had a feeling of being more a visitor than a resident. Kim, as well as the other expatriates and the Russians themselves, still con- sidered me an American national. There had been no question of my assuming Soviet citizenship as Kim had done. It was against this background that I debated two important prob- lems. I had promised my daughter that I would visit ber in America the coming summer, My other problem was that my passport would expire in October, and I did not know what my chances were of getting a new one at the American Embassy in Moscow. What was I to do? 7 The test All the familar prope of my previous life had been knocked from under me. J was adrift. In this mood of anxious uncertainty, I was eager to explore the limits of The Maclean family at home, in early days. anna ° ae oe ot = ‘ee portrayal as oa. homose Anthony Purdy and Douglas ! " etland’s book, ' Burgess and | lean,’ would not allow it house. ‘I found his comn boring and quite irrelevant. When the Russians realised I was determined to go, pre} tions for my departure bega - eamest. Sergei busied '‘mself "{ visas and tickets, bu —‘“yre F cate problem was whaix—cefir - give me to prepare me for almost inevitable interrogatior the FBI. After long discuss between Kim and his Rus friends, they decided that the course of all was not to. im| any prohibitions on me: I say what F liked, good or bad there was one exception: * Thi thing we really don’t want k is my address, my phone no and my Russian name.” Kir to me. ‘If you give them aw will just complicate life. It + a . » mean having to move” ~ — He adopted s Position of neutrality, " ee, insisting that the decision was mine | alone. He hinted that his doubts , -Cables in COC had more to do with the problems = Kim and his friends did 1 I might encounter in the US, me exactly what thei “-ars than with opposition from the but they obviously av ‘tex Russians, This detachment of his I would get into trout it was unnerving: it was as if he dis- immigration officials or the F claimed responsibility for me, as if both. Kim gave me a she the action | contempiated was aa paper on which he had typed could best handle by being aloof. nocuous, they were code The Russians had to far said describe what might happen t nothing against my plans, but in ‘ARRIVED SAFELY . early June Kim had a long confer- ‘LOVE’ meant that I encoun ence with Sergei. The upshot was, on arrival no difficulty of any Kim said, that they strongly advised ‘ARRIVED SMOOTHLY me to postpone my trip because | LOVE? indicated difficulties might find myself in difficulties. the FBI; ‘LANDED SAI Finally Kim told them I was deter- ALL LOVE' referred to pa: mined to go, and said: ‘If you difficulties; while -- "GC don't let her leave, she will go FLIGHT ALL LOVE' mean straight to the American Embassy; J was wrestling with both the I know her well enough. She is and the passport officials. | going to leave whether you like it to send Kim one of the cab! or not." Sergei replied, somewhat goon as I arrived. sardonically: ‘In Russia we have Once more Towae tn hear