For all I knew it had never occurred. He could have been holed up somewhere here in town. He paid the bills, so I had no way of knowing if there really were long-distance telephone charges. I know I sound unhinged, but that’s what happens when you begin to doubt. Catch him in one lie, and from then on everything he says is propaganda. Actually, I never did catch him.But first came the exuberant years. There were conferences in Paris and Venice, symposia in Warsaw and Morocco, goodwill tours to India and South America. The Soviets wooed us with vodka and caviar, at least when we were abroad. I didn’t see a grain of caviar in Russia, though the vodka flowed freely. Our government proselytized with whiskey and steak. Expenses was the magic word. Writers, artists, musicians, academics, and intellectuals who couldn’t afford the bus fare to Philadelphia were suddenly flying first class around the globe. We should have known it was too good to be trusted, but success rarely breeds self-doubt.
