"Hi, Mama." But Remo didn't understand it. It was in Russian.
"Remo, I'd like you to meet my mother," said Anna.
"You've threatened one or two of those women," said Remo. "I doubt your mother is here."
"She's visiting," said Anna.
"Don't you remember what we were here for?"
"Well, maybe my mother can help," said Anna.
"Ask your mother or mothers if any of them speak English."
Anna spoke in Russian again and three women nodded. "Look," said Remo. "There's a big danger to the world, and one of your boys is causing it."
"Vassily," said one woman, round-faced as the rest. "What has he done now?" she said in English.
"He's gone to America, and he's taking it over," said Remo. "He's already started one war."
"What does he want with a war?"
"I dunno. He wanted a war. Anna understands him better. She's all right. She's Russian. She wants to help."
"There are Russians and Russians," said all the women. "What kind of Russian?"
Remo shrugged.
"Is she from the government?"
"She thinks they're all idiots," said Remo.
"Did you see where my mother went?" asked Anna in English.
"She was never here," said Remo.
"Now I know how powerful this thing is," said Anna. "She was more real than my own mother."
"So you think the government is run by idiots," said one of the women.
"They're men, aren't they? Look. We have a real problem going on here. Vassily Rabinowitz, who went to the parapsychology village, has gone on to make lots of trouble. America and Russia are about to go to war. I don't know what the idiots are going to do in Moscow but I suspect now that there is going to be another arms buildup or something even more useless. And in America, Vassily is in the process now of taking it over."
"That's Vassily's problem. We never get harmed by wars," said Vassily's mother.
"You will by this one. You can't convince an atomic weapon you are close relatives or teachers," said Anna.
"You mean those bombs that blow up countries?" asked another woman.
"The very kind," said Anna.
"Vassily was always a troublemaker," said his mother. "Not meaning to be insulting, Mrs. Rabinowitz, Vassily was everyone's problem."
"That's why he left," said another woman.
"He was different," said another.
"Maybe you could tell me something about these powers," said Anna. "I suspected everyone had them when there were no histories of battles around here. Every patrol must have thought they had stumbled onto their home towns."
"Something like that," said one of the women.
"And when I saw the asphalt road coming in here I assumed the commissar for the district thought he had relatives here as well as the production leaders."
"Something like that," said another woman.
"Everyone in this village has these powers, don't they?" said Anna.
"Something like that," said another woman.
"I guess it's a natural survival attribute of Dulsk," said Anna.
"Nothing like that," said one of the women.
"It's a miracle," said another.
"It's a blessing. It's kept us all safe, and if Vassily hadn't left, we'd still all be safe."
"What I meant was that this miracle is a natural phenomenon of the people of this village. As you know, certain species have survival attributes which enable them to be around longer than these species that don't. Apparently you-"
"Shut up with your scientific nonsense, pretty little girl. What we have here is a miracle. A downright genuine miracle."
"A wonderful miracle. But if you're a communist you wouldn't understand it."
"I am willing to listen," said Anna. They poured her a cup of tea, and several of the women insisted she eat something because she could use some meat on her bones. Didn't Remo think so? Remo didn't think so. Remo was too skinny too, they said.
Anna ate the delicious ginger cookies while Remo sipped water. They were the first outsiders to hear the story of the miracle of Dulsk.
In the twelfth century there were many wars around Dulsk, and sometimes holy men started them and other times holy men were victims of them.
But it came to pass that one especially battered holy man made it to their village in very bad shape. His head was bleeding, his eyes were puffed closed, and both his arms were severely broken.
The villagers could not tell if he were a Ruthenian-rite Catholic, a Russian Orthodox Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. His mouth was so battered that he could barely speak. But they knew he was a holy man because he mumbled prayers constantly.
As he recovered he realized that the villagers did not know of which faith he was. Which group would the holy man favor? All of them had taken good care of him.
Now, in Russia, special holy men all had special powers. Some could see in the dark. Others, like Rasputin, could heal the sick. Some could be in two places at once. And yet others could make objects fly from a distance.
And he most certainly was a holy man.