“It’s an alarm system,” Stas said.

A shock wave went through Rikki with each needle that Stas pulled out. “Everyone else has geraniums on their balcony. I have geraniums. The geranium is a lovely flower,” he said.

“Rikki lives upstairs.” Stas plucked the final spine.

Red puncture marks dotted Rikki’s hand. He looked at them mournfully.

“Do you always visit this way?” Arkady asked.

“I was trapped.” Remembering, he pulled Stas and Arkady away from the balcony. “They’re at my door.”

“Who?” Stas asked.

“My mother and my daughter. All these years waiting to see them and now they’re here. My mother wants to take the television. My daughter wants to drive back in the car.”

“Your car?” Stas asked.

“Her car, once she gets to Georgia.” Rikki explained to Arkady, “In a moment of weakness, I said she could. But I have a new BMW. What is a girl going to do with that in Georgia?”

“Have fun,” Arkady said.

“I knew this would happen. These people have no control. They’re so greedy it makes me ashamed.” Rikki’s face fell tragically.

Stas said, “Don’t answer your door and they’ll go away.”

“Not them.” Rikki’s eyes lifted to the ceiling. “They’ll wait me out.”

“You can go down the stairs from here,” Arkady said.

Rikki said, “I told them to wait a minute. I can’t simply disappear. I have to open the door sometime.”

Stas asked, “Then, why come here?”

“Do you have any brandy?” Rikki examined his hand, which was already starting to swell.

“No. Vodka,” Stas offered.

“It will have to do.” He allowed himself to be helped to a chair and given a glass. “This is my plan: let her take a different car.”

Stas said, “You picked her up at the airport. She knows your car. She loves your car.”

“I’ll say it’s yours—that I borrowed it from you to impress her.”

“Ah. And what car are you going to let her take?” Stas asked.

“Stas.” Rikki batted his eyes. “Stas, we’re close friends. Your Mercedes is ten years old, bought used—a dog bed, if I may speak frankly. My daughter is a woman of some taste. She’ll take one look at your car and will refuse to touch it. I was hoping we could trade keys.”

Stas poured two more vodkas and said to Arkady, “You wouldn’t know it now, but Rikki once swam the Black Sea. He had a wet suit and a compass. He dove through nets and swam under patrol boats. It was a heroic escape. Now here he is, hiding from his daughter.”

“You won’t trade?” Rikki asked.

“Life has caught up with you. I think your daughter’s going to make you pay for years,” Stas said. “The car is only a beginning.”