Tag #132754 - Interview #78135 (esfir dener)

Colman was 14 and I was 13, when his 18-year-old cousin came to see him from Iasi. They came to visit me. He was sitting on the sofa in the dining room looking at us haughtily, regarding us as provincial small fry. Then he suggested that we played ‘American bets'. We had no idea what it was about and he explained, ‘If I ask you a question and you know the answer, you can ask me for anything I have and you can have it. But if you don't know the answer, you will do anything I tell you'. Then he turned to me: ‘Of course, the girl will go first'. I took it easy: what could he ask of me, if I didn't know the answer – to recite a poem or sing a song, maybe. He asked me a question about a boxer, whom I had not the slightest idea about. Then he said, ‘Well, here is what we will get', and he bent over and kissed me on the cheek. I was taken aback and jumped up. The worst thing was that Colman, my cavalier, burst into tears. That way I learned what a man's guile was about. Colman said, ‘I will tell your mother'. His cousin laughed and said with disdain, ‘What a kindergarten!' and left. I told Colman to leave: ‘Go away and never come back to me'. I was probably crying all day long.