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A Story

Well, yes, her timing could have been better. And although they had been worried about the possible events that could interfere with their cruise—illness, a layoff, a terrorist attack—this never came up in conversation.

That conversation was dominated by how much of their youth would be illuminated by this vacation. Who would have thought, in the days before glasnost, when their junior high nights were rimmed with news of the huff-and-puff between the superpowers, that a cruise ship with thousands of tourists could just sail into Russia? That a former Soviet satellite country could welcome them of its own accord and show off its national treasures? The bright white land of Sweden, the canals of Amsterdam, would soon be at their feet, like a travel show come alive.