April 21st 2024
Lenin
The small group thus did not reach Russia by train, as originally planned, but on a special flight arranged to bring home diplomats and a few others who dared to travel in the hands of the evil. The waiting time had been long for all of them. They had to spend the whole day, switching from a lounge to another one, before getting onboarded. Lenin experienced much worse, by travelling from place to place during his long exile of his previous life. The art dealer and the former business consultant were also accosted to unexpected events while on the road to a fair or a meeting with the client. Yet they all felt the tension, spread between the local Finnish authorities, who stared at them like potential threats to the national security, and the other passengers, who were substantially worried to be able to leave the country without any unpleasant surprise. Some of them had lost their job because of the sanctions, others, who usually would have chosen a private flight, risked a severe financial loss and tried to secure what was left of their properties in the West. The small group experienced none of such problems, their main troubles would have been raised only once in Russia. The weather was not favourable either and contributed to the journey’s delay much more than the bureaucracy and the ideological clash of nations. It was raining quite heavily and the sun had decided to stay under the cover of a thick group of dark clouds. At least the catering was good, even if Lenin observed how far too much alcohol and sweets were provided to the visitors of the business lounges. Both the business consultant and the art dealer noticed for the first time in their life how they were accustomed to the nourishment delivered by the airports. A kind of food that, along the years, had become more and more standardised, as much as it was increasingly sold as local. Lenin, who during his last years in Switzerland, never left the country before, nor took an internal flight, was able to more precisely detect the lies of the marketing. After all, he had been a master mind of propaganda and, had he not chosen to work in a museum, he could have accomplished great things if employed for an advertisement agency. The same agency that publishes the magazines distributed for free in the halls of the supposed to be luxury hotels and also in the business lounges of the airports. Sometimes the content is interesting and the trio, who wanted to avoid discussing any serious matter under the surveillance of cameras and microphones, had the chance not to get bored. After several hours, the names of the three companions were called by a friendly female voice through the loudspeakers. Lenin looked into the eyes of the former business consultant and art dealer. They were missing the self confidence they had shown so far. It was the time to recover his charisma and spur the young women and the Briton into the right direction. All of them hesitated to move until their names had been repeated. This time they were asked to urgently reach the passport control and the small group did not linger further. Sometimes the success of an insurrection depends on pure chance and the cold blood proved with unexpected events. They did not know what to expect, but in full possession of their emotions they stepped forward in the direction of the frontier police box. Quite a simple structure that could have been stormed by any organised group of persons. There were only two officers, a man and a woman, quietly sitting on a chair waiting for the few people they had to check. As the three companions introduced themselves, the policemen asked for their passports and carefully looked at the face of each of the travellers, as if they wanted to study any smallest irregularity of their skin and produce a portrait. “Thank you so much. We need the reason for your departure, please fill the module hereby. Just a couple of lives will be sufficient”. The three had to try to explain the reason for the trip, identifying themselves in the roles they had carefully selected. They had to pay attention not to mess up with the traits usually associated with their cover jobs. The policemen did not react by reading the elaborated description of the motivation brought by a false sommelier, concierge and chef de cuisine. Lenin did not like the idea to portrait himself as a simple aid, he thought that after so many years of clandestine identities and several decades spent in a mausoleum, he deserved some recognition for his seniority. A female sommelier was more than welcome by the female police officer, who during her free time was an activist in a feminist organisation. The art dealer had moreover already the manners of an experienced concierge, given the common aspects of his business with someone who tries to sell to the visitors of an hotel the expensive services of a third party agency. Also with someone who needs to be extremely discrete about the extravagances of a selected clientele. Their demands and reasons appeared well sounded for the screening and all the three got a stamp on a white piece of paper. They were allowed to board on the plane.
