HENRY ERIC FIRDMAN Maverick for Life

Annotation

-- I had no way to know that mybeloved bosses were active members of the infamous Rosenbergring. I learned this much later, -- two years after myimmigration to the States. I also learned then that in my ignorance I was in agood company with the FBI that wanted Joel Barr (a.k.a. Joe Berg) and Alfred Sarant (a.k.a. Phil Staros) sincethe late 1940s, but had no idea forty years later where these people were.The letter was delivered to Shuysky, Khrushchevs personal assistant, who -- promised toput it on Khrushchevs desk the day he comes back from his vacation. Unfortunately, when Khrushchev came back -- he was no longer the First Secretaryof the Central Committee.A young, Jewish-looking man cameout of the Consulate and looked at me. -- Three people surrounded me right away,and one of them said: Lets go. The last thing I saw was the Americansfrightened face, and then he darted back through the door. -- Another KGBoperative with Lyalya at his side caught up with us. -- Apparently, KGB had our pictures.Now I had a chance to --experience mundane, daily life in the United States. I would finally live in the countrywhere everything was rational, logical, economically justified, and not proneto any ideological perversions. I would finally not feel like Gulliver in the Land of Idiots, as I characterized mylife in the Soviet Union, and live among people thinkingand acting like me. I was dead wrong.