2

She was worried that her words came off too harsh. The only thing that was worse than him trying to hint at fucking her in the ass was him apologizing for offending her. Usually, the times he pissed her off by leaving clothes on the floor or leaving dishes under the bed to mold, he had no clue that he was making her miserable. When she had noticed nothing at all, he would patter on about how sorry he was and would keep asking her why she was mad. He would keep it up until she was mad. Most of the time it was her accent. It turned him on, but it also sounded angry to him and other Americans even when she was just stating something plainly with no emotion at all. For all their bluster and tough talk, American men were very sensitive in private. They were annoyingly emotional.

Seth came back with a voice that sounded occupied instead of sensitive.

That she could live with. “Do you speak German?”

Eva sighed. “Yes, I told you that I do. You know that. I speak German, Russian, Belarusian, and French. I also speak and read a little Italian, Ukrainian, Rusyn, and Polish.”

“So you do speak German, right?”

Eva growled and closed her eyes. She did not try to hide the harshness in her voice as she shouted. “Yes, I speak German, you trottel dummkopf.”

“Great. Great. Can you come here, please, Eva? I need your help.” Again he was not reading when she was angry.

She pulled off her rubber gloves and dropped them inside out on the counter beside the sink.

“What do you need in German?” she asked as she walked through the dining room.

The dining room table was stacked with file boxes. Papers spilled out from under the bent cardboard lids. Most were yellow and pink carbon paper from visa applications from countries all across Europe and Asia.

“I’m working here, babe. Hurry up, please. I need to know what this

says.”

“I’m coming, Seth. Why don’t you use Google Translate as you did before you knew me?”

“It’s giving me a weird translation. I don’t think it’s right. Come on and help me. It will be quick.”

Everything with him was quick, she thought.

“I’m coming,” she said as she went down the short flight of steps into the den Seth used as an office.

She thought of the den as the lair of some weird skinny and fat bear. It smelled even more musty than the rest of the house. There was a thick orange shag carpet that always caught in and clogged the vacuum cleaner. She had given up on trying to get out all the stains and popcorn kernels he left ground down into the shag. The wood paneling was dark and gave the bear’s lair more of a cave-like feel. There were old, water-stained posters of half-naked women along the walls. Most of them were busty women in red bathing suits. Their boobs were not real and were from something called the Baywatch.

Seth sat at the computer desk in the darkest corner of the room. His sallow, rat-like face looked sharper in the dull, green glow of the computer screen.

“Babe?” He yelled again without turning around. “I’m right here, Seth.”

“Right. Sorry.” He clicked his way back up through a screen of text and pointed at a block of lines on the screen. “This. What does this say?”

Eva leaned out over his shoulder and squinted at the screen. Her lips moved as she read through and shook her head.

Seth turned his head toward her and cupped her breast where it hung down and rested heavily on his shoulder. He pulled at and rubbed at her nipple until it poked hard through the material of her shirt. He licked his lips and took more encouragement from her reaction than she intended to give. She was getting turned on, but it was a shame that his little cock under his weirdly fat belly was her only option.

She pulled her breast away from his grasp and moved to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that he was crestfallen.

“Not now,” she said. “I can’t concentrate on this if you are teasing me.

Do you want this translated or not?”

He sighed and turned his attention back to the screen. “Okay. What does it say?”

“It is not German,” she said. “Well, not all of it.” “What does that mean?”

Eva waved her fingers over the text. “It is a mix of German and Russian. Some of it is misspelled and the grammar is bad. Words are out of order for both languages.”

“Is it a bot?” he asked. “This girl keeps messaging me.” “Bot?”

Seth waved a hand in a circle. “Is it a computer program putting together random text?”

Eva thought, but then shook her head. “No. I think it is a person, but one that is not good with either language.”

“What does it say?”

She sighed and said, “It talks about bank accounts and transferring money for travel. It talks about trusting God and wanting to serve a higher purpose once she gets to America. That’s the best I can get out of it. Like I said, it is in two languages and badly written.”

Seth scrolled up and deleted the message. “Super. I’m probably getting contacted by someone on the watch list.”

Eva stood up straight and stared at his face in profile. “What is this watch list? What are you talking about?”

“Nothing. Patriot Act stuff. It’s probably some hacker trying to scam me out of money, but it might be someone trying to sneak into America illegally.”

Eva swallowed and narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to get in trouble?

Are you going to get us in trouble?”

He waved a hand at her dismissively as he clicked through pictures of women on his computer. About half of the pictures were completely or partially naked. She ignored them as she waited for his answer.

Seth said, “Don’t be silly. I’ve been doing this for years. I got you to America, didn’t I?”

She looked at a woman on his screen bent over and spreading her bare ass for the camera. Seth bit his lip as he stared at the image.

Eva said, “That is true, but a lot of bad stuff has happened since then. Are you worried the police are getting mad about all the women you are bringing into the country?”