“You know what river this is?” he asked. “The Ural.” “Yes. Still fixated on the flames, he pointed one direction with his left hand. “To this side, Europe.” His right. “Asia. We’re right on the boundary. It’s one of the things that makes us different—culturally, spiritually different—from Europe. I was thinking about it when I was reading Shpak’s report. What you had to say about Chicago and how it was on a similar boundary between the eastern United States—more of a European kind of place, I gather—and the west. A big place. Full of savages and savagery. Making America different too. In a
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