Андрей (Andrei) came back from Чечня (Chechnya) with the uncanny ability to stare at a point three feet in front of his face regardless of chaos around him. He and Natasha were slowly breaking up in November when I moved in. Slowly, at least, until he disappeared for a couple weeks, as Наташа (Natasha) says he does sometimes.

She packed up his things and hitchhiked to the militsia (police) quarters where he lives. (When I've talked about hailing cabs before, what I really meant was hitchhiking. About a fifth of the cars on the road at any given time will pull over and take you where you want to go for few dollars, if it's not too far out of their way). The guy who stopped was young and good-looking with a really nice car, and he waited for Наташа when she dropped off the parcel of Андрей's things. She said Андрей's friends at the station connected the dots too much and nodded their heads and looked at the floor when she asked them to make sure he got the parcel.

He called her again last week, after ignoring all her calls and text messages to see if he got his things. He came over last week on one of the nights I was teaching late, and Наташа cooked him a dinner of meatballs with onions and bread. For some reason he said he couldn't look at food, and Natasha's ulcers have forced her onto a month-long diet of basically yogurt and oatmeal, so I had a pretty nice dinner when I got back.

He's a little younger than me, which makes him 7 or 8 years younger than Наташа. I've only really met him once, when I came to Наташа's for the first time. Obviously she had no idea who would walk in her door and wanted someone else around (she's lived with a girl who used to pilfer stuff and flounce around in her underwear when her boyfriend was over, she's been stalked from prison by a guy who somehow got her picture from an ex (when he was released, he camped out near the entrance of her apartment, forcing her to take a few days off work and hide), she used to rent an apartment from a woman who was sure she was a prostitute (and eventually kicked her out) because of her Ukranian accent and miniskirt, she lived for a month in the office of the Domodedovo airport's duty free shop...when I wrote and said hi I'm Rhubarb I saw your ad for a flatmate I'm 23 and American and cats are fine by me can we meet, she remained prepared for anything).

Андрей seemed mild and genuinely kind when I met him, but he speaks minimal English so our conversation was limited to my Russian. Наташа describes him as ascetic, never buying new clothes if the old ones will do and only eating about once a day. He's in Moscow alone, like a lot of young people, having grown up a couple days away by train. He had an uncle he was close to, but since he died there's no one outside the militsia he really listens to or looks up to. His salary is barely enough to live on, but he gets occasional handouts from the older, more established officers as is the tradition. (It's also a tradition for these guys to hit up Moscow's huge population of unregistered foreigners for bribes...when Наташа still had a Ukranian passport, it was basically a constant tax for her. Once she was even dragged into a room and told to dance, but luckily she has nerves of steel and knows how not to take bullshit).

Андрей showed up again yesterday. Наташа made him dinner, then he passed out in front of the tv and left this morning (I didn't see him, because I got home from Holly's Australia Day party at 2 and left again to teach at 8). Наташа thinks he genuinely wants to be friends, plus the police station isn't the most pleasant place to spend all his time. He's not expressive enough to tell her any of this, but he did ask if he could come around to hang out more often.

The cuffs on his jacket are frayed, and she told him he has to get a new one. She jokes that she's the mother for her ex-boyfriends, but it's barely a joke. The situation feels strange to me, but I think she's strong enough that she's gotten past the point where it would be rough on her emotionally and can just see him as someone who really needs someone.