Page 339 - The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1

Nicolai Levashov. The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1. Born in the USSR

next day. Sometimes people spent several days waiting for their turn, because the

windows opened at 17.00 and closed at 20.00.

Often people went through all this, came to the window and got a denial. I was not
aware of any of this. I only knew that I was to come to the window exactly at 17.00 to
get the answer. Exactly this mood made it possible that, when I came right to the
window, no one said a word to me and while I stood near it waiting for the answer,
several persons came to the window and none of them even asked, who I was, why I was
standing there and when was my turn. I did it unintentionally, I always respected turns,
everything happened because of a mere misunderstanding. I did not influence people
intentionally in this situation, simply my mood caused by the information I was given
resulted in that I involuntarily, at the subconscious level, influenced people who stood
in this enormous line.

One way or another, in the evening of December 26 we finally had our passports
with the American visas and permission to leave the USSR. We thought that our
adventures were now over, but we were wrong. We had to get tickets from Montreal to
San Francisco, which Constantine Orbelian booked for us. The western airlines offices
were located then in the Hammer-center, and be-cause there was a holiday on December
25 and we got the American visas only on Thursday, we could get our tickets on Friday,
December 27. We agreed to meet with Constantine at 11 o'clock in the morning at the

entrance to the center.

We met and went together into the office of the airline company. Constantine took
the tickets and we had already exited the building as a representative of the agency came
after us and said that it was probably important for us to know that we would arrive in
Montreal at one airport and depart for the USA from another and that we would have
only one hour between our flights! His warning was very important and at the same time
disappointing! In order to get from one Canadian airport to the other we needed a
Canadian transit visa, which we did not have at 11.30 in the morning on Friday,
December 27! And also all western embassies and consulates worked only till 12.00
because of the Christmas holidays!
We were lucky because the Canadian embassy was near the Hammer-center.
Nevertheless, when we came there, it was already something past twelve and the
embassy was closed to the public. We were allowed inside only because Constantine

Orbelian, an American citizen, was with us. However, the most important for us was to
get inside and we made it. After a while an embassy clerk came out and asked about the
reason for our visit. She spoke very good Russian and I explained to her that we needed
the Canadian transit visas.

She said that the ambassador (or the consul) already left. But I knew that they
always had some visas on hand just in case and influenced her so that she wanted to help
us. She cogitated a little, promised to do something and left the room. In ten to fifteen
minutes she came out with our passports with the Canadian transit visas. She did not
even take any money for the registration, be-cause the cash-desk was already closed. We
thanked her for her help and left the Canadian embassy.

Thus, we managed to gather everything necessary for the trip to far away America
on Friday, December 27 at one o'clock in the afternoon. We needed only to pack our

things and that would be all! No one wanted to believe us, whoever we told about our

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