N.B. Spellings (if correct) are in UK English. All the characters in this story are fictitious, any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. The author neither condones or endorses any of the activities detailed in this story, which could well be illegal in certain jurisdictions. I'm adding (for legal reasons) that apparently if you're under-age you mustn't read this, so if that's the case go away and grow up.

Author's Note.

Unlike the first time this story was posted, I'm not desperately scratching away with my Quill in order to keep a few chapters ahead of my readers, for those who stay the course it's 86 chapters long, and I've recently had former readers bug me for those last six, but I thought with a total repost more people could follow the entire adventure, only this time to it's conclusion.

If or when readers from the old days find this story, please drop me a line, Chris can pass forward your email to me without attaching it to your comments posted about the story.

Okay here are Chapters 16 to 20

Chapter 16

Ella's new friend, and revelations for teacher.

The next day Ella took the boys to the local park, they saw some other young boys playing football and were invited to join in, and Ella ended up sitting on a park bench watching the kids, and talking with some of the other local mums, saying how they had only just moved to the city. She enjoyed the chance of conversation with other local mothers, and it was apparent straight off, that they did not have the hang-dog, depressed faces that had been so common in her old town.

They each talked of their children, both in the park, and elsewhere, Ella just saying her older daughter's where busy studying, getting ready for their new school. Some of the other mums had children going to the two schools she mentioned, saying she had done well to get in as newcomers, because both schools were popular making it very difficult to get a place. Ella said how a local businessman her husband knew had helped to arrange it for them, as they'd only just moved into their new house during the previous weekend.

As it approached lunch time, the kick-about wound down as the mums collected their kids heading home to eat, but one woman held back, and when the others were out of earshot she asked if Ella's daughters were perhaps meeting with eight other girls for lunch today.

After a few more tentative enquiries from both sides, it was plain that their daughters had more in common than the same school, so Ella invited Magda home for lunch so they could talk some more. Greg and Peter were pleased that one of their new playmates, Victor would be having lunch with them, after they had all eaten Ella shooed them out into the garden to play, so she could talk with Magda in private.

Ella was relived to have someone to talk to who shared the same situation, finding that Magda also kept Eve's younger brother in the dark, though she had recently started using the clothing catalogue ruse that was spreading through the studio as a cover story.

It was much easier to hide a lie that was close to the truth.

At the Studio a few stops away on the Metro, ten girls were gathered around a table in the canteen, as Anna and Marta were introduced to the other eight girls with whom they shared a common bond. Their discussions were wide ranging covering the school and the Studio, and the changes that were happening there, as well as fashion and boys, but one of the main topics was that of learning to speak English.

They may have been the new kids on the block, but the others seemed in awe of the rise of Anna's web persona as Natasha, and Marta the scriptwriter, manger and ideas factory.

The girls always called each other by their real names, so as to never slip up elsewhere, and almost seemed to treat their online presence as a separate person, which in a way they were; they were the fantasy girls of men half a world away.

By a strange twist of fate it was decided that Eve would introduce the girls at school as distant cousins of hers who had moved to the city, thus making a link as to why the girls would become involved in their social group in the school.

Before lunch that day Ivan had spoken to Anna and Marta about his discussions with both schools that the local models attended, and he'd called Svetlana and arranged she would teach a few classes a week at each school, but be available to provide tuition during some evenings and weekends exclusively for the models.

Svetlana had been bowled over by the offer, working part time in two of Kiev's finest schools, with guaranteed additional private lessons, plus free use of a company apartment during school terms, that and the promise of many students during school holidays for her intense courses, boarding with her in her own home, just like those girls she was currently teaching.

During his various talks with Svetlana, Ivan had come to realise that it was possible that this intelligent woman had doubts about the fashion catalogue cover story. He was looking forward to meeting her face to face the following day, in order that he could better gauge whether he could disclose the true nature of the Studio. If she were fully on board, she may be able to think of revisions to her lesson content for better intonation and appeal to their growing client base, who all seemed eager for more of the English dialogue videos.

As it turned out it was a good day for the whole family, as Igor had been asked to call in to see his new boss, in order to select a company car ready for the following week as it was expected he may have to visit several work sites in the course of a day. As he would rarely be expected to carry anything other than drawings or documents he would not need a panel van and was offered a range of different cars to choose from.

Being a practical man, and the given the fact that he was also allowed to have personal use of it, he asked if a people carrier was available, explaining how it would be useful with four children but also he could move several staff from one site to another if they had a rush job to do.

His manager immediately saw the benefit as they'd been caught out before with the odd emergency, trying to get staff across town on public transport with all their tools.

Igor having left that morning by tram and Metro, arrived home that evening in a shiny new MPV, (Muti-passenger vehicle, or Mini van) which he proudly parked on the drive in front of the garage, glad to see that it did not look too tall to park inside.

Dinner that evening was literally put on the back burner, as everyone rushed outside to see the wonderful new car, which really was impressive as few enough people in their previous neighbourhood had even owned old cars, or for that matter even bicycles. Proudly Igor gave his family a brief ride around the nearby streets in order to get some piece and quiet, also he wanted to eat.

When at last everyone was settled around the table, they all exchanged their news of the day, the girls saying how they had spent some time meeting with their new school mates, then Ella relating how she and the boys had met a mum with a lad at the lower school.

She neglected any mention of the woman's daughter, after their lunchtime chat both ladies could see the advantage of being able to cross check on any schemes the girls may cook up between themselves.

That evening Ella and Igor were especially affectionate, Igor saying how he always envied the guys he had seen in films making out in the back seat of a car. Ella poked him in the ribs saying to act his age, as they had a perfectly good new bed that was separated from the kids by a hallway and the bedroom doors.

Thursday was full of anticipation for the sisters, despite all the various interruptions and excitements, they'd managed to complete the two girl cheerleader script, and had asked Dmitri to check it over. Marta had written it like a play, in that there was the dialogue, and the stage directions for the players. They watched his expressions as he read, pleased with the smiles and chuckles, and by the time he finished there were only a few points that he suggested where they should make any changes.

Dmitri praised their work saying how difficult it was to write realistic dialogue in a foreign language, but their goal of being naughty and amusing without being explicitly crude would be a tough task for anyone.

When Svetlana called Ivan from the station mid afternoon, he rounded up the girls and hurried down to the minibus they had waiting outside the reception area to go and collect the returnees. After swift greetings at the station, they headed over to the apartment complex where the studio retained a few units, and moved Svetlana into the one recently vacated by Anna and Marta's family.

After refreshments sitting in the lounge, Svetlana handed Ivan three report cards as her newest pupils looked on nervously, each hoping for a chance to be first in line for the new style of English dialogue videos. Looking through the appraisals, he noted that each girl's weak points and strengths were outlined, with useful comments on what each one needed to work on to aid their progress.

He conversed with each of them briefly in English, and was impressed with how well they were able to handle the conversational aspect of a new language, then told them they had all worked hard and he was sure it would benefit them all handsomely in the near future with a number projects that were still in the planning stages at the moment.

Ivan said he would like to take Svetlana for a stroll down to the local café, and he would leave it in Marta's capable hands to chose a candidate for the presentation she had been working on, then afterwards the girls could each call their parents to collect them.

It was pleasant walking across the small park like area of grass in the late afternoon sunshine heading towards the nearby café, then seeing how busy it was Ivan suggested they sit on a park bench for chat till the crowd subsided, not wishing their conversation to be overheard.

“Svetlana, I am happy with your achievements so far, but are you sure the arrangements we discussed about your teaching in two schools part time, and the other private lessons for some of our girls won't be to much for you?”

She answered explaining that this was just the challenge that she had been looking for, as the pupils he had sent seemed so motivated, and if the schools were as good as they were reputed to be, she would enjoy teaching there as well. Sensing an undercurrent that Ivan might be trying to broach some change in the tendered offer she decided to be up front and lay her cards on the table.

“Sir, I am very grateful for this opportunity, before Anna and Marta showed up at my door, businessmen and those wealthy enough to travel were my mainstay, sometimes I would translate the odd document, but as the economy turned down I ended up with fewer pupils each month, frankly I was in debt. I'll be honest that I've had my doubts about why models for a clothing catalogue need to speak English, but they are well mannered, happy and willing to learn, and they like and respect you, so I don't think you're running the white slave trade”, she said with a grin. “If you have changed your mind about hiring me, or if you need to pay me less due to the cost of the apartment I am willing to be flexible.”

Smiling Ivan replied,“I do not renege on agreements, the results so far convince me you are the right person for the job, and I somehow perceived from previous conversations that you were doubtful about the catalogue cover story, so I will now be honest with you.

We're not white slavers, and the girls really are models – along the coast, or at many of the nudist resorts you may see young girls such as you've been teaching and think nothing of it, but in the USA and many other countries they have some really mixed up issues with regard to bare skin.”

“We run photographic web-sites, admittedly the girls are young, and they do undress, but none of our laws here are broken, and we don't produce pornography. Admittedly there are some small minded people who'd denounce our content, but it is only an extension of the natural way girls of that age express their growing femininity and flirtatiousness.

As our client base has grown, we saw there was a demand for video clips of our models – hence the girls want to learn English to speak on their clips to make them more interesting for our customers”

Svetlana was nodding, “Let me guess Anna was your first English video model, that's why the other girls look up to her, but I think Marta was very self conscious regarding her own appearance when we first met but not now, the others respect her too, I just can't see her in front of a camera, though her confidence has grown in leaps and bounds just recently.”

Ivan went on to give more details of the operation, clear in his mind he had found a new member for his team, he just needed to work out a fair bonus scheme that reflected her contribution to the girls achievements.

Marta was startled by this turn of events, but realised that Ivan was demonstrating his faith in her judgement in selecting the right girl to join Anna in this second English video.

In a decisive manor Marta said she would like each of them to read from the script for Anna and herself, and they would go in alphabetical order with the others waiting in the bedroom with the radio on. She had each girl audition in turn, first by reading from the script, then asking them to look at a few lines, put the script down, and play the part as they would for the video.

Anna and Marta quickly came to a decision, then called together the three candidates.

Marta said they had all done well, and could expect to do their own individual shoots very soon, but they'd chosen Lisa for this two handed skit, to temper the disappointment of the other two girls Marta pointed out Lisa and Anna would have to share the royalties.

The three girls who had been studying with Svetlana, Lisa, Nikki, and Sasha, all lived in satellite towns just two or three stops outside Kiev, after a few phone calls it was arranged that Ludmilla, Sasha's mum, would come and escort both her daughter and Nikki back home, and that Lisa would stay over for one or two days to shoot the video.

It was then that Anna pointed out to her sister they would need at least all of tomorrow to practice, then they were busy on Saturday, almost before Marta could say anything Anna said Marta had a date on Sunday and she would not shoot the video without her manager being there. They would have to shoot on Monday, even then it would mean Lisa would only have one day at home before starting back at school.

Lisa said she couldn't see any problems with the schedule, she then phoned home to talk it through with her parents.

It had helped that Marta had Ivan's number in her mobile phone, and that he had been with Svetlana at the local café when she called so that it was arranged for Lisa to stay over with her teacher in the apartment until Monday. While they waited for Ludmilla to journey into town, Anna had called out for pizza to be delivered, and had called home telling her mum they would be back late, and what was happening. Ella suggested they call back when they were ready to leave and their dad would come and drive them home.

With everyone so keyed up, it was decided to do a few practice runs of the sketch with scripts in hand, so the newcomers could watch as Marta gave stage directions, and could answer questions on each run through. The proceedings were interrupted by the pizza and then later when Ludmilla arrived, after hugs all round Sasha and Nikki were heading off home.

Rehearsals came to an end when Ivan returned with Svetlana, he informed the girls that their teacher was now fully aware of the true nature of the Studio's output, and would be able to help polish up any new scripts and act as voice coach for their productions.

Ivan enquired if Marta had Anna's cup cake video loaded onto her ever present laptop, on her confirmation, he asked that she show it, so that both Svetlana and Lisa could see the type of result the Studio was aiming for.

Shortly they were gathered round as 'Natasha' launched into her cookery demonstration, as a mildly embarrassed Anna watched the woman's reactions. She seemed amused, and then began to laugh in all the right places, and when it finished congratulated Anna for such a fine performance. Anna said how she was concerned that her accent was not quite right, but was assured that the cute 'foreign' tinge of her voice would appeal more to her audience than if she'd tried for perfect diction. Lisa on the other hand was just plain stunned at the video she had just seen, it looked truly professional, and she was both simultaneously relieved and awed at the chance to be involved in the Studio's second English video production.

After Ivan and the girls had left, teacher and pupil sat drinking hot chocolate before retiring for the night, Lisa apologised to Svetlana for the deception about the Studio, explaining how they were sworn to secrecy, with the woman saying how she understood, as there were so many small minded people who would not recognise the opportunity this presented to both the girls, and their families.

Svetlana became serious, and told Lisa how as the economy had deteriorated there were streets in her home town she had avoided taking them, because women, and even some girls not much older than Lisa were working there as prostitutes. She went on to say she did not have any moral issues with prostitution as such, but it was a pity these difficult circumstances rather than a woman's own free choice, dictated the path she must take.

Ivan had made arrangements for her to visit both the schools on Monday and each had allocated a budget for books and teaching materials that they would discuss with her, and he then told her the sum the Studio itself had set aside for the coming three months, that they would review for each coming quarter. The size of their investment made it clear they felt this was an important project, and after her morning tour of the Studio complex they had moved to the canteen for lunch, looking around she told Ivan of an idea that had just occurred to her.

“I noticed two tables have little reserved signs, obviously set aside for some other people who have lunchtime meetings, I would like to get some saying 'English only at this table', then as more models and staff learn English we could have additional tables where they will have a chance to practice together with different people in a social setting”

This met with Ivan's approval, jokingly suggesting novel ideas must be catching the more time people spent in Marta's company, as she was their resident ideas factory.

Svetlana was pleased to get her hair done at the salon before leaving, she then spent the afternoon checking the local phone book back at her 'town apartment' looking up, then talking to various school and educational supply companies. It was almost with a feeling of guilt she blithely ordered sets of text books, thirty or more at a time, so as her new pupils were signed up, her existing students would not have to relinquish their study aids, until such time as they felt confident to do so.

She made carefully written records of her purchases and how much she had spent, as she kept looking at the Studio issued credit card she had been entrusted with, to order books and other supplies she would need to teach the girls from the Studio.

Finding a listing for a legendary book store she had heard of but never been to, she noted the address and set off across town with her city map/travel guide. The place was a true Aladdin's cave, with both new and second hand books in a diverse range of languages.

Seeing a small wheeled bookcase that the staff used for stocking the shelves was just what she needed to reverse that process, as book-stores didn't have supermarket trolleys, she then began to collect all the books they had for children or teens that were in English.

A short while later, first the inquisitive manager, then a junior member of staff were bringing forward books for her approval or rejection. Novels, romances, fairy-tales, travel guides for UK and US destinations, and any other type of English text she thought might interest her new students were included in her bumper haul.

After the first twenty books Svetlana had realized she would not be able to carry away her purchases, but as her bill was totalled up by the manager himself, she enquired if they would be able to deliver them today. Impressed at the amount this private teacher was prepared to spend in his shop, he asked for a delivery address, and promised they would be there before close of businesses. Before leaving she expressed an interest in any teen lifestyle or fashion books in English, and hoped to call by soon with some of her pupils.

Marta, Anna and Lisa had collected their props and costumes, then headed over to the apartment the sisters had previously stayed in with Valya, and where they'd shot the cup cake video. They went through the script several times before attempting a few dry runs, as if they were filming, the basis of the script being that the older girl – Lisa, a member of the cheerleading squad had loaned Anna the outfit of a girl who'd left the squad, and was teaching her the moves and chants so that she could then audition for the vacancy.

It started as they 'entered' the apartment in generic school uniforms carrying several bags, slipping each others 'web name' and age into the conversation instead of the more blatant name and age to camera as used before. Lisa's third line was, “Hey Natasha, the girl that left the squad was ten years old the same as you, so I grabbed her old uniform, I'm sure it will fit you.”

Anna replied, “Thanks Nadia, I don't know of any other thirteen year old's on the squad who would offer to help me as you have.”

The dialogue continued as they laid out the two uniforms on the sofa, then striped out of their school clothes, next they started to put on the cheerleader kit, Natasha bulked at wearing another girls panties, so as a show of solidarity both girls remained bare beneath their short pleated skirts. They went on to do the moves and chants, with 'Nadia' leading then 'Natasha' copying, with deliberate falls and mis-steps on both parts in order to flash to camera. Among much clever banter, horse play and giggling, the girls complained about getting hot and sweaty, which led to a final strip as the two girls went on to share a bath.

Marta then held a post mortem, dissecting the play bit by bit referring back to her hastily written notes, as they all made an input to refine the production. They ran through various parts of the sketch where they tried out the changes they'd discussed, eventually ironing out any of the perceived problems. By two o'clock they were fairly happy with the artistic changes they had made, and were in the process of reprinting the amended scripts, when Oksana buzzed from the front door, saying she had brought the circus with her.

Along with Oksana, who was to shoot the video on Monday, there was John carrying some of her equipment, Andreas, who ran the props department, and Sergio a set dresser who somehow the sisters had not met before.

Sergio was so outrageously camp, he was almost a caricature that made the guys in the costume design department look quite tame by comparison, but he was such a lively fun character that he made everybody laugh. Anna got them all tea or coffee as they settled around the table while Marta described the sketch and how the action flowed through the apartment so that the technical aspects could be sorted out.

Once the crew were up to speed on the premise of the drama, the actors did a slow walk through so that camera angles, and lighting placements could be determined, then it was the turn of Sergio and Andreas. Sergio talked about having various 'age appropriate' books and toys placed in the background, while Andreas made notes, even suggesting some photos to show 'Natasha's' dog and two cats, then they did another walk through.

“OK, I need a horse-riders hat and crop on the hooks by the front door, on the shelves in the lounge, horsey and ballet books, and can you find me a porcelain horse, and we need some western boy band CD's over there, and a phone directory for anywhere along the Black sea coastal area.” Sergio then moved to the bathroom, “I don't think we need these on open display” he said popping the basket of feminine hygiene products into a drawer out of the way, “I want to see bubble bath, coloured soaps, shampoos, and something like a junior miss make-up kit on this counter-top”

Svetlana confident in her new position did some clothes shopping on the way back to her apartment, but finding the place empty, went across the hall and knocked there in search of Lisa, who was still nominally in her charge until she returned home. Her greeting was enthusiastic as she was invited in to review a read through of the completed script, after listening she commented that it would be more useful to assess the dialogue in the context of their little drama as a whole.

After witnessing the 'Full-Monty' production, both players were nervous of there teacher's reaction to a few stumbles they'd made in the dialogue. All three girls were surprised that Svetlana said that a word perfect rendition would not have been as charming, and to leave them in, they should not be too hard on themselves, as their audience would love it all the more. She went on to explain that if you made an effort to speak in the tongue of your host country, or this case audience, they would be very forgiving about hesitations or any grammar slip-ups, and they would love the girls accents.

When Lisa started telling the story of the set dresser Svetlana suggested including some of the bi-lingual dictionaries and a few of the American teen magazines, to add to the reality of how hard the girls had been studying, which they thought was a great idea.

The previous day neither sister had explained why they would be busy on the Saturday, as they didn't want Sasha, and Nikki to feel they were being shunned, it wasn't meant to be a party for the models at the Studio, but for the people who had helped them move home.

Marta took this opportunity to invite Svetlana and Lisa, and tell them what it was all about.

The previous day, when they had realised the shoot would have to be delayed, Anna had phoned home to tell her mum to add another two on the list, but with adults and children, it now looked like they would have between 180 -200 guests during the course of the day. Both sisters were nervously looking forward to the large social occasion.

Chapter 17

The big garden party, and they record the cheerleader video.

Their new home was well placed to access two Metro stations, on different branches of the network, and so there was a car at each, from the cab company used by the Studio, in order that those drivers would recognise some of their regular customers who would be attending the garden party.

The whole family had risen early for the big day, Ella had done some last minute baking in her wonderful new oven, which helped to calm her nerves. When she had spoken with the caterers, they had understood her point about having some home-made baking together with the other food on offer, to show their guests she had made a personal contribution.

Igor and the boys were out in the garden where a crew of men were inflating the bouncy castle, then putting up an open sided marquee and tables for the food and drinks, they'd also set up two large fridges in the garage for enough chilled food and drinks to last them throughout the day. There would also be one or two deliveries later in the day to top up supplies as required, being associated with the Studio meant getting a five star service.

Greg and Peter were allowed to help set out additional chairs and picnic tables, and when the waitresses arrived Marta and Anna helped with table cloths, plus all the disposable tableware and napkins, they had already been busy cleaning in the house, having placed extra soap, towels, and toilet rolls in the downstairs toilet. Earlier they had been out in the front garden where they'd placed signs to direct their guests to a side gate that lead into the rear garden, this way they wouldn't need to keep answering the front door to guests.

Fortunately the rush of activity kept them from clock watching, as the first trickle of guests started about ten-thirty. Marta had purchased several boxes of clip-on name badges that she had given to her brothers, who went round introducing themselves to the guests, and thanking them for helping get the house ready. In his best writing Greg made a name badge for each person, when a couple turned up with a babe in arms he wrote 'Mummy Claire and baby Stephan' on her badge, much to everyone's amusement.

Ella had at last hung up her apron, checked her hair, then joined her husband to greet their guests and enjoy the event, glad that the weather forecast was so favourable. Soon the garden was teeming with people, small groups in animated conversation, and children running about, or clambering over the climbing frame or jumping on the bouncy castle.

Igor had contacted an agency that provided party entertainers and arranged for a magician and a clown/juggler, they were booked to be there from eleven through till five, taking it in turns to entertain their younger guests. Greg taking his responsibilities very seriously made up badges for them when they arrived, just as he had for his family and all the catering staff.

Anna and Marta were facing one another, when she saw Marta smile and whisper “Check.” turning to see what had caught her sister's attention, she saw Dmitri arriving – with his hand on Alina's waist, they continued to watch from the far side of the garden, both of them curious if the couple were indeed a “couple”.

At the refreshments tent, the waitresses served tea, coffee, wine, and beer and they also had a selection of soft drinks along with the running buffet. As many of the guests so far were those having young children, mostly they were sticking with soft drinks or maybe the odd glass of wine.

As the afternoon progressed both the clown and magician gained spellbound audiences of kids, plus a number of adults. Ella proudly took the opportunity to show off the beautiful workmanship done by the various trades, to the partners of those craftsmen who were at the party, making sure to seek out and speak with, and thank all those involved.

Somehow Anna and Marta just happened to be standing in the hallway as Alina emerged from the toilet, both almost busting with curiosity, they planned to give her the guided tour while Dmitri was outside, and maybe get to ask some questions. After showing her around downstairs the tour moved upstairs, to marvel at the boys murals, then on to the girls rooms, where they tried to extract some information from a grinning Alina who long before suspected the reason she had been hauled away.

Standing at the buffet table Dmitri heard a soft sing song voice in each ear.

“Dmitri has a girlfriend”, followed by a burst of giggling.

He turned to face the sisters, noting that Alina had been waylaid by another guest some distance away, he winked at Marta, “You are very bright Marta, but did you consider you might have been a pawn in my long game?”

Marta stood open mouthed for a moment, then smiled, telling him she didn't mind, as long as it had made two people who she considered to be good friends happy.

They talked for a while longer, until Alina retook possession of Dmitri, then the girls set off to talk with other guests and their families who they were less familiar with, thanking all of them for their part in completing their home so quickly. Spotting Svetlana and Lisa at one of the tables, they went over to the buffet then sat and joined them. They'd learned that Lisa had spent the morning showing her teacher some of the nearby places of interest, and where the two schools were located.

Although Lisa lived some kilometres outside Kiev, she knew the city, and surrounding area well, and told them of many attractions they should visit, and the places they had planned going to on Sunday. Anna teasingly said they should avoid the outdoor folk museum, as that was where Marta would be going on a date with her boyfriend tomorrow.

Lisa of course wanted details, so Anna obliged, as Marta appeared suddenly tongue-tied, not knowing what to say, but Lisa was impressed about her having a sixteen year old boy-friend, and after Anna's description, said she thought she'd seen him once at the Studio.

Marta wanting to change the subject saw her brothers and called them over, although their guests had been duly labelled, they didn't know Svetlana was an English teacher, this lead to the boys showing off their abilities. The boys avidly enjoyed having another two new people to talk with abet haltingly, while Marta made her escape pulling Anna with her.

The girls were amused as they had passed their mum talking with a group of ladies about the garden, and where to buy plants locally, and nearby their dad was with a group of men doing the typical man thing, talking about sport.

Seeing Valya arrive with a dreamy looking hunk, they hurried over to greet them, Alex immediately addressed each girl by name, joking he had heard so much about them, but was glad to have recently got his girlfriend back, and spent some quality time with her.

At Anna's wide eyed expression, Valya winked at her saying, “Don't worry, I haven't told him that much, after all, us girls must have some secrets, it keeps them on their toes.”

They stood together talking for a while, then Anna had to mention her sister's date the following day, then pointedly looked at Alex, “That is of course if she doesn't plan for an upgrade.”

This got her a poke in the ribs from Marta, and caused laughter all round, that was drowned out by the shouts of two boys calling out as they ran to greet their Aunty Valya.

She was of course labelled 'Aunty Valya' so consequently by default her boyfriend got his lapel badge, 'Uncle Alex', they thanked her for the DVD's, then the boys wanted to drag her away to show off their new bedrooms to their favourite aunt.

Ivan smiled, and squeezed his wife's hand as they had been watching this encounter from the shade of the mature foliage and trees that edged the boundary of the rear garden.

They crossed the lawn to join the sisters, and he introduced them to Mira, who was yet another person who had heard all about them. She then surprised them by switching to English asking about their hobbies and interests, which stretched them both, but they were able to successfully answer her back in English with only a little hesitation.

Mira told them she knew it was bad form to mention 'company' business, but said she had volunteered to be a pretend client to help with the beta testing of the new forum Dmitri was at present working on, so girls training to use it, had a variety of people with which to interact.

They went on to discuss other topics, such as how they were settling in, and how they liked living in the city, and if they'd made many new friends. Ivan excused himself while they got to know one another, eventually Mira got round to how the catering company had excelled themselves, as they must have introduced a new range in authentic rustic cakes, which she would ask them to include next time she used them for a social event.

She was puzzled by the girls laughter, until they lead her over to the refreshments tent, and asked her to point them out, just as the girls had thought, it was their mums baking that was a hit, and they told her how their mum couldn't cater for the whole event, but she had felt she wanted to show some personal touches.

Ivan had excused himself, not to meet up with anyone in particular, but just to move about and pick up on the atmosphere of the event, deciding that the Studio should perhaps run a family fun day gathering one day next summer, as it would reinforce the feeling of team spirit he tried to engender among his staff.

Booking the children's entertainers had proved very successful, the kids loved it, while the grown ups had the opportunity to talk together without constant interruptions.

As the day turned to evening, those with small children had left, and reluctantly the boys were herded off to bed by their sisters, but neither lad managed to stay awake to hear the end of their bed-time story.

The guests attending later in the day or evening, were unencumbered by children, and consequently the refreshments tended more to savoury foods, and there was an increase in the consumption of alcohol. Nobody got out of hand, but the car service laid on was much appreciated by those guests whose partners were a bit unstable on their feet, so the drivers took the initiative to deliver some of the merrymakers all the way home.

In the Ukraine the law was very firm on drink driving with rather harsh penalties.

For the cab drivers it had been a great day, paid a flat rate for the whole day, lots of tips, as people weren't paying the fare, plus young Anna who worked at the Studio had given them each a nice cash bonus for looking after her “wobbly guests” as she had referred to them. After they had shuttled off the last of the party goers Igor came out to thank them and provide tips but they were honest enough to admit his daughter had sorted it already.

Igor returned to the garden, the towers of the castle sagged as the motor had been turned off after the last of the kids had gone, there were several boxes of empty bottles under the tables, though there was still quite a selection of food remaining which bothered him on quite a deep level.

Despite his good mood at how well the day had gone, he couldn't abide the thought of such waste, so he went to find the person in charge of the caterers. He asked the guy what happened to the leftover food and was shocked to find it was all chucked out, as it would be considered stale the next day and unusable.

Igor asked if there were any places in Kiev where homeless people were known to hang about, and on finding there were, he organised loading the caterers van, and together they drove off to one of those places and set the foil trays of food on a bench in one of the parks.

George the man driving said he felt ashamed he'd never thought to do this before, but he would in future make sure no leftover food was wasted after an event seeing how grateful the tramps and homeless people had been. Igor felt he would sleep better that night, for it made him shudder to think how close his own family had come to being destitute, for that could have been their fate had Anna not come home with that audition notice.

They got back as the rest of the catering staff were preparing to leave, Igor thanked them all, and handed out gratuities, then went inside and closed up for the night.

Ella was in the lounge looking through the cards wishing them well in their new home, also there were many small gifts plus several bunches of flowers in vases about the room, for it was traditional to bring flowers for your host, though never as an even number of blooms because that was considered unlucky.

He hugged his wife tightly, after a while she asked what was wrong, they sat down to talk, and he told her of his ride out to the park, and how he felt blessed for the way their lives had changed over the last few months, and the realisation of how awful things could have been with him losing his job if circumstances had been different.

Marta was agonising over what to wear, but at least the zits plaguing her earlier in the week had receded, allowing her to feel more confident about her appearance. Anna came in and helped her choose an outfit, joking how nice it was to have that sort of problem for their respective wardrobes had been much slimmer at the start of the summer.

Karl had phoned her yesterday afternoon from the hospital, to explain he would miss the garden party as he was with his neighbour and her little girl who'd had an accident, but he promised to be round by nine o'clock Sunday morning, and he would tell her all about it then. All in all she had not been too upset as yesterday was really a family event to thank those who had helped them move in, it was not really a new boyfriend - make that, first boyfriend type of occasion. Today would be the first chance they would have to spend time together outside of the Studio, and she was anxious about the forthcoming date.

She was startled out of her contemplations by her phone ringing, it was Valya, they spoke for a bit, Marta relating her concerns, but soon was relieved by her mentors words of advice and encouragement, especially when told that Karl was probably more nervous than she was. Marta later realised the only reason Valya had called was to calm her down.

Sunday was another busy day, for the marquee, tables, and the castle assembled the day before, were now being packed away by the crew who had previously set them up.

The boys had been warned not to get underfoot, and to be on their best behaviour when Karl turned up or there would be consequences. Karl was a few minutes early, in truth he had been a lot early but had hung about at the end of the road nervously looking at his watch trying to decide what time to arrive.

He politely greeted Igor, who was helping the workmen, then they went into the back garden, where they had a father to daughters first boyfriend chat, before heading inside.

Marta seeing them from her bedroom window, waited till after they came in before going downstairs, pleased to see them talking with her father's arm about Karl's shoulder.

Karl couldn't imagine how difficult it might be if he were talking to a girls parents for the first time, pleased that he had met them before having gained the role of boyfriend. It was with a sense of relief they set off on their journey, they would need to use both the buses and Metro services to reach their destination.

At one point they had to rush to catch the train, and he grasped her hand to pull her along, from then on neither one seemed to willing to let go. Karl had been concerned he wouldn't know what to say, and there would be long awkward silences, but Marta told him of the events at the party and he told her about how he had missed out on attending.

He had seen the six year old girl trip and cut her leg, it was a nasty injury, and he carried her to her home a few doors away, her mum seeing the wound, wrapped it up and wanted to take her to the hospital. As the mum couldn't carry her and the girl wouldn't walk he'd ended up volunteering and then spent most of the afternoon hanging around the hospital.

When they arrived Karl paid the admission for them both, although Marta had been prepared to pay, but Karl joked he must be an old fashioned type of boyfriend, though Marta said with his good deed yesterday maybe he was the chivalrous type of boyfriend.

They didn't run out of things to talk about and they both enjoyed walking around the exhibits and reading the notices about the various artefacts. Over a late lunch sitting at an outdoor table Marta said it was good that he got on well with her dad, and enquired what they had been talking about in the garden that morning.

Karl coloured up a bit but decided to tell her, “Your father said how precious you were, and that I was to behave like a gentleman, and if I did anything to upset you he would break every bone in my body – slowly.”

Marta grinned saying how her daddy was a big soft teddy bear, but Karl insisted he would follow the advice he had been given, though now he was also smiling.

Later that afternoon he had even got round to the subject of where they might go next time, and Marta teasingly asked him why he thought there might be a 'next time', but he could see she was just winding him up. Marta said with school starting, she didn't expect she would be able to go out week nights apart from Friday evening, and some week-ends might be taken up with Studio stuff, so they would have to see how things worked out.

On the way back the train was rather crowded and they had to stand, Karl being tall was able to use the straps hanging from the ceiling but Marta couldn't reach them so he put his arm around her, so she wouldn't fall. At one point as the train jerked they bumped together making Marta aware her hip had collided with something other than Karl's wallet.

Colouring Marta said nothing, she just snuggled tighter under his protective arm, with her arm round his waist – just for reasons of safety. On the last few hundred metres walk back to her house she suspected Karl wanted to kiss her, being onset of an awkwardness that hadn't been there since they had set off earlier that morning.

She debated what to do, then as they came towards the park near her house she asked if they could sit for a moment as they still had some time before she was expected back.

Both teens were thinking about the same thing, both hesitant, then it just happened, okay so there was a slight clash of noses but then they worked it out. A second and subsequent kisses followed, until a red faced Marta pulled back.

A concerned Karl asked if she was all right, and at her nod, asked tongue in cheek if she was going to get her dad to break all of his bones. That broke the tension, and they both started laughing, Marta checked her watch and said he had better walk her home now, and they would be back in time, and he could kiss her cheek at the door as her sister was bound to be looking out for their return.

They shared a quick kiss for forms sake on the front step, then Marta rooted through her bag for the house key. As soon as the door was open her mum and sister appeared, and Karl was invited in, he had no good excuse to run off so he followed the ladies through to the kitchen where Ella set out some of the cake she had made the day before.

Luckily they only gave him a light grilling, and his story of the previous days events saved him from any further probes, he then asked how their day had been despite Marta already having told him much of what had happened. When at last the opportunity arose for him to escape without seeming impolite he said his good byes and Marta showed him out with another brief, but tender kiss on the front step.

Returning Marta asked where they had locked-up her dad, and Ella admitted she had sent him up to bathe the boys and put them to bed, with instructions they would need a long story, because she didn't want to find any ex-boyfriends under her new flower garden.

The resultant laughter brought Igor into the room.

“Daddy I had a nice day out and Karl was a perfect gentleman – so you won't have to do anything nasty to him.”

Igor knowing that was all he was likely to hear about his daughters first date, gave both girls a hug, before Anna grabbed her sister's hand and the pair of them ran upstairs.

There followed a complete blow by blow account of how the day had progressed, and not wishing to interrupt the narrative, the girls shared a bath just as they used to, in order they could continue. Marta also supplied details, such as the fact she was sure he was hard at several times during the day, and got confirmation of his condition when they were on the train on the way home, and about the episode on the park bench for their first kiss.

The next morning when they arrived at the apartment it had been freshly cleaned, there were a few pot plants, tins of cat and dog food on the counter with pet dishes on the floor, there were new pictures on the walls, and all of the other set dressings were in place.

Looking for a way to describe the place, you might say lived-in but tidy.

Svetlana called in with an excited Lisa, and she delivered the books she had promised to add to the set dressings, although she would have liked to stay, there were two school meetings she had booked for that day. It was while the girls were distributing all the new props, that Lisa holding a large photo frame, asked where Anna went riding.

They all looked at the picture, “I've never ridden a horse in my life, it can't be me.”

Marta looking closely determined that Anna's face had been superimposed on the photo of a girl her age on a horse, on the same shelf there were also some rosettes for 1st and 2nd placements in gymkhana events. This caused the girls to check out all the other props to see what else had been faked, then they found another picture, this time of 'Natasha' with her three pets as stated in the web bio.

Marta going to the kitchen to make tea found a folder that must have belonged to Sergio, that had large photos from all over the apartment with notes and arrows showing the placement for all of the various props. By the time the tea was ready Oksana showed up with John, Valya, and two of the ladies from the beauty salon, so she took drink orders from them too.

Anna said how pleased she was that her mentor, friend, and make-up expert had turned up, and Valya replied how she wouldn't want to miss any shoots by her star model.

The ladies from the salon fussed over the girls hair, setting Anna's in twin pig tails, and Lisa had a single pony tail, then both girls had their nails done. Oksana and John were busy setting up lights, and had set out a number of tripods with video cameras while looking over the final script with Marta.

When the opportunity came up Valya winked at Anna and whispered, ”Bottom left hand drawer”, Anna immediately realised to what she was referring, and smiled back.

At last the girls were ready in their 'school uniforms', and had their bags complete with the cheer-leader outfits and pompoms, meanwhile the salon ladies had returned to the Studio.

Oksana held court explaining how she had been told to use multiple cameras, to cut and splice the action for the best views, this would also mean if they fluffed their lines, or needed a break in the script it would not be obvious in the final edit. Next she handed over to Marta, who told them, not to worry about being word perfect, saying they could ad-lib if they felt inspired, so that it would look more spontaneous, she then told them to have fun.

Anna as usual had her last minute bathroom break before the shooting commenced.

The two girls actually went outside, and Oksana called action, the key sounded in the lock, then both girls stepped inside, Natasha held onto the coat hook by the riding hat and crop as she took off her shoes, and as the dialogue flowed with the subtle name checks and mention of the girls ages, Nadia also removed her shoes.

Oksana followed through to the main room using a hand held camera, then switching over to one of the tripod mounting ones which had both been set to run from the beginning, meanwhile Marta was using one of Johns stills cameras for the odd promotional shot. This was due to the fact that John was aiming the other mounted video camera in the lounge.

Lisa who had been really 'bricking-it' before hand, was now playing the part with Anna, aware of, but not playing direct to camera, as they had discussed on Friday during their many practice runs. The lines of the script just came to her, she didn't dry-up as she had feared, and between them they were having a genuine laugh, even when an accidental spill not in the planned routine happened, Anna made some unscripted remark, and Lisa thought of an apt reply that proved funny itself.

Lisa demonstrated a step routine with high kicks complete with the chant, then the girls did it together in sync.

“T - I - G - E - R - S, go tigers go”, at the same time waving their pompoms, then they bent over and shook their bare bums towards the cameras, then they resumed with the chant.

“Tigers, Tigers, make that play, Tigers, Tigers, make our day”, the performance continued with similar inane shouts and provocative movements, until both girls had worked up some genuine perspiration under the hot lights.

Considering their current state Anna went off script, “Look I'm all hot and and damp” she said running her hand up the inside of her thigh, just shy of her glistening pussy, “Do you mind if I take my top off before we practice the last routine”

Lisa answered, saying it was OK and she would also remove her top. The last part of this set had some moves that would show off the bounce of the older girls attributes, while Marta who had been taking still pictures throughout, noted that a part of John had been paying attention from the time the girls first striped-off.

They got to the point in the script where the girls flopped down on the sofa, that which had been often flashed at the audience was now on open display as the girls talked of relaxing in a nice warm bath. They got up and the cameras followed them as they disappeared through the bathroom door, to be followed by Oksana shouting “Cut”

After a rapid briefing, Oksana, John, and Marta went into the bathroom to film the girls enter from the lounge, and start to fill the tub. This entailed both girls losing the last remnants of their uniforms, then leaning over across the double ended bath to adjust the taps on the far side, presenting two delightful derrières. They maintained the position, swirling their hands through the water as it filled, while Oksana did a slow pan around, and John caught some snatches of film capturing each girl side on while bent over.

Lisa stood to get some bathing products from the counter, while Oksana recorded a shot of Anna looking back over her shoulder and smiling, then asking for her bath toys.

These turn out to be a duck and a submarine, which enabled some more of Marta's clever word play as the scripted lines contained a few more of her famous double entendres.

After a relatively short bathing scene, both girls stood up, as if they were about to get out of the bath, with suds sliding slowly down their gentle wet curves. Then Natasha delivers the last line of the script, “Thank you Nadia for helping me with those cheerleader moves, I'm sure it will help me pass the audition next Tuesday. Now I'm just wondering what my next adventure will be.”

“Cut, that's a wrap.”

Stepping out, the two girls slipped into nice fluffy bathrobes, Lisa was just so happy she could not have put it into words. The effort spent studying over the last few weeks had seemed so hard, but now she knew her dreams of going to University and plans to travel around Europe when she was older were coming that much closer to reality.

Lisa hugged Anna lifting her off the floor, then she hugged Marta too, thanking them both for selecting her for the part, the girls then went to the kitchen where someone had set out fruit juice and some Pampushki fruit-filled baked rolls.

This helped settle them down after the end of the shoot, and was followed by a discussion on how well things had gone, about the fluffs, and recoveries, and how well the pair had ad-libbed when they saw an opportunity. Oksana said she had thought beforehand they would need to have several breaks, and have endless takes for scenes the girls stumbled over, so she was pleased that hadn't happened.

When all the analysing was over Marta said she wanted to compare her script to the actual dialogue in the final result as it might improve her writing. Oksana said that was her cue to get back to the Studio and edit the rushes together, as Ivan's bosses were anxious to see if his faith in the 'English Programme' was justified.

Valya stated she could not believe how anyone could have any doubts about the direction Ivan was leading the Studio especially after the success of Anna's first video, but Oksana had heard rumours how he had pushed budgets to the limit for the next quarter and questions were being asked from on-high. At their looks of concern, she smiled saying that this production alone would soon hush any descenting voices, then after the next video every one of those directors would claim to have backed Ivan from the very beginning.

Shortly Lisa phoned home, gushing down the phone at how well the shoot had gone, after some discussion it was arranged her mum would collect her from the Studio, so John ended up loading her case into the SUV for it's last transfer before she headed off home.

He offered to drop them all at the Studio, then he'd find somebody to go back with him to help return all of the equipment, this trip he just loaded Valya and three smiling girls.

Chapter 18

Ivan's golden geese, get some well deserved recognition, and we see the rapid expansion of a rising Empire.

The receptionist told the sisters Ivan wanted to see them, but Valya needed to head off as she had an afternoon booking with one of her other models. Ivan warmly greeted the girls, when they arrived at his office, saying he had seen some of the rushes at Oksana's workstation, but he had left her to get on with the edit, as he didn't want to distract her.

With digital media the process was much quicker than splicing film, or even editing the old VHS tapes, so he expected the job would be complete later that afternoon.

He then told the girls his thoughts on the royalties, “I am proposing that for this range of videos where we have a scriptwriter producing a plot and dialogue, they should receive a 10% share of the royalties, and for this particular shoot a 50% share for Anna, as it was her concept, and it will probably be her name attached that will be the main selling point. That means you would get a 40% share Lisa, I want to know your feelings on this before I speak to your families about the arrangement”

Lisa spoke up immediately, saying how she was more than happy with 40% as she had only been expecting a third or less, when she become involved with this programme, and working with Anna could only improve her profile on the web-site. Marta said she was also happy with her share as she was hoping to go on and write for each of the models that learned English.

Typically Anna made everyone laugh when she said she was happy just to have a job.

Ivan said he was glad they weren't going to bicker over over the arrangements, and he was confident that sales would ensure they were going to achieve the highest bonus scale due to the volume of demand when it was released. He said they had been planning for a release date on Friday, though he thought they might bring it forward to as soon as it was ready, providing Dmitri now had the resources in place to prevent the site from collapsing under the strain.

He was surprised when Marta asked if he was moving the date forward because he was in trouble with the directors, he replied quite honestly that this was the motivation behind his thinking, but once they saw the numbers from a second English video production, they'd have to shut up and leave him alone to direct the output from the Studio.

Marta asked if this was a good time to introduce another idea, at his raised eyebrows, she announced it was only a little one this time. Given the nod, she explained how reading the magazines she had thought they could theme either photo sets, or videos to suit some of the holidays celebrated in the US. Saying how it was getting too late for Labour Day, they could still think about Columbus Day, Halloween, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.

The phone rang, it was the receptionist to say Lisa's mum had come to fetch her.

She was hugged by the sisters, and Ivan took her hand, saying he would phone her parents later that evening, and with a wave she was off.

Ivan asked the girls to stay, calling Tanya for tea and pastries, “In the fairytale there was only one golden goose, but I have two, and they are sitting in front of me. Anna you keep breaking new ground, and setting new sales records, 'Cup Cakes' has been out for just over two weeks, and sales are not tapering off in the typical way we have seen on our other videos, as praise on the forum has even encouraged clients to buy your video who have never bought videos on our site before. Unless your popularity fades any time soon you'll receive payment at the highest rate for all your upcoming photo-sets and videos.”

“Marta all of the ideas and suggestions you have raised thus far have tightened up our operation and pointed the way ahead, over the next six months all our competitors will fall so far behind they won't even be playing in the same league. You are smart and have the Midas touch, if you study hard at a decent University I can see you being a success in any career or business venture you decide upon. Very shortly I am sure you will be earning as much per year as our highest paid models.”

They spoke for a while longer, then went via their own office before heading home, Marta didn't see Karl about, but earlier that day he had been to see Dmitri seeking advice.

Karl considered himself a slow starter when it came to girls, partly due to his being a swat at school and also because of his nerdish interests and hobbies. Leaving school to join a company that would provide on the job training, and ensure he could pursue his education further, to obtain recognised qualifications was a dream come true. He was still trying to figure out how he had managed to get a date with a girl that smart and good looking, and although young, proved so mature for her age.

Thinking about all the possible guys he could ask for advice, he settled on Dmitri, as he seemed to have social skills the other men in the department lacked. After some beating around the bush he admitted how he was inexperienced with girls, and didn't want to say or do anything that would upset Marta.

Dmitri didn't think himself an expert, but he handed out some sage advice about ignoring peer pressure, listening to what Marta had to say, and to ask her opinions, and he wasn't to be too concerned when he didn't understand her behaviour, no mere male ever could, because females were mercurial by nature.

One last item he passed on was to never reveal to anyone about his progress, regarding intimate aspects of their relationship. Girlfriends always found out regardless whether the details were true or not, and he would find himself dumped. A wrathful ex-girlfriend would be sure to tell every girl she knew about a guy that showed her such little respect on such personal matters. Therefore it would be hard finding a replacement girlfriend within that social circle.

Karl thanked him, and as he was about to go Dmitri had one last comment, “The corollary of that situation is, if you part with a girl on good terms, she is equally likely to tell all her single friends about your virtues as a boyfriend.”

Intellectually Karl was aware of the transient nature of teen relationships, though he didn't want to think about it, but when the time came he hoped that both he and Marta would remain friends. It was someone moaning about their caffeine fix that roused him from his introspective mood, to get on with the afternoon tea and coffee round.

With little ears at the dinning room table, the girls kept most of their news for later, but were eager to hear details from their father about his first day at his new employment.

Igor said how the the firm hadn't got enough managers for the number of men they had out working on various sites, so for the first week he would shadow two managers, then he'd take on one of the teams from each man to start with. Ella and the boys had been out shopping for clothes ready for the new school term, which gave the girls an idea what they wanted to do tomorrow on the last day before the start of term.

Shortly after the meal, Marta got a call from Karl, to say how much he had enjoyed her company on Sunday, and how he had been sad to miss her today at work. He went on to say how he expected she would be busy, starting at a new school this week, and that he would be thinking about her, then asking what she might like to do if she had any time on Friday night, or over the next weekend.

After the call she was in a very good mood, and Anna sensing how Marta felt, didn't tease her sister about Karl, it was great that he had thought to thank her for going out with him, and to show concern about her busy week ahead.

Marta and Anna were clothes shopping, the previous evening after the boys went up, they had talked of the day's filming, other than mention of the cheerleader theme, they stuck to details of the set dressing, and technical aspects out of sensitivity to their father.

Igor had spoken to Ivan on the phone before they brought him up to date, and of their plans for hitting the shops. Igor went out to find an ATM, and brought them back a pile of cash for their planned blitz of the clothing stores.

Passing a store window they saw a display of laptops, and went in, as they looked at the various specs, they realised they didn't have the knowledge to make an informed decision as to which one would be the best choice, but they knew a man that did.

Marta called Dmitri, “Hi, we are in a computer store looking at laptops, we thought we would get one each for our school work, then keep the other one for the 'business' files we were working on, but we need some advice.”

Dmitri said he was glad they'd called as they didn't want to waste they're time and money buying I.T. kit at retail prices, saying to pop in and see him later that afternoon, probably about teatime as there was a young man mooning around the office. Marta smiled at this, saying she would see him later.

A shop assistant who had seen the girls looking at high end laptops hadn't bothered to go over as he couldn't see a sale in it, had he been quicker, before Marta had thought to seek expert advice, he could've secured a possible deposit for two nice sales.

The café they stopped at for lunch was near the International School and some American students sat at the next table. They found it amusing the way these girls mangled the local tongue with an atrocious accent as they placed a food order, but then a while back their efforts could have been no better. Now their skills allowed them to follow most of the conversation on the adjoining table when the students reverted to their native language.

They hit a couple more stores, then stopped by at the house to drop off all their shopping, before going to the Studio. They took their back-packs with them as that was where they kept their ID badges and various Studio notebooks, plus their current laptop which was on this occasion in Anna's pack.

The receptionist saw them as they approached the building and made a swift call, then engaged the sisters in conversation to delay them for a while, until Marta politely said they must go and see Dmitri.

The girls were astonished by their greeting on entering the IT department, party-poppers going off and cheering from those assembled, which included Ivan, Tanya, Oksana, John, Sandra and Valya. Stunned they stood there draped in bits of streamer, then Ivan came to stand between them putting his arms over each girl's shoulder.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our golden girls”, followed by more cheering, “Late yesterday, our second English video production was released. The IT department put on-line additional facilities to handle extra traffic, and to raise awareness Dmitri seeded the forum yesterday morning, his online persona having gained much credibility, our clients were eager to see, and listen to this second masterpiece.”

“With the forum buzzing moments after the release, site traffic increased to the point that we would have crashed if not for the forward planning, and despite the additional capacity we are still running below an optimal speed, but we are coping. Voices on high who were doubtful of the merit of producing videos in English will now have to eat their own words.”

Ivan's pun was greeted with a mixture of groans and laughter.

“In conclusion when I was told earlier today two young ladies were looking to buy laptops for their school studies, I thought the directors owed them this much, so I spoke to the 'geeks' here in a language they understood and told them – make it so!”

To more cheering they were each presented a new laptop, after their large audience had dissipated, Dmitri said he would demonstrate to Anna the software that had been loaded and perhaps Karl could do the same for Marta, which caused the two teens to blush, but they were quick to head off to Marta's office while Anna sat with Dmitri. Anna soon picked up the basics of how to run the various additional programmes loaded on her new laptop, how to access the help files, and how best to organise the documents that she created.

The girls thanked all the geeks for setting up their laptops, then went off to see Ivan.

Tanya told them he'd left for a meeting with one of the directors, the main man who had been one of the biggest detractors of the scheme, and laughingly told them how effusively he had apologised to Ivan, almost choking on humble pie.

Calling in at the imaging department they found Oksana and John together looking at the Natasha stats page, as they all watched together, Anna explained the various counters to her sister, just as she had been shown by John three months previously. Oksana made a comment about the high conversion rate, then explained how an unprecedented 92% of the people looking at the sample page were purchasing their video.

Anna could see the sales counter was moving slower than she remembered from last time but it was moving at a steady rate, not in fits and starts, John said how it was a larger file size than a set of stills, and the servers loading the files to their clients were working at full capacity. The software now in place gave a message saying they were currently busy due to demand and to try again soon. Oksana gave the girls a disk saying she had burnt them a copy of 'Cheerleader try-out' so they could watch the final edit at home.

They only watched the video through once that evening, before preparing for school the next day, on advice from the their fellow students they'd each purchased a new back-pack for their school books and supplies. These were in bright fashionable colours, unlike those ones they used for studio visits, to avoid any possibility of arriving at school having the wrong note books, and scripts which they didn't feel their teachers would appreciate.

The girls arrived at school early, having been uncertain how busy the trains might be on the route they used on their journey to school. They met Eve, who shared the same class assignments as Anna, while they found Marta would be in most of the same classes as Marina, another of the girls they had met the previous Wednesday.

An assembly was held to welcome both new and returning students, the headmaster, and a few other staff members read out various notices about changes, or regarding events on the school calender. Finally before they were dismissed the headmaster announced that their school had secured the part time services of an English teacher, therefore students who wished to take lessons should fill in an application form available from the office.

Places were limited this term, but when it had been determined how many students were interested, a schedule would be arranged, and those successful students would have their timetables revised for these classes. He failed to mention that the businessman who had been responsible for sponsoring this had given him a list of girls that he 'suggested' would benefit from attending said classes. He thought it wise to listen to a generous benefactor.

During the course of the day it turned out that each of the girls on the list applied to take English lessons, as did some of the other students who could see how this might improve their future career prospects.

Between classes when Anna and Eve had a chance to get to know one another, they soon discovered they lived on nearby streets, but Eve had got a ride into school with her dad that morning, otherwise they would've been on the same train. Eve also had a seven year old brother going to the school Greg and Peter had just started, and the girls thought it funny their mums might meet at the school gate and not know of the connection.

Marina had introduced Marta to her classmates, and before long she realised one of the boys was trying to chat her up, although she was flattered by the attention she politely said that she already had a boyfriend, but that didn't mean she couldn't have friends who were also boys, if they were aware she was spoken for. She was pleased her new found confidence had allowed her to tactfully handle the situation, that previously, before Valya's help and advice she couldn't even have imagined arising.

After school they rode back on the Metro with Eve, and they walked together most of the way home, Eve turning off at a road opposite the nearby park, they arranged to meet at that junction the following morning.

The main topic at the dinner table that evening was the children's respective schools, and how much nicer, and better equipped they were than those they had attended beforehand.

Greg and Peter said how they were going to write to Nana Olga and Gramps, which they did about twice a week, Anna feeling a little guilty said perhaps a letter from her or Marta was a little overdue, and they both resolved to put pen to paper.

During the next two days the girls settled into their new school, and were glad to find that although they had a set of friends there from the Studio, it was quite informal, meaning they socialised and interacted in various other groups. Marta could pursue her interest in

folk dancing and chess through the school, and Anna appropriately joined the drama club, and now as music lessons were on her curriculum she was thinking about learning to play something, but was unsure if she would try for guitar or take up keyboard tuition.

Ella was also starting to integrate into their local community via her contact with all the other mums at the school gate, when dropping off and picking up the boys. Magda having introduced Ella to several people, thus she was invited along to coffee mornings and told of outings they sometimes arranged both with and without the kids.

Some men in Igor's position, may have felt emasculated, in what was a somewhat macho culture, to have his daughters become the main family breadwinners, but he was above all a practical man, and in any situation knew you had to work with what was available to find the best solution. Anna joining the Studio had come at a time when prospects looked glum and as things turned out it wasn't a moment too soon. Marta was now also receiving a stream of regular cheques, so financial worries were thankfully a thing of the past.

Though the state of the economy as a whole was depressing, the city seemed vibrant, and the company he was working for had full order books, and long term contracts with a wide range of solid customers. If the Studio were to disappear tomorrow he felt safe in the fact his new job would pay the bills, and money saved in the bank from the girls earnings were a cushion for unexpected expenses. All his children were learning English; even he and Ella were starting to pick it up from listening to the kids, and hearing it on the radio or TV, and he could now proudly look to a future where all four kids would have the opportunity to take up a university education.

Another person with a lot of settling-in to do was Svetlana, who had now arranged lesson timetables at both schools, and arranged a common set of text books she would use for all her school based pupils. Schools needed to work towards passing exams, but her pupils in her extra-curricular Studio work needed a wider knowledge base, to manage the language at a conversational level. At each school she had four different classes who each had two lessons per week, and she had told them all they could expect to work hard, and have a mass of homework, slackers wouldn't be tolerated, they could revert to their old timetable.

Ella's time used to be taken up with shopping for fresh food most days, checking on the prices to get the best value with a limited budget to fill their larder and small refrigerator.

In her new kitchen there was a large refrigerator plus a large freezer that she was slowly filling up, some meals she cooked in double size quantities in order to freeze some for any days when she might be short of time to start cooking from scratch.

It was still a novelty opening her purse to find adequate amounts of cash rather than find a paltry few coins, now shopping meant buying what the family wanted, not just what they needed to exist. She didn't waste money, though items once thought of as a treat for high days and holidays were no longer indulgences, and she could now cook meals that previously she would've thought of as extravagant. She loved cooking something new for her family and watching them enjoy the meals she had prepared for them.

Her initial ideas of growing her own vegetables, had been tempered to instead having a kitchen herb garden, with perhaps a few tomatoes and salad greens next year, so they'd be really fresh. She was also planning what flowers to add to the existing borders of the garden, not wishing to take up any of the lawn where her boys loved to play.

At the Studio for the first two or three weekends after school started, there was usually very little activity as most of their models would be busy getting settled in for their new school term, and staff who'd been working throughout most of the hectic summer would be taking well deserved breaks. Each of the models would have built up their portfolio, in order that they had some unreleased sets ready for distribution over the next few months, until they were able to get back into the Studio.

For those girls that enjoyed the work and flourished in front of the camera, most of their shoots were during the long summer break, with further shoots at Christmas and Easter, with additional work during half-terms or snatched weekends here and there.

It was hardest for the girls that lived furthest away from Kiev, but if they proved popular and they gained a following, then the Studio made an effort one way or another to ensure that it was possible for them to have a lucrative career.

At the studio, other than the administration and IT departments, there was now little more than a skeleton crew, while most of those were doing all those catch-up jobs and house keeping functions which had been delayed during the summer, maintenance, checking over the supplies, and deciding which of the older costumes or sets could be disposed of.

Ivan after talking to Dmitri, made some new proposals to the directors who owned several other Studios, each with it's own style of output. At the start of the school break this year he'd been out to some of the talent scouting auditions himself, which is when Anna had been discovered. In that sweep they also picked up some new girls for one of the other Studios in the group that did the softest range of output, as had been shown to the girls and their parents in the red album having just a few up-skirt type panty flashing shots.

He didn't have many dealings with that Studio, but the joint scouting expeditions they ran together were worthwhile, and sometimes those models wanted to move onwards to join his Studio once they had gained some confidence and experience.

One of the new topics that Ivan brought to the meeting was the technical issues of dealing with the peaks and troughs in web traffic, as shown in the recent high demand for his star model. The scheme was to have one large central server farm to handle the traffic for all the web-sites hosted at the various Studios, as the up-scaling would have many cost and technical benefits, with the greater capacity, each Studio would have a faster delivery, and the multiple peaks from the various sources would overall even out.

Ivan was on a roll, he had even distributed transcribed print-outs from their client forum which raved about the English videos, and talk about their latest announcement that a new forum would be starting later in the year, whereby there would be participation from some of the models from the site. After a vigorous debate he was able to answer all of their queries and quell any fears about the proposed changes, which lead to a unanimous vote for each of the items on Ivan's agenda.

Chapter 19

For Marta and Anna their first abbreviated week at school had gone well, they had made a few new friends outside the Studio network, and found their classes more demanding, but both girls were bright, having rose to the challenge. Marta had the greater number of text books for her classes, and both of them liked to read ahead in order they were prepared for the work in class.

The school timetables they'd been issued with on Wednesday were already revised with new ones that would commence on Monday, which included two English lessons a week.

When they had the chance to talk to Svetlana in private after school, she said in the first lesson she would 'discover' that each sister had already taken English lessons before, and would promote them to teacher's assistant. This would help re-enforce their own lessons by helping to bring on others in the class, and raise the overall pace that the classes could progress, and she would also find them additional tasks that would stretch their abilities.

On Saturday Anna wanted to read well ahead on some of her school subjects, also she had promised her mum she would look after the boys for a couple of hours, then there was her 'FAQ for new models' which she wanted to work on.

Marta had arranged for a computer lesson with Karl, she set up her new laptop for school work in the study, thinking that to work in her bedroom might give off the wrong signals, and of course her parents wouldn't like it. When he arrived she offered him a drink and some of her mum's medivnyk (a Ukrainian honey cake), then they sat close together as Karl answered many of her questions.

Eventually he showed her how to see some of the information on or about a web-page that wasn't immediately apparent to someone viewing the page. Marta proved an avid pupil, finding each new discovery leading to more questions, as she made page after page of notes, knowing Anna would want to learn about the how and why of the web based world in which they now worked. As they sat there Marta reciprocated by teaching Karl English words relevant to the things they were working on, having him write them down.

Karl was invited to stay for lunch, just some tasty home-made soup and bread, which also meant he had a little more time with Marta, but he had already told them how he needed to study that afternoon for an upcoming test on the course he was taking.

The thought of any leftovers would be an anathema to Ella, any odd vegetable or scrap of meat not served at one meal went into a stockpot, stew or soup which would sit at the back of the stove, that was the way it had always been since she was a little girl.

Maintenance work by it's very nature was not nine to five, there was planned preventative work, but the breakdowns always seemed to happen at the most inconvenient times, and Igor, being the new man was supervising an emergency, once the job was under-way he could get home, but the crew would have a long tough weekend ahead of them.

Packing up in the study, Marta thanked Karl for his help then she kissed him and then they lost track of time for a while, when he got round to leaving they were both a bit flushed, and Marta couldn't help but notice Karl's condition, fortunately he walked out carrying his book bag to the front hoping to avoid embarrassment.

With help from both Dmitri and Alina they now had a database set up on their original laptop, to which they had transferred information about some of the other web-sites that they had on disks they had been given. They wanted to hit as many other disks as they could this weekend to increase the data set, and learn more about these other operations.

Marta had a growing list of questions, but between them they felt they had worked out some of the answers. At their Studio each image was branded with the studio logo, which would be placed in the corner that had the least affect on the composition, but others just slapped it in the same place on every shot regardless of whether it messed up the image.

One of their new discoveries had been a company that appeared to be stealing image sets from other Studios by blotting out the original logo with their own larger logo, literally like cowboys re-branding stolen cattle. In some cases it had been done in such a crude way the original marking could be seen poking out from behind the false stamp.

Another find was a girl who appeared to be working for two Studios, but using a different model name at each one, after this they checked back and found a second girl doing the same thing. Not knowing how to cross reference this on the database, Marta just noted it down for later inclusion when they could modify the database.

Over the course of the weekend the stack of un-viewed disks diminished, as they learned more about each of their rival operators, and one of their main conclusions was there were very few good ideas they could learn from, though there were endless negative examples. They began to summarize the main faults as, unhappy or disinterested models, dirty or scruffy girls, and those who were badly dressed, and then they went on to list the various technical or aesthetic failings that they had found in doing their research.

During a break in their labours, they checked through the text books that had been issued to those taking English classes, which made them realise how far they had progressed in this subject. The the back of the book gave details of a second and third book in the same series, so they decided to see if they could buy themselves a copy of each, as it was an approved school text, and they wanted to take the standard, and then advanced exams.

Anna had her first 'official' English lesson on Monday morning, Eve and one other girl who was not associated with the Studio were able to claim a slight knowledge of the language and then it was 'discovered' that Anna was quite advanced, and as per the plan, became a class-room assistant. The pupils of course, all respectfully called their teachers by their surnames, so neither Anna nor Eve let on they knew their teacher by her first name, as that was the norm with everyone at the Studio, in fact other than Svetlana she couldn't recall the surname of anyone else working there.

Later when the group Marta was in had their first English lesson, several pupils were found to have a limited grasp of the language from an interest in pop culture, though Marta's greater ability was the reason for her to be selected as an assistant. This caused a rise in the new girl's popularity and the respect of those sharing the class having more academic aspirations.

Ella had discovered that in this upmarket neighbourhood some of the local shops were quite willing to make home deliveries, and what with Igor promising that they could visit a large super-market weekly using the new car, she now had more free time.

As they were getting settled in, one of the things they had discussed was a treat for their old friends, Olga & Gramps. Having been to several travel agents, Ella had arranged an itinerary for the couple to come and visit for a few days because she knew how much they missed the children and vice-versa, and they could do some sight-seeing around the city.

Then she had looked into booking a modest hotel at a coastal resort popular with more elderly patrons, to run over several days, before a return train journey with a second stop over in Kiev so they could relate the tale of their trip to the children.

The problem that now faced Ella was to arrange it with the couple and confirm the dates, with the travel company, as their friends didn't have a phone. After their evening meal the boys were sent off to read while Ella discussed the dilemma of trying to organise this trip via the postal system.

Marta said she might have a solution, then ran upstairs to fetch her cell phone, just a few minutes later she returned smiling. She'd called Svetlana, and she would speak to her neighbour who was looking after her apartment, a few calls later the neighbour had agreed to pop around in the morning to collect Nana Olga asking her to come round so she could talk with Ella, so they could sort out the arrangements.

In their old home town very few public phones were not vandalised, and this roundabout solution would mean the old lady would be able to sit comfortably and write down all the details, so dates could be settled. A phone call the next day, and they were able to agree on a timetable, it's just that the old folks didn't realise they'd also be enjoying a surprise visit to the coast. All they were aware of, is their much missed friends would be sending them the train tickets for the trip, and had promised to pay for the return journey as well.

With the details resolved Ella with the girls help got the study readied for their guests, pulling out the new sofa-bed for the first time, noting how comfortable it was before making up the bed with fresh sheets and duvet. All the new furniture in the room was brought with it's multi-purpose roll in mind, with both wardrobe and drawer space for their visitors who were due early on Friday afternoon.

Both girls realised how much so many aspects of their lives had improved, their new school was well maintained, with staff who seemed to care, and focused pupils who were neither troublesome nor disruptive. The place was clean and bright, conveying a sense of both pride and hope, whereas before they appeared to be swimming against a growing tide of despair and apathy among both teachers and students. Each day was interesting and challenging, as they were encouraged to push themselves academically, but they rose to the task with the help and support of new friends, and of course each other.

The 'game' with the boys that had started earlier that summer of learning a new language had taken hold, and the youngsters now had their own growing collection of books and games in English. At school it was a fine game, their own private code, where few others were able to catch more than the odd word or two, but soon their friends wanted to join in, making them both popular in their new setting.

Kat a girl the sisters had met just over a month ago when she was doing an outdoor photo shoot was in the year group at school between the two girls, but was placed in the same English classes as Marta. After their first lesson together Kat asked if they could exchange phone numbers as there was something she would like to discuss, Marta agreed realising the subject must be something related to their Studio work. When they spoke on the phone that evening Kat wanted to thank Marta and Anna for their help during the shoot, saying how she thought it was her best yet, and how well the shots had come out using Marta's rainbow idea. One of the rainbow shots had been one of the three chosen full size promotional pictures to launch the set, and sales had been going very well.

Regardless of all the other things happening in the family's interesting and hectic new lives, they were all looking forward to the imminent arrival of Nana Olga and Gramps.

Their room had been adorned with some of the boys drawings, they had planned to also arrange vases of fresh flowers, and even some of Gramps favourite pipe tobacco had been laid on, along with some hastily purchased ash trays. Previously with money always so tight neither Igor or Ella smoked although it was common among many of their generation and among most older folk.

On Thursday Valya phoned Ella to see how the girls were getting on at their new school, and the subject came up of the visitors they were expecting the next day. Valya made a suggestion that Ella thought was great providing it wasn't too much trouble, so as soon as the girls returned from school, they were told to swap backpacks and head straight over to the Studio.

Smiling Ella gave the girls no clue what this sudden visit was about. Valya met them in reception leading them off to one of the studios where various plain coloured back drops had been placed in front of a blank wall obviously awaiting some new scenic background. Hanging rails held a selection of good quality adolescent winter clothing, unlike the normal hand made fantasy garments usually worn in these studios.

Marta was the first to realise, “You're going to shoot some fake catalogue pictures!”

At that point Sandra arrived, and they hurriedly shot a few frames of several outfits in front of the plain backgrounds, with Sandra reminding Anna that for once she wasn't the star she was just a clothes horse, and to change her mind set accordingly.

After the flurry of activity Valya explained how she had phoned around that afternoon to get together the outfits, so they could fake a few photos, as it would seem odd to move to Kiev but have no record of the work she was doing. They went to the imaging department to find that Sandra had already chosen several pictures and she was waiting for them to slowly emerge from an expensive looking printer. Next they went to see Dmitri who had a page from an British clothing catalogue on his screen showing a girl wearing a winter coat, with a few mouse clicks her image was replaced by the one of Anna in the winter coat.

The girls read the English text about the coat, and the foreign UK sizes it was available in, and then asked Dmitri what their equivalent of £164.95 was in their own currency. It was an unbelievable shock to find out how much people could afford to pay for a child's coat, considering wages in their country for most people were about a tenth what people earned in the UK, and so with a few more clicks, a copy of the fake page was rolling off Dmitri's printer.

Sandra also produced a couple of shots from Ann's audition where she was innocently posing in her own Sunday best dress from that time, together all these photos were placed in a folder marked 'Anna clothing catalogue fashion model' which they gave her to take home, in order she had some safe pictures to show her visitors the following day.

After thanking Valya and the others for coming up with this little subterfuge the girls got back home to find their mum had delayed supper for a short while in order that the family could all eat together. Their mum discretely asked if their visit had been successful, and then said they could show her later, her eyes flicking towards the boys sitting at the table.

Talk that evening was all about their impending visitors, with Greg and Peter having been in such a high state of excitement, Igor had taken them across to the park earlier to tire them out in the hope they would sleep that evening.

That night the girls got their brothers off to bed, reading a story trading off between them the voices of the characters, until both boys started to fade, at which point they were both tucked into Greg's bed rather than risk waking Peter to put him in his own. It was not that unusual for both the boys to be found in the same bed of a morning, for they had always shared up until the recent move, Marta and Anna also still slept together now and then.

Returning downstairs Anna showed her parents the 'fashion' portfolio of her work suitable for public consumption, including the mocked up catalogue page. Ella found the cost of the child's coat incredulous when Marta gave her the price conversion, but Igor said if she thought that was bad, in the USA their earnings were were half as much again as in the UK and that was sure to be reflected in the prices they paid in the shops.

They talked a while longer about the surprise arranged for their friends, then the girls went on to catch up with the homework they should've done before supper. When Anna had completed her work she went into her sisters room to see how she was getting on, only to find her working on a new spread sheet on their Studio laptop. Looking over the entries it was a summation to date of 'Natasha' sales data, Marta had included the current rate to convert US $ into their own currency, and from the studio web-site they knew how much members paid to download a set, and the price for the super-set, and for the video.

If talk earlier about the price of a coat was cause for disbelief, the revenue generated by one ten year old model was astounding, and although Anna only received a small part of that she was more than content with her share, appreciating the efforts of all the other staff that were necessary to run the Studio operation. Marta then went on to do some more speculative calculations, explaining to Anna what she was doing, adding together the estimated number of model web-sites in the Ukraine, then an average number of models, and so on until she came up with with a possible range of foreign income for their country.

Marta said her results were really just a wild guess, but looking at a school text book on an introduction to economics it still made the web modelling business a small, though very significant part of their nation's income from abroad. Anna had left the door open so their father had come in and caught some of what Marta had been saying, asking her to walk him through the numbers curious as to where they'd come from, and how she'd put down maximum and minimum values for each variable.

Igor said the total income didn't even look like the sums of money they spoke of on news programmes, seeing them on the screen they looked like telephone numbers, but now with all his talks with Ivan he was inclined to believe even the higher estimate could be too low. He wished the girls goodnight, without voicing his fears, that an industry couldn't raise that sort of revenue without someone somewhere taking note, he needed to make sure the money his girls had earned was safe for the children in case things turned sour.

In the coming days and weeks he would think long and hard as to how to keep their nest egg safe for his family, making discrete but hypothetical enquiries with those people who dealt with financial matters, also looking to history, an interest Marta had picked up from him. When he was advised to invest in shares, his knowledge of the stock market crash back in the 1930's dissuaded him of that option, as the effects had been global, and gem stones were too variable in quality unless you really knew what you were looking at, which just left owning property or gold.

Are Igor's fears well founded, will he go on to make wise decisions for his family?

Chapter 20

Nana Olga & Gramps visit, and the girls meet a real “Black hat”, and begin practice for the models forum.

The excitement and anticipation around the breakfast table on Friday morning was almost palpable, and it wasn't just the youngsters, Ella and Igor were equally pleased that their friends would be showing up later. Over the years the older couple had been of so much help to their family, it was marvellous they were able at last, to find a way to express how much they'd appreciated that support.

Ella when taking the boys to school, was deliberately vague about what time Nana Olga & Gramps would be arriving that evening, claiming she was unsure of what train they would be catching. The fact was she knew which train they would be on, and later settled down inside the station café at a table which gave the best view of the platform where her old friends would disembark.

Fortunately she only had to sit through one cup of the café's awful coffee before she saw her friends arrive, she used Anna's phone, which she had borrowed for the day, calling the cab company to confirm the booking she had made earlier that day, that her guests had just shown up, and she needed a car from the central rail station to her home.

After hugs and greetings they made their way outside where Ella was hailed by one of the regular drivers she knew, he immediately came over to carry the two small cases that the elderly couple were carrying, placed them in the boot then helped them into the cab. Although they only lived within a few hours journey of the capitol, they'd only been there on a couple of rare occasions throughout their lives, so this was a major event for them.

Olga said she had been so surprised when the neighbour of the girls English teacher had come around to explain she needed to visit the next day, to make the arrangements over the phone, but it had enabled them to sort things there and then, rather than send letters back and forth to make their plans. To read about their friends new house in letters was one thing, but to see the splendour of it was quite another, and they were so happy for the family's good fortune.

On entering the house they removed their shoes as was customary, and Ella gave them each a pair of brand new slippers which she said they were to keep. First she showed the couple the study which was currently set up as their bedroom, then took them on a tour of the house, leaving out her sons bedrooms deliberately, saying how the boys would want to show them themselves later, and Ella didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Over a light lunch, Ella had prepared a particular regional variety of borsch that Gramps liked, Olga apologised they had only brought small presents for the children. Ella replied sincerely that the best present they could have, were their two visitors sitting at the table. After eating they sat out in the garden talking until it was time to collect Greg and Peter.

They all walked past the local park where the boys played football, then turned down the road towards the school, where they were greeted by Magda together with several other mums waiting for school to end. When the lads saw who it was standing at the gate, mum and school friends were forgotten as they rushed up to the old couple eager to tell them of their new home and of the adventures of living in the city.

When they got back home Ella said how Nana Olga and Gramps had not seen the boys bedrooms, so perhaps they should show them, Greg with admirable restraint allowed his younger brother to show off his room first. The old couple had already been stunned by what they'd so far seen, but they were astounded by a mural of dinosaurs playing football, that Peter was so proud of, as he pointed out each of the colourful creatures.

Greg then got his turn, and was no less proud of his own room with the busy airport scene that adorned one wall, as he showed them the funny incidents included in the painting.

When the girls got home from school, there were more hugs and greetings, before they all sat down to an after school snack of medivnyk honey cake with tea, coffee or fruit juice.

All the children spoke of their school work, and Marta explained how she and Anna used the Metro system to get there, and about the various extra curricular clubs and activities that were available to them, and how there was a swimming pool just a short bus ride away, although they hadn't been there yet. The ringing of Marta's phone caused a sudden lull in conversation, as Karl had called to see how she was, and if her guests had arrived safely, and when they could go out.

A red faced Marta held a brief conversation, and promised to call back when she knew what was happening. This caused a change of topic around the table, but with the girl's new found confidence she related some details about Karl, and of their common interests.

Igor when chatting with his boss during the week had mentioned that the old couple, who used to be their neighbours would be coming for a visit. He was told to knock off early on Friday, and as he had covered the previous weekend, a few of the other managers would be on call this weekend so he could have some free time to be with his guests.

The consideration he was shown, and in fact all aspects of his new employment meant he now looked forward to going to work in the mornings, and this attitude was reflected right throughout the company.

He arrived home to find everyone in the kitchen and after greetings all round snagged a piece of cake as Marta made fresh coffee and tea, as the conversation turned to the work that Igor now did, and how much he enjoyed his new position. Gramps was saying how pleased he and Olga were at their friends change of circumstances, and how they had seen what a smart new school the boys attended, and that the girls seemed so happy with their new school as well.

Ella began to prepare the evening meal, which Olga insisted on helping with despite the fact the girls were lending a hand because they wanted to catch up with all the news and gossip, plus they were able to supervise the boys, who were sat at the table now working through some basic maths books. Igor having changed out of his work clothes showed Gramps through to the workshop and garage, where the old man was surprised by the smart new people carrier. Igor told him how as a company vehicle was included with the job, he'd talked to his boss and persuaded him that this type of transport would be more useful, for both his family and be better for work, when they needed to move staff from one location to another.

It had been decided to eat at home that night as their guests might be tired after their journey, and also they were not used to eating out, and they wanted to ease them into the various surprises one at a time.

After eating when it was time for the boys to go up, Ella and Nana Olga bathed the boys, and read them bedtime stories. When they came down everyone sat in the lounge talking until the subject of Anna's clothes catalogue modelling was raised, a swift look passed between the girls, and Marta stated there was a folder somewhere about with a few of Anna's recent photos being taken for the winter season's range.

The folder was shown to their guests, Anna pointing out the original pictures from the local audition back in their home town, then looking through the shots of various fashion clothing and finally the mock-up page from an English children's clothing company.

The discussion ranged from how much Anna enjoyed modelling, to the totally outrageous cost of the fashionable clothes which they wore, asking whether Anna or the other models got to keep any of them.

When the adults retired that evening, the old folks had use of the boys bathroom upstairs, but they also had the benefit of the downstairs toilet which was closer to their bedroom.

Saturday was spent sight seeing, family and guests together, Olga and Gramps having the most enjoyable outing they could remember for a long time. When they stopped in the late afternoon sunshine at the outdoor tables of a café near some shops, Ella and Igor sprung their surprise on the old couple.

A train journey on Monday to a coastal resort, accommodation sorted, then returning on Friday afternoon, to stay with the family and travel back to their home on the following Monday. They tried to protest that it was too generous a gift, but Igor would have none of it saying how it was booked, and in their names, he also slipped Gramps an envelope with some spending money, while the females took Olga across to a nearby dress shop for a new outfit. Everything had been arranged, for the trip, even two small wheeled suitcases.

Everyone enjoyed the remainder of their weekend, and on Monday morning Igor got them to the station, loaded onto the correct train for their holiday at a resort on the Black sea.

On Monday evening there were two phone calls, Nana Olga and Gramps called to say they'd arrived safely and how they loved the resort and all of the guests there were in their age group and all very friendly. The second call was Studio business, could the girls come in after school tomorrow, and be sure to bring in the laptop they used for Studio related topics, but that was all Dmitri was prepared to say.

On Tuesday they walked home from the station with Eve another of the Studio's models as they did on most days, as she lived just a short distance from them, and spoke of the call asking them to show up at the Studio later, but they still had no clue what it was all about.

Dmitri greeted the girls, and told them it was time they met Boris, he was reclusive and the truth be known paranoid, as he was the only geek who had a walled office, which he was always sure to lock behind him, even just to cross the department or to visit the loo.

Dmitri explained Boris was a 'black hat' who had moved from the dark side, and was now running the security of the company web-sites. At the girls blank looks, he said how it was like a poacher becoming a game keeper, because he knew all the sneaky tricks, and it was him that had hacked into the web-sites of other rival Studios to acquire those downloads on the CD's that the girls had been studying.

They were told several stories about the man they were about meet, which made Marta think he was part wizard and part mad scientist who spoke to machines in a similar way that Dr Do-little spoke to the animals. Dmitri said with a grin, it was an unusual honour to visit the man in his office, as far as he knew only himself and Ivan had ever seen inside.

Though both girls had spent a lot of time over the summer in the department, especially since they now had an office there, Boris was at the far end of the same area and they'd only seen him on rare occasions. Marta noticed he was thin and prematurely balding, with a pony-tail, and the pallor of someone who spent little time outdoors. His office had three solid walls, with the only windows looking out across the department; looking out being the operative words because they had a reflective film so that people couldn't see inside, if they could, it would've revealed the thick steel security bars over the said windows.

Looking round Marta noted just the one chair, two desks at right angles, with six screens, and an even greater number of computers, plus another work bench where there were various computers that had been disassembled. In the corner stood a filing cabinet like none she had seen before, with a fireproof logo, it looked more like a safe.

Although Boris had welcomed them into his domain, Marta felt he was ill at ease having any visitors, and kept in mind Dmitri's advise not to touch anything for fear of upsetting him. Anna handed over their studio laptop when he asked for it, and he proceeded to start it up without having asked for their passwords, he then connected various cables, and then started to run some sort of test. While that continued he placed what looked to be a brand new laptop next to their old one, along with a very small memory stick.

For the next hour Boris told them about the new machine, if turned on and searched you would find only the files, programmes and notes made by some random schoolgirl who's computer he had hacked and cloned. By inserting the memory stick a secret encrypted area could be accessed, a window appeared with many lines of random characters and symbols, and a log-on dialogue box also popped up. Anna needed to copy and paste one of the lines into the log-on then add another five letters manually, which he set up for her, then the true purpose of the computer became apparent.

The screen showed two options, 'view members chat forum', and, 'open talk to the models forum'. After connecting a cable between the two machines, followed by a flurry of key-strokes, a third option became available, 'view research directory', where he had now transferred all the girls previous work, having completed a deep virus and safety-scan.

Anna would now be able to log onto the studio web server from home or the office, and for the time being do the beta testing of the 'talk to the models forum' whenever there were people available to play the part of pretend members. Both girls went through the procedure of logging on from scratch, to ensure they understood the process, and he even connected up the PC so they could view the members forum for a while, with Dmitri using his fake persona to tease the audience with rumours about a model release he knew was due out soon.

As Dmitri and the girls were catching-up with current topics on the forum, Boris had taken out the hard drive from the girls old laptop, then placed it between the rollers of what looked like a small but heavy duty mangle from an old laundry. He turned a crank, causing the drive to pass between three metal rollers, accompanied be crunching sounds, as the once flat slim box came out the other side as curled up as a week old sandwich.

At the girls astonished gasps, Boris said, “No one recovers data from one of MY drives.” They saw the literally mangled ex-drive fall into a bin below holding several other similarly destroyed devices, as Boris the guardian of the studio data security explained, nobody got access to any data without their own personal validated, unshared password, and no other unencrypted Studio data left the building without his knowledge.

With their new Studio laptop the girls thanked Boris and left to the sound of locks closing behind them, as they headed back to Dmitri's desk so he could pick up his stuff, as he was taking them out to supper before running them home. They were pleasantly surprised to find Alina waiting at Dmitri's desk, and that she would also be joining them for the meal.

Dmitri had told Ella the night before he was unsure when they would finish, so suggested he feed the girls, rather than have Ella hold up mealtimes at home. The restaurant chosen was a favourite of Alina's that specialised mostly in Polish dishes, and for fun, because it was always good to practice, all the conversation around the table was in English.

On the drive home Marta asked why Boris made so much fuss about providing them a new lap-top for the chat forum, only to be told how their machine was an old spare one from the office, and they'd needed an up to the minute spec to run the models chat forum with the level of security that Boris wanted. It was agreed that Anna would log on for half an hour each weekday after school, with help from Marta to do the beta testing, and Dmitri would have the pretend members lined up to trial the system while ironing out the bugs.

Wednesday after school the girls had a quick snack with the boys then went to Anna's room to get started, while Anna booted up, Marta briefly called Dmitri to say they would soon be ready to start testing the new forum. They even had a dictionary on the desk in case there was the odd unfamiliar word as the whole chat would be conducted in English.

At last they had the programme booted up to an open chat window, after a brief look between them, Marta suggested that the test audience was maybe waiting for her to start.

So Anna began typing.

Natasha: “Hello this is Natasha are any of my fans online today?”

Pervy Pete: “Hello Natasha, glad you could join us, there are a few others online.”

Jack63: “Hi Natasha howya doing girl?”

555Ken: “Yo girl pleased you're on line at last.”

After scrabbling through the dictionary, she made her next entry.

Natasha: “I'm pleased to meet you all but my replies may be slow. Jack63 and 555Ken have used words I can't find in my dictionary, could you please help me.”

Jack63: “Sorry about that little lady, “howya doing” is a greeting, to ask if you are well, and I suppose that might be slang in some parts.”

555Ken: “Like Jack63 I was using a slang greeting as well.”

Natasha: “Thank-you for helping me, I am well, and I will make notes so that I can learn more, and will share with the other girls.”

Pervy Pete: “You are such a pretty girl do you have a boyfriend?”

Natasha: “Pervy Pete you are being naughty, you should not ask things like that or you could get banned from talking on the models forum.”

Jack63: “Way to go you tell him girl.”

The banter continued for a little longer than intended for the first session, with each of the “members” using a few words that were new to them, and occasionally pushing at the rules without going too far, therefore Anna only had to give a few warnings, and reminded them to look at the forum rules.

Typically the girls reviewed what the test had disclosed, scrolling through the text, and of course in hindsight thinking of better replies Anna could've made. Marta thought that it was possible their testers had based their manner of texting on real members from the existing forum to make them more realistic, and Anna was inclined to agree, although she said that none of the names seemed familiar, as they had often looked at that forum.

Marta wrote Dmitri a memo about their first use of the system, pointing out what they had learned so far, and noting that all sessions should be kept, in order that each model could learn and review each others practice “online” meetings. She went on to make a few more comments and observations, such as how the date and time stamps would show how the speed of each new girl progressed in both reading and writing skills.

The third trial run on Friday was kept brief as the girls would be preparing supper that night while also watching over Greg and Peter as their mum was going to the station to await the return of Nana Olga and Gramps. Although a simple meal it was one of the old couples favourite dishes, and she had in fact taught the girls that recipe, it was also very popular with their dad, and Marta had to warn him off with a spoon when he got home and wanted to sample the sauce on the stove.

Anna was overjoyed at their friends return, to see the old couple seemingly glowing with health and smiling nearly made her cry, a look from her sister at her side, and she knew Marta understood. Most of the travellers tales were kept till after the meal as it was ready to be served, then Nana Olga revelled in how fine a holiday it was, and about the people, and the entertainments each evening, they had even been paddling in the sea.

Igor said it was his hope to arrange a family visit to the coast next year, as they had never been before, but now they were in a position to afford such things when the children were out of school during the summer. There were gifts for all the family which Nana Olga gave out, with Marta and Anna each getting matching trinket boxes covered in seashells.

The weekend followed with more entertaining, and on Saturday night they all dined out at a modest restaurant where the older couple wouldn't feel overwhelmed. With both her mum and Nana Olga cajoling her, Marta had invited her young man, and Karl told Marta how he felt honoured that she wanted him to share a meal with all the people who meant the most to her. Thinking about Karl's reply made her realise how much he thought of her.

Another thing Marta discovered was how much Karl had listened to her, for when he spoke to Gramps he complained the man had taught Marta too well when it came to playing chess, and that he had heard Nana Olga had passed on her kitchen skills to both sisters.

Marta was pleased that Nana Olga approved of her boyfriend saying how he was so polite and modest, with a good work ethic, trying to make something of himself. On Sunday the family went to the local park where the boys were meeting friends to play football, while the various parents gathered to cheer them on.

Monday at breakfast was only a little tearful, for it had already been settled that their old friends would be coming to visit again at Christmas. They left with the same old suitcases as they had arrived with, so as to arouse the minimum of interest at their destination.

Igor took them to the station and helped them onto their train, earlier Gramps had tried to return the remainder of the spending money, saying how the resort had been full board, but Igor said it was worth that sum many times over just for joy their visit had brought.

The strain and sorrow caused by the recent loss of their neighbours and friends had been a bitter blow to the ageing couple, who had felt sure that after a few months the shuttle of correspondence would dry up, as the young family settled into their new busy city lives.

The invite to visit accompanied by train tickets, had shown them they weren't forgotten, but then the luxurious coastal holiday had been like a fairytale, that had really made them feel like beloved grandparents, as they sat smiling, holding hands on the train home.

~~~~~~~~~

Will Marta have another brilliant idea? - will she also use a dirty word? Yes – 'banking' but not as you know it.

Addendum: Since writing the previous few chapters I have since discovered that Ukrainian rail travel is quite timely and reliable, oops! There are probably many other errors too.

To be continued....

---

For the next installment of the A New Model is Discovered franchize, see Chapters 21 through 25.

---