Brigid of Laughter in the Dark writes about a cab driver in Krasnodar, a southern Russian city: ““Where in the hell did you learn to speak Russian?” and “How did your husband ever permit you to travel alone?” The standard taxi-conversation fare. As I anticipated the next standard question – a variant of: “what the hell were you Americans thinking when you elected that jerk?” – Ivan Ivanovich shocked me by replacing it with a new one: “So, do you have kids? No? Well, how old are you? Young lady, you’d better get busy as you’re running out of time….””