| An American mathematician attends a conference in Poland, the country in which his grandparents were killed in a Nazi concentration camp. This is during the Cold War, and the American consul warns him that Polish spies will try to obtain information about math or mathematicians from him, but Nachman does not take these concerns seriously. He is given a tour by a young, female mathematician who attended his talk. She makes a few encouraging remarks about his lectures and tries to steer him clear of a con artist who now works at the synagogue that Nachman's grandfather probably attended.
This story, the first of Michaels' "Nachman" series, was published in the Spring 1998 issue of the Three Penny Review. It can also be found in the collection Collected Stories of Leonard Michaels which appeared shortly after the author's death. In addition, Arion Press published The Nachman Stories in a separate and very expensive book.
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