Anna decided Mr Bear could spend the days laying on her bed, it would be good to lay back against the big soft toy as a bolster when she was reading, at night she would sit him beside the bed. She didn't know what they called the different bed sizes, but her brothers Marta and herself didn't have the narrow size children's ones, so on nights they wanted to share there was lots of room, only mum and dad had a bigger one. Anna intended to practice on her new guitar this morning until Irisha came over, then they might join in with the Forum, as it was using the computer itself rather than 'talking' to the others where Irisha wanted to improve her skills. She should be getting her own machine this week as she now lived somewhere safe, that had an internet connection.

Her mum was doing a small order for the catering company today, so the marvellous smell of savoury pies would pervade the house, the boys were off round at Eve's house playing with Victor, and Marta planned to spend some of the day with dad at the house project.

After an hour they signed off the Forum, and went down to the kitchen in time to snag a couple of the tiny savouries not long out of the oven, and a glass of milk before returning to Anna's room. Anna played a few simple pieces she had learned then demonstrated chords next letting Irisha have a go, unfortunately her ear for language didn't seem to translate to music, but Anna said she had been no better when she had first started. When Irisha had seen all the cards she had wished Anna a happy birthday apologising about a lack of card or present, Anna said it was unimportant,but grinning said to remember for next year.

At the sound of her mobile, Anna checked to see 'unknown caller', answering to find an excited Yana wanting to speak to her daughter, soon the girl was jumping up and down, asking her mother to repeat herself. Apparently notification of 'Laura's' first download fee had arrived with the post, and the money was in their new bank account, and Yana was now able to get the cash to repay the money the sisters had loaned them.

Irisha asked if Anna would have received her money that morning, from the set they had done together, at this Anna went into how she had current and residual fees, along with various payments and percentages that Marta had earned listed out each month, but she herself no longer viewed the statements, as now they had all they needed, the rest was all for the nest egg.

They decided to continue their search of the web trying out some more from the list they had yet to view, a new discovery were sites that featured just one girl, both thought although it may be nice to have your own site, it was fun at the studio as it was also a sort of social club for the girls with their common link. They found a couple of Russian sites, so they were quite used to reading in Russian and it took less thinking about. It seemed most of the girls were nudists anyway from their tans, although unlike ordinary nudist sites these shots were posed, but still lots of the pictures were outside.

They found another girl with her own site from St Petersburg who seemed somewhat of an icon, as there were many links relating to her, and she had vast numbers of picture sets, but the odd thing was the lack of nude shots. In almost all her work she wore nice clothes, most were skimpy, but there were only a few sets where she was naked, and a few lone shots that may have been taken as she was getting changed in the studio between sets.

Following the links she had some friends who also had their own similar if less well known sites, and sometimes she did two girl sets with these other models. Checking out more of her work they traced backwards through her career noting she had always been a natural in front of the lens, and how her poise and style had blossomed from the early amateur shots as a young girl.

She had a mixture of locations, some on a country smallholding that might be her grandparents place, then in a succession of apartments where she was obviously living, and each one as she got older nicer than the last. There was some studio work, but also a lot of outdoor shoots, some of them taken on family days out, as she was not getting naked. On some outings her friends were seen who later started their own sites.

Looking at the bulletin board links they found a mixture of information and speculation about how her mother had left the farm to seek work in the city, and then got pregnant and with the boyfriend leaving became a single mum. The girl spent much time on the smallholding while the mother sort work even doing nude modelling, and it was assumed that the photographer stroke boyfriend at some time met the young daughter and that started her career in modelling.

They didn't know how much to believe from what they had read, but it seemed to be plausible from the scant evidence from what they had seen, so they chased a few more leads until they saw it was true there were nude pictures of the girl's mother, so maybe some of what they had seen could be true.

The web sites they found that were based in America were very tame, all young teen girls girls in tiny bathing costumes, but there were vast numbers of them, proving the over-whelming interest, even if they wouldn't admit it to themselves.

The girls talked about their finds, and about how popular photos, drawings and stories were that depicted teen and pre-teen girls in a sexual, or at least an erotic way, in Japan there was a whole massive following of Manga, and similar styles of comic book that had very young sexual heroines always with older men. Their conclusion was that paedophilia wasn't a minority sick perversion, but a widespread interest that was being suppressed. The news media tended to use the word in association with people who hurt or murdered children, not as it was originally defined in the dictionary as people who had a love of children that was sometimes expressed in a sexual way.

If Anna had the vocabulary she would have divided the two camps into nice paedophiles who loved and admired the beauty and eroticism of young girls, which covered the vast majority of people tagged as pedos. The others as sick psychopathic bastards who preyed on, and hurt youngsters, which was fortunately a very slim minority, but the media seemed unable or unwilling to make any distinction between the two.

The meaning of the word had now been perverted itself, and anyone who liked girls or even pictures of girls was lumped together with all the sick horrible people who did really bad things. Both of them thought this was unfair, and it was probably why girl lovers were afraid to speak up, as they would be condemned along with all the nasty people.

They thought it was sad if you were unable to say what you believed, but there couldn't be so much interest, or such large sales figures if girl lovers were really in the minority.

After what was for them a deep and philosophical conversation they had a bite of lunch then walked over to the site, Anna wrestling whether to mention anything about Taras and the interest he had shown in her new friend.

"What did you think of the boys Marta has working on the house job?"

"It was a bit odd, they were very polite, I didn't hear any of them swear, not even once, was it because we were at the table?"

"No it was a rule Marta made, if they wanted to join her scheme, they had to dress neatly and be polite. Trying to expand into the local neighbourhood finding other customers who would have work for them after this job ends, meant they had to make a good impression, or nobody would take them seriously. The funny thing is, it has caught on and the ladies on site started a swear box, so everyone had to watch their mouth, I don't know what they will spend the money on though. If they use it for an end of job party no one will get drunk."

The girls started laughing at this observation, and Anna made a few more comments about the lads, stating how hard they were working to improve their lives, by picking up skills from the older workers. Running out of subject matter as they neared their destination, Anna said she had overheard Taras say how pretty he thought she was, but that he was too shy to speak to her, looking to gauge Irisha's reaction."

Irisha stopped walking. "The tall handsome one in charge said that, about me?"

"Well that was the gist of it, I think because they are homeless they don't see anyone looking past that, but from what I overheard he didn't think a nice girl like you would give him the time of day, it's like he's ashamed he has no home or family."

When Irisha said it was sad that these boys felt like that Anna suggested she could befriend him, not as a girlfriend perhaps, but just a friend and see if they got on together, she thought to herself, I'm not playing chess, honest, though sure Marta would disagree.

It was an interesting afternoon, four men from the studio were working on site, three on the various panels to create their illusions, and the fourth transforming some plain plastered columns into faux stone, that looked real even from fairly close. When they found Marta with Igor he was just launching into teaching mode.

"Where you spend money on a job has varying outcomes, some maintenance jobs hardly change the value, but without them it's hard to sell the place. With some improvements you make, you can add value, say three or four times what you've spent, like for instance the new kitchen, but make the wrong changes and you can devalue a property. But these painted illusions going on just now, they raise the whole building into another league, so different, it will catch the eye of those prepared to shell out for something unique."

As October was drawing to a close there was a chill in the air, and for once Irisha was less concerned that her old coat was looking a bit tight and frayed for she didn't want to embarrass the boys in Marta's work team, or make that one boy on the team. It had been amusing to watch the teens circle each other, each trying to be cool, friendly but not overt, several people had noticed, the odd nod or wink to a workmate as they observed.

All three girls were helping by passing out hot drinks around the site, and by doing some of the fetching and carrying, provided it was nothing too heavy, though Irisha seemed fascinated by the new gravel paths that were being laid by five of the younger guys on site. Cornered by Marta, Anna related the conversation she and Irisha had on the way there, causing her sister to shake her head, and mention chess just as Anna had predicted.

The ladies on site didn't confine themselves to the kitchen, but followed on behind the workforce cleaning up, so the skilled workers could get on with what they did best, thus hasten progress. Today roles were reversed as a couple of the men took on a helper role as the women set up a temporary 'field' kitchen so the food service could continue while the kitchen they had been using in the house was ripped out. Igor was speculating by spending big bucks on all the best quality labour saving appliances, so the lady of the house, or her cook, could cater for the odd executive dinner party with ease.

The site ladies wouldn't be returning on it's completion, it was to be kept pristine, and all the expensive new surfaces and equipment protected when the work was finished, but nothing was wasted. All the old appliances from the kitchen had been sold on, either for cash or mainly in barter deals, even the loft had been scoured revealing a few items that would do a turn for some of the lads on site.

Soon after Igor had spoken to Gramps on Monday he ramped up work on the couples new home so it would be ready in time, and he told Yaroslaw of the old man's long held dream of a little vegetable patch. Though his speciality may have been ornamental parks and gardens, throughout his career he always tried to find a place to sneak something edible into his planting, to supplement the pot at home. Managing to catch Yaroslaw alone in the corner of the grounds Igor asked about progress 'over the fence', a site euphemism for the little cottage and it's surrounding garden.

"Well I had the boys dig over an area that looked to have been a vegetable garden in the past, and we've planted broad beans, peas, garlic, onions, winter lettuce, kale, turnips, and cabbage. Put in a few raspberry canes and a bit or rhubarb for good measure."

Igor was stunned and impressed, as he was unaware that all those crops could be planted this late in the year, though it was amusing Gramps would get his cabbage and a darn sight more, it also transpired they had uncovered a concrete base where a greenhouse had once stood. Of course Igor wanted them to install a new one in order that Gramps would have the ideal garden, ever since he and Ella became their neighbours the old couple had always helped them out, now he was in a position to help them in return.

Igor had been making frequent changes to the Gant chart, the computer based calender project organiser, almost every aspect of the job was ahead of pace, some were running to time as set out on the planner, the only black mark was due to one late delivery over which they had no control. Talking with Melenki he found there had been enquiries from a few locals about painting or the odd item of building work, inspired by watching how well their site was run, or perhaps because it was now making their houses look dull in comparison, after-all this was where the rich people lived.

So far Melenki had put them off, taking down details, but saying he needed to speak to his boss before making any promises, and this was the first time they had been able to have a proper long talk. Igor had been impressed with Marta's entrepreneurial scheme with the young lads, even if he had originally been doubtful about the outcome, but by all reports it was working, and they were finding a market, cleaning cars, or tidying peoples gardens, even picking up regular dog walking jobs.

His daughter's idea of presenting a team of well turned out lads, who you could see were doing a good job was having a cascade effect in the neighbourhood, but could it be scaled up to include skilled men finding work. The question was, were too many men trying the wrong approach, looking for a company to employ them, instead of trying a more direct route, either becoming self motivated, or forming a cooperative to ensure their survival. Using Gramps as a clearing house for odd jobs by the day or by the hour was now looking a bit small fry, it may be possible to expand, why were large companies failing and laying men off, when a few driven guys now found potential work looking for them.

Reflecting on this, it had to be a leftover from the old state run industries, tight control from central committees, but times were changing, they were now independent of the grip of Russia, even if there were still many ties. Change would be their salvation, by thinking in new ways, just as the men who had set up the studio, using modern technology the rest of the world considered commonplace.

Igor began to wonder about these ideas, what had happened to his old risk averse mind set, had his attitudes and outlook changed that much since taking on new responsibilities when he started his new job. Was it the faith his family had shown in him, or the men here on site who were trusting in him, to work for so little with the carrot of a bonus upon the sale of the house? Difficult questions to answer, so he dare not falter, he had to live the mantra that rang in his ears on the way to his job interview, "If you look the part and feel the part, you can be the part." Where was the law, or the rule that said he couldn't be the entrepreneur or the property developer, as Frank Herbert said in 'Dune' "There is nothing to fear except fear itself, fear is the mind killer."

That thought raised the issue that it had been a while since he had done any reading, but at least he could choose the titles, not having to pick up those others discarded, and now he could buy the rest of the 'Dune' saga, as he had enjoyed that. Melenki's voice drew his wool gathering to a halt, with Igor stating it was too good an opportunity to miss if local people had jobs to do, then the men they had gathered for this project should get them. They started making plans on how best to deploy the staff they had on hand, while people were still showing an interest, Igor keen to ensure they made their mark, and gain a fine reputation in this affluent area.

Irisha came into the house looking for the sisters, both held their tongues, despite wanting to ask about the state of play. The last time they had talked of magazines, it had been when they found Irisha spoke English, but now they were leafing through the house and garden variety, that had given them inspiration for how to dress this project.

Looking at some of the lavish photo spreads Irisha innocently inquired when this house would be featured, Marta gasped then grabbed her swinging her around.

"You are a bloody genius! Oops, I owe the swear box."

"If this house were in one of these magazines, our target audience would see it, and what if they were handed the text and images ready made, it would save them time and money with someone else doing the work, and we could highlight the best bits. We need to find out how these magazines operate, how they choose places, how soon they need the details before they are printed."

Anna couldn't resist the taking the mickey, "So we need a good photographer and also a computer expert, well John could take nice pictures, I wonder if Karl knows anyone who's a computer expert." Marta jabbed, but missed as Anna dodged.

When Marta called called Karl to see if he could find the information, he said he would ask a man who could, so Anna's jibe was close to the mark. Twenty minutes later they knew their two best targets needed 'copy' signed off by Tuesday week, so in reality they had to present an attractive package to one or both of magazines by Friday in the hopes of getting on the news stands for November.

The two men had cleared all the main points when three exuberant girls came to outline their new plan, Igor checked his watch then dialled the editorial number for one of the journals, in his current mood anything was possible.

After some to and fro he was speaking to someone in features, after talking of how he admired such and such article from a previous issue, stated that their rival magazine had been sniffing around his latest project, but he would prefer to give them the opportunity to have the house shown in their magazine as he preferred their style.

The flannel didn't work as the November issue was nearly set, but they exchanged numbers with a possibility for the December issue. Now having gained pointers on what to expect, he called the second title, receiving a similar response Igor mentioned that the professional company that produced the promotional photographic copy of his projects would supply them with ready to use shots. This garnered more interest, but the outcome was send the pictures and they would consider it for December.

The others had only heard one side, so Igor filled in the blanks, saying December was better than nothing, but if they had got in this month by mid November potential buyers would see the house at about the time they were completing and ready to sell.

Wearing a devilish grin Marta chipped in. "So the reason they are putting us on hold is the fact they are both already full for this month, and they need to see the pictures first to see if they are the type of property suitable for their publications. I think we need John round to take pictures ASAP, we can make up the text to go with them by copying the sort of stuff from the examples in these magazines."

"Honey there's no rush, they said they won't even consider us till the following month."

If anything Marta's grin got bigger. "The publishing and printing industries are one of the few fields that have followed the west in being computerised, I was thinking sometimes they have computer problems, that cause sudden spaces to occur."

Each person around the table was aware to varying degrees that Marta had knowledge or plans that could alter the chances of the house showing up earlier than December.

If anything the rest of the weekend was even more frantic with calls and planning.

On Monday John walked around with Igor to determine how they could present their nearly finished project, having seen the glossy examples the magazines usually portrayed. Angling the shots, unfinished areas could be avoided, but John suggested instead of hiding the work in progress that they include it, the back view of an artist completing one of the Trompe l'oeil panels, a view across the grounds with gardeners in the background, and other shots in a similar vein.

Igor had only met John a few times, and knew how Anna adored him, saying the reason she was so successful was because he was such fun to work with, and although it felt odd talking with the man who frequently photographed his daughter naked, he couldn't help liking the man. When Igor asked about the difference in subject matter, John said he preferred the modelling, but there was beauty to be found in the artistry of craftsmen, and it would be interesting to capture this for a different audience.

John took what shots he could with plans to return on Wednesday morning for shots of the kitchen and updates on the Trompe l'oeil.

On Wednesday both journals discovered computer glitches, as planned most of what they needed was recovered apart from one large colour spread house feature, which they were likely to find the following month as the respective folders had been renamed. A tentative call to Igor from one magazine asked if he was still interested in having his property included, and did he have e-mail access to send them the pictures, a second call followed and as neither magazine thought to mention exclusivity, Igor didn't either.

He passed on the information, Marta, John and Karl between them had along with other co-conspirators at the studio put together the plan, and it looked to be working, but Igor hadn't been privy to the outcome of Marta's plans for Karl the previous afternoon.

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To be continued in Chapter 37 where we discover the extent of Marta's plans for Karl ......