TAMARA’S TALE

[esercito sconfitto]

TAMARA’S TALE

I thought it would be helpful for readers to understand the stories if I provided some background information about the central character, Tamara. So here is a potted biography:


Who is Tamara? This is not an easy question to answer: Tamara is an enigma; and I suspect that is the way she likes matters to remain. I have been able to glean some knowledge of her background from the occasional comment which she has made. The
picture which emerges is this:

Tamara comes from a privileged background. She told one party
of dinner guests, for instance, that her grandmother had been a Lady in Waiting to
the Czarina Alexandra and in 1916 her grandmother had celebrated the Czar's birthday with more vigour than discretion. She hinted that a certain Prince
had assisted her in this endeavour and nine months later Tamara's
mother was born in time to join the White Russian exodus to Western
Europe. Tamara's mother grew up in Paris, Vienna and Berlin before
moving to Frankfurt where she married her first husband in 1936. He
died on the Eastern Front in 1943. In 1944, Tamara's mother moved to a village
outside Frankfurt in order to escape the bombing. One day, she was walking in
the woods gathering mushrooms when she chanced upon a fugitive B26
pilot hiding in a thicket. Seizing her opportunity, she immediately
embraced the Allied cause and while Europe was celebrating VE Day,
Tamara was filling her diapers for the first time.
Remaining with her mother, Tamara was educated at the best schools and enjoyed a
cosmopolitan and very comfortable existence. Money was not a problem because of her mother's and grandmother's skill with investments. Her natural father
(who became a lawyer and a very successful senator for one of the
southern states) did his duty by her, too. A few unkind souls have
hinted that Tamara's mother persuaded him to fund his daughter
generously for fear of the repercussions should it be known that this
pillar of society had not only sired a child on the wrong side of the
blanket, but with a Russian woman as well. (This was in the Joe
McCarthy period, remember). Such allegations are entirely unfounded,
of course, and a wicked slur on the honour of a perfectly respectable man.
Tamara found that the various careers she tried were unfulfilling:
she grew bored and depressed. Then, serendipitously, she was staying
in a hotel one night when she chanced upon a copy of Hornung's
'The Black Mask', a novel featuring the gentleman criminal, Raffles. She could not
put the book down. The following morning, she knew where her destiny
lay. And the rest, as they say, is history. Tamara was active in the 70's and early 80's. She began on her own, but she soon met Melody and Harmony; later on she met Bruce in circumstances which she too coy to discuss. I suspect she doesn't rob
primarily for money, but for excitement, the thrill of power and to
feed a dark need to humiliate her victims. Blessed with a dark sense of humour, she once joked about her 'first job' as she calls it. (One always seems to remember the
`first' of everything). Soon after her Damascene awakening, Tamara was invited
to a fancy dress party in Paris. Stumped for an idea for a costume,
inspiration struck when she noticed a traffic warden placing a ticket
under the wiper blade of her car. At the time Parisian lady traffic
wardens wore a very fetching aubergine uniform designed by a leading
couturier. Later, while Tamara danced the night away admired by all
the young men (and most of the old), an immobile, muted and rather contemplative traffic warden was catching a chill in an alley way behind the Rue Rivoli. Tamara
remained eclectic in her choice of target: it could be a bank,
convenience store, jewellers, or even a party goer on a night out.
Tamara eschews violence, but it would be unwise to take liberties
with her for I suspect she would prove lethal if put to the test.
Tamara is now retired (she claims) and lives in the south of France.

Now, how much of this story is true and how much is Tamara's
fantasizing, I don't know. I suspect that Tamara, like an Agincourt
veteran, has 'with advantages, remembered', but I found it to be a
good story anyway. Details of her jobs are obviously sketchy because
many countries do not have a Statute of Limitations to frustrate the
pursuit of criminals for ancient offences. Add to this the present craze for
litigation and the cursed compensation culture which has done so much
to stifle human endeavour, one can see why Tamara is not prepared to
offer a hostage to fortune by revealing too much about her past.
Anyway, I hope this serves to sketch in the background to the stories.