Chapter 50: “I think God will understand”

October 10, 1985, McKinley, Ohio

“Are you sure you’re getting enough sleep, Mike?” Elizaveta asked when we returned to the cottage from our morning run.

“I think so,” I replied. “Wednesdays are just longer because instead of walking to the bedroom, I have to drive home from Doctor Blahnik’s house.”

We went into the house to take individual showers, and as usual, Elizaveta quizzed me on flashcards, and when she showered, she told me about a call from Debby.

“Mr. Grant and the university figured out who the guy was, and Mr. Grant promised not to call the police if the guy admitted he was the father and paid child support. It was a Freshman guy, so he was only eighteen. I guess his parents are going to help him so he doesn’t have to drop out of school.”

“Which beats a couple of years in prison,” I replied, “though Melody once told me they were more likely to go for something like contributing to the delinquency of a minor than statutory rape when there’s only a few years different in age. Nobody is pressuring her to marry, are they?”

“No. Debby said her dad doesn’t like the guy, so I can’t imagine him doing that.”

I chuckled, “Somehow I think getting an underage daughter pregnant is pretty high on the list of things to cause a father to not like a guy.”

“My dad won’t complain!”

“First of all, we’re married! Second of all, you aren’t underage! And, more importantly, we’re waiting until you graduate before we have kids!”

“Details, details,” Elizaveta giggled, getting out of the shower.

I handed her a towel, she dried off, and we went to the bedroom together to dress. Five minutes later, we were in the kitchen where I read the newspaper and drank coffee while Elizaveta made our breakfast.

“When do you think we’ll have to run inside?” she asked as she stirred the scrambled eggs.

“I’d say another week or two,” I replied. “The five-day forecast looks good, but for sure by November 1st we’ll need to be inside.”

“Anything interesting in the paper?”

“It appears that President Reagan ordered the Navy to intercept the plane carrying the hijackers from the Achille Lauro.”

“Good! I can’t believe Egypt was just going to let them go after they murdered that poor man who was in a wheelchair!”

“Well, there’s some kind of diplomatic crisis now, though the paper isn’t clear on what happened, it looks like the US and Italy both scrambled fighter jets and there’s some question about the location of the terrorist Abu Abbas after an incident in Rome.”

“That’s just terrible! How can anyone support terrorists.”

“You might ask George Washington or the Sons of Liberty,” I chuckled.

“What?!” Elizaveta gasped in outrage.

“The British referred to them as traitors, terrorists, insurrectionists, and a host of other things. But when you win, you’re revolutionary freedom fighters!”

“Come on, Mike, you can’t believe that! You know what the terrorists do in the Middle East!”

“You mean like the Irgun? Menachem Begin?”

“What are you talking about?”

“According to Mr. Black, our current events teacher, it was an anti-British, anti-Arab Zionist organization that conducted terror attacks such as bombing the King David Hotel, with a goal of driving the British out of the Middle East and forming the state of Israel. Begin later became Prime Minister of Israel.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. They also raided British military bases and even massacred the inhabitants of a small village that was pacifist.”

“Wow,” she said, shaking her head, and bringing the eggs and sausage to the table.

I poured orange juice for both of us, gave the blessing, and we began eating. We didn’t have a lot of extra time, so we ate quickly, cleaned up, and then I walked Elizaveta to her car where we shared a kiss before she got in and headed for the High School. I went back inside, picked up my physiology textbook, and began reviewing the material we’d cover in class later in the morning. I finished reading the chapter with just barely enough time to get to school and buy a cup of coffee before the lecture.

“Sleep in or ‘stress relief’?” Clarissa teased when I sat down next to her.

“Studying,” I replied.

“Anatomy?” she smirked.

“Today’s lesson.”

“So the thrill is gone?”

I chuckled, “Not a chance, but our morning routine is prayers, running, and breakfast. Right now, on weekdays, sex is an appetizer before dinner, though Thursday and Friday nights work, too. Check the calendar in the kitchen!”

Clarissa laughed, “You took Doctor Mercer’s advice literally?”

“You do know who you’re talking to, right?” Fran, who was sitting to my left, smirked. “Check the little red dots Elizaveta uses to mark when her period is supposed to start!”

I was glad Sandy and Peter were sitting between Maryam and Fran, or Maryam might have objected to the entire line of conversation. Doctor Kenton walked to the podium to signal the start of the lecture, which put an end to the conversation. Four hours later, our study group gathered in a small lounge to eat lunch and begin our Thursday study session.

“Tomorrow we start on the thorax,” Fran said. “Let’s take out our dissection plates and atlases, and Peter can read out the procedures.”

Once everyone had their books open, Peter read the outline.

“The pectoral region includes the anterior and part of the lateral chest wall. The skin of the anterior chest wall will be reflected to reveal the underlying muscles that move the upper extremity. By fixing the upper extremities, some of these muscles also aid in respiration (e.g. pectoralis major and minor muscles). The principal muscles of the region are the pectoralis major muscle, pectoralis minor muscle, subclavius muscle, and serratus anterior muscle. As the dissection progresses, the blood supply, lymphatics, and innervation of this region will also be considered.“

It took two solid hours to review the entire lab, but that meant that Friday morning’s lecture would be, in effect, a review. Our methods seemed to be working very well, as we’d received ‘honors’ tags on more than half of our submitted reports, and very often our work was shown as an example, much as had happened for Fran and me at Taft. If things continued the way they were going, it was likely that all six of us would have ‘honors’ in anatomy.

Once we finished our preparation for anatomy, we quizzed each other on terms using my notecards, and just before 5:00pm, packed everything and left the building to head to our cars.

“See you at the diner in an hour?” Clarissa asked.

“We’ll be there!” I agreed.

About an hour later, Elizaveta and I joined Clarissa, Abby, Jocelyn, Gene, Lara, and Jack for dinner.

“How’s married life, Jocelyn?” Clarissa asked.

“Not much different from single life, other than my parents not being able to bitch about me sleeping with Gene!”

“Did they finally come around to reality?” Lara asked.

“My dad is totally on board and happy,” Jocelyn replied. “Mom is still being a bitch, but at least she only complains to my dad. How are things with your parents, Mike?”

“They have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with a mediator and their lawyers to go over the division of assets,” I replied. “Dad has an offer on the house, and if that goes through, I doubt there will be any hangups.”

“I almost hate to ask, but where is he living?”

“With Holly. He invited her to the concert next month.”

“They’re going public?!” she gasped.

“So it would seem,” I replied.

“He’s thirty years older than she is, right?”

“He’s forty-eight and she’s eighteen, so your math is still good enough to add up the bills you’ll send to your clients!”

“As if any of you doctors are going to work for free!” she retorted.

“Not a chance!” Clarissa declared, causing everyone to laugh.

“That’s a pretty significant age difference,” Lara said. “Can you imagine a step-mom YOUNGER than you?”

I shook my head, “Not until you just said it. I’m not even sure what to make of that idea.”

“That would be supremely weird,” Elizaveta declared.

“Says the girl who is only sixteen!” Abby retorted.

“But Mike is only six years older than I am!” Elizaveta protested. “And he sure as heck isn’t older than my dad! That’s just gross!”

“I have to agree on that one,” Lara said. “I’m only about a year older than Elizaveta, and dating someone my dad’s age would be ... well, gross, I guess.”

“Stuff like that happened a lot in history,” Clarissa said. “Widowers marrying teenagers or women in their early twenties.”

“Life expectancies were shorter,” Abby interjected. “And a significant percentage of women died in childbirth.”

“Think about trying to raise a large farm family as a single dad in the 19th century,” Jack offered. “Things were WAY different from now.”

“I don’t think I’d want to be a single dad now,” I replied. “And I’ve seen how tough it is for single moms.”

“Speaking of that,” Jocelyn said, “I heard April married.”

“A guy from Goshen,” I replied. “I’m happy for her. And Paula is married as well, and seems happy.”

“That was the girl from the Quick Mart, right?” Jocelyn asked.

“Miss ‘Instant family; just add ring’,” I replied.

“She wanted to marry you?” Elizaveta asked.

“She was certainly interested in me,” I replied. “But there was no way I could consider something like that. Jocelyn, did you hear from Tasha about her little sister?”

“Talk about a shock!” Jocelyn replied. “Has anything changed?”

“I talked to Tasha last night at Vespers,” Elizaveta said. “Yaroslav is living in the new house and Sasha is still at her parents’ house.”

“That has to be ugly. At least your mom and your sister have reconciled and put an end to THAT ugly situation. I guess your dad isn’t interested in reconciling with Liz.”

“No, he’s not,” I confirmed. “Switching topics, how is school for all of you?”

“Counting the days to graduation!” Jocelyn replied. “I have all my applications in, so it’s just a matter of going through the interview process and being accepted. Gene already spoke with OSU, and transferring is just a matter of signing the forms.”

“Sophomore year is shaping up to be mostly like Freshman year,” Lara said. “Well, minus the food poisoning!”

Everyone laughed.

The waitress brought our food which interrupted the conversation. When she’d served all of us, I gave the blessing, and we all dug in.

“We’re all good with seeing Commando?” Jack asked.

“Surprisingly, the girls like action movies!” Gene replied. “We’re in.”

“Us, too,” I replied, having confirmed with Elizaveta earlier.

“And us,” Abby confirmed.

We finished our meal then walked to the theater for the movie. Ninety minutes later, having seen more ammunition and explosives expended than the entire military operation in Grenada to rescue the medical students, we left the theater. Elizaveta and I said good night to our friends, and walked back to where our car was parked.

“That was a fun movie,” she said as I pulled out of the parking spot.

“With some great lines by Arnie,” I replied. “I especially liked the ones about ‘Girl George’ saving everyone confusion and the ones about Sully - ‘I lied’ and ‘I let him go’.”

“But you know what wasn’t said in the movie?”

“What?”

“Drive faster!”

October 12, 1985, McKinley, Ohio

“Again?” I asked with an exaggerated sigh.

“If you’re complaining about fucking, husband, you’re going to regret it!”

“Who? Me? Complain? Why never, Kitten!”

“Don’t you ‘Kitten’ me, Mister!”

“Fine,” I sighed with feigned resignation, “I’ll play with your pussy...”

Elizaveta smacked me hard on the arm, but that didn’t deter me from moving between her legs to orally pleasure her and then fuck her silly before we finally got out of bed to shower and then have breakfast. We made it to Taft for Elizaveta’s piano lessons and my band practice with only a few seconds to spare.

“Last night’s extra practice was well worth it,” Kim said. “Mike, is there ANY chance we can make up next Saturday’s practice?”

“Not that I can work into my schedule,” I said. “The trip to Boston is already forcing me to miss a pair of study sessions.”

“What time does your class end on Thursday?” she asked.

“Noon, but then we have study group until 5:00pm.”

“Could you manage a dress rehearsal the Thursday evening before the concert? I want to get Robby and Lee to join us in the auditorium.”

“I’ll talk to Elizaveta, but I think we can make that work.”

“OK. Then let’s run through the first set. Everyone ready for I Write the Songs?”

Sticks, José, and I all acknowledged and Kim led off with the intro. We had the song down pretty well, so we moved on to While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Listen to the Music, working our way through to Piano Man. To me, we sounded pretty good for a ‘cover band’, and Milena, who was there along with Dona, nodded her approval. We took a break, then ran through the second set, skipping our ‘individual’ songs, and finishing with our planned encores of It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me and Thank You For the Music.

“OK. Let’s do our individual signature songs next. Mike, we can skip your balalaika number because that’s a complete solo. Just lead off with Born to Run, then we’ll do In the Air Tonight for Sticks, You Are So Beautiful for José, and then Great Balls of Fire for me. We’ll finish with Blue is the Color for José”

“Sounds good,” I replied.

Twenty minutes later, we were done, and Milena encouraged us by saying we were sounding really good and she was confident we’d be ready for our first concert on November 8th.

“Would you mind if I brought my students to your dress rehearsal?” she asked. “It would be about a hundred students, total, and would give me a chance to teach from the concert the following week.”

“I don’t see why not,” José said. “I think that would help Robby and Lee understand if we have the pace of the concert right.”

“I agree,” Sticks said.

“I’m down with it,” Kim agreed.

“Same here,” I added.

We all gathered our things and I walked with Milena down the hall to the room where Elizaveta was practicing with Doctor Blahnik.

“Mike!” she exclaimed. “Come sing with your wife!”

“Good morning to you, too,” I grinned.

Anicka laughed, “Just come sing!”

“Yes, Mom!” I replied.

“Now THAT is just evil!” she declared.

“What?” I asked with a smirk. “I’m YOUNGER than Milena!”

“And for some reason when YOU say it, it makes me feel old!”

I suppressed a chuckle because I knew exactly why she felt that way, given the teasing and flirting she’d done before I married. A brief thought of a Jacuzzi and a glass of wine flitted through my mind, but I swatted it away and walked over to the piano so I could sing Up Where We Belong with Elizaveta. We ran through the song twice, and then, as Joel had arrived to meet Milena, we sang Endless Love as a quartet, or rather, a pair of duos, with Joel and I singing to Milena and Elizaveta and the two of them singing back to us, with Milena playing the piano.

“That was excellent,” Anicka said when we finished. “Where are you going to fit those into the concert?”

“Kim suggested that the quartet sing at the end of the first set, and then Elizaveta and I sing as the first encore.”

“That will work nicely, I think,” Anicka agreed. “Will you join us for lunch?”

“I wish we could,” I replied. “But we have a meal with my in-laws every Saturday at noon and they’re expecting us.”

“When would you be free?”

“Kitten?” I inquired, looking at my wife.

“Next Thursday would be OK.”

“Will that work for you, Milena?” Anicka asked her daughter.

“Yes, of course.”

“Then next Thursday it is!” Anicka declared.

Elizaveta gathered her things and she and I left to head home. We had just enough time to put away our things before we needed to walk to the main house for dinner. We were just about to leave when the phone rang. Elizaveta answered it, and called me to the phone.

“Hi, Mike, it’s Dad.”

“Hi, Dad. How are you?”

“OK. Everything OK with you?”

“Yes.”

“There are a few things at the house which I’m not sure what to do with and I’d like you to decide. If you don’t think you, your sister, or your mom want them, I’ll dispose of them.”

“Time is really tight,” I replied. “It would have to be after Vespers tonight or not for two weeks because of our trip to Boston for Geno’s wedding.”

“Tonight is fine. I can meet you at the house. What time?”

“Let’s say 8:30pm so we don’t have to rush out of church.”

“I’ll see you then, Mike.”

We said ‘goodbye’ and I hung up, explained to Elizaveta what we needed to do, then we joined her family for our Saturday meal. I enjoyed the time with my in-laws, but it, like everything else, stole time from Elizaveta and me. There were just too many demands and not enough time, but there really wasn’t anything left to cut except band practice, and that was basically the one thing I did outside of school and church, and Elizaveta had her piano lessons at the same time. That meant even giving up band practice wouldn’t help unless Elizaveta also gave up her piano lessons.

“We really are in a serious time crunch,” I said when Elizaveta and I returned to the cottage after dinner.

“Are you worried about time for me?” she asked as she started the coffee pot and tea kettle to have them ready for the study group.