Chapter 5: You Say You Want a Revolution

February 23, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"We'll talk about it next weekend," I said.

"Not now?" Jessica asked. "Are you sure that you're OK?"

"Yes and no. It really was the only thing that could happen with Bethany. I suggested this would happen about a month ago."

"So you were prepared?" Kara asked.

"As much as I could be," I sighed. "I think everyone pretty much expected this to happen. But that doesn't make it any easier."

"Where will she go?" Kara asked.

"I'm hoping she'll move in with Kathy and Kurt, if they'll have her. That was what she said she was going to try to do when I left to come see you two."

"That would be best," Kara said.

"You guys are coming to Indy next weekend, right?" Jessica asked. "I'm on call."

"Absolutely," I confirmed. "Don't forget we have dinner here tonight with the Blocks and Dolans. They're with Jennifer, Josie, and Jesse right now."

"What about your parents?" Jessica asked.

"My dad said that he would come up once things settle down. I don't know what my mom will do."

February 26, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"Glasnost and Perestroika?" I asked Tatyana.

"I think openness and restructuring are the correct translations," she answered. "I have heard some things from Father that indicate that Comrade Gorbachev is open to significant changes and after he used those words at the Communist Party Congress, I would say it seems to be true."

"Well, if he means what he says, then perhaps things will begin to change. It wouldn't take big changes to improve things between the US and the USSR. Trade and cultural exchange can make a huge difference."

"You and I have shown how cultural exchange can work!" Tanya giggled.

"Tatyana Ivanovna, you are «некультурный»!" I teased.

"I was simply talking about being friends, Stephen Rayevich! I do not know what you are talking about!"

She only managed to keep herself from giggling for a few seconds.

"I love you very much, Tanya," I said," and I'm glad you can tease just a bit!"

"I hear that Lyudmila is going to visit Stanford and must change planes in Chicago. Are you going to see her?"

"Katya Sergeyevna called the other night to ask if it was OK for Lyudmila Alekseyevna to stay one night to visit Chicago. I agreed it was fine, but I think I'll hire a bodyguard while Lyudmila is here!"

Tanya laughed, "She is wild, but I do not think she is that wild!"

"If Comrade Gorbachev is telling the truth and carries through, perhaps Lyudmila can be a computer tycoon in Russia in the future!"

"A tycoon, Stepa? Really?" she asked with mirth.

"A decadent capitalist businesswoman!"

Tanya laughed, "That is her dream! She wishes to have a decadent house and decadent car just as you have!"

"And a decadent capitalist boyfriend just as you had!" I teased.

"Yes, of course! She would have had you, if you had been willing. But, let us forget her. How is your baby?"

"Jesse is doing well. As I expected, Jennifer and Josie are monopolizing him, but I do spend some time with him each day. He'll have his first checkup next week, but he's eating and sleeping and has a good set of lungs."

"Good set of lungs?" Tanya wondered.

"He cries quite loudly when he needs to eat, or have his diaper changed, or if he wants one of his moms."

"You do have very strange relationships, Stephen Rayevich!" she laughed. "Did Katya Sergeyevna tell you she arranged for me to go with a Red Army colonel to a reception in Moscow in June?"

"No. Is this a date?"

"I think, yes. His name is Dmitry Sergeyevich Grigoryev, and he is a lieutenant Colonel in the 1st Guards Tank Army. He is 32, so a bit older than we are. He has never married."

"Good luck!" I said.

"Luck? It is not luck, Stephen Rayevich! I have met him once, in Moscow six years ago. He and Colonel Anisimova became friends when he was a young man. She thinks he is the man I am looking for, as you are no longer available. We shall see."

"We talked about something very much like that — that you should probably marry a Red Army officer. I hope to receive an invitation to the wedding!"

She laughed, "Soviet weddings are not like American weddings, Stepa!"

"No, but your father will throw a very nice party, I'm sure."

"Yes, of course. And we will invite you, if it happens! Do not assume anything!"

We talked for another few minutes about school and work, and then said our goodbyes and hung up. I went back to the great room where we had been watching news reports about President Ferdinand Marcos fleeing the Philippines for exile in Hawaiߴi.

"Good riddance!" George pronounced. "He was such a crook! I can't believe it took this long to get rid of him!"

"I wouldn't complain too much," Elyse said. "It was peaceful."

"Unless your name was Benigno Aquino," George sighed.

"Well, yeah," Elyse agreed. "But I guess his widow is the new president."

"Hopefully Corazon Aquino can begin to clean up the mess!" George said. "I'm glad Marcos is gone; it should be more peaceful when I go home for good in May. I was afraid of how things were going, but it turned out well."

Between the events in the Philippines and the speech by Gorbachev, it seemed as if the year was shaping up to be a watershed. I hoped the trend continued.

February 27, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"So you're going to move in with Kathy and Kurt?" I asked.

"Yes," Bethany said. "You were right about me not being alone. I'll stay with them at least until the end of the year. They aren't planning on having a baby soon, so their 2nd bedroom is free."

"And you promise to come visit?"

"Yes, I'll come when Kathy and Kurt come, but I need time away from here. Away from you."

I sighed, "I know. And that sucks. You know I hate this with every fibre of my being."

"Me too, but what else can we do?"

I shook my head and took Bethany in my arms. We hugged tightly, then parted without even a kiss. It was depressing, but I knew that there was no other way. Maybe, at some point in the future we could rekindle our friendship, but for now, I wondered if it was even wise for her to visit with Kathy and Kurt. I suspected that at some point, she'd stop coming around and just stay away. I hated that idea, but if it was what was best for her, then I had to accept it. I didn't have to like it, but I had to accept it.

I did get some good news that evening — Stephie called and said that she'd finished her chemo. She was feeling like crap, but she said the doctors were hopeful.

"Which means what?" I asked.

"They'll keep monitoring me but as of right now, they think I'm cancer-free," she sighed. "It could come back, but they think they caught it in time. I guess Red 'n me will adopt once I graduate and get a job. And we'll see you for Talladega."

"That's good, Peaches. I'm looking forward to going to races with you for a long time to come."

February 28, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"Steve!" Kara shouted from the great room.

Now what? I wondered. The last time she'd called for me had been about the Challenger accident. I was doing dishes with Sofia, so I turned off the water and dried my hands, and then went to the great room.

"To repeat, CNN has learned from Swedish Radio that Prime Minister Olof Palme has been assassinated. There are no further details at this time, but Ingvar Carlsson has been sworn in as the new prime minister. Olof Palme, dead at 59."

"What the fuck?" I said, then shouted, "Sofia!"

She came into the room just as CNN put up a picture of Palme, with the '1927–1986' underneath it, then went to commercial.

"What? He died? He wasn't old!" Sofia said.

"Assassinated, according to Swedish Radio."

"No! That doesn't happen in Sweden!" she wailed. "The last one was around 1800 when Gustav III was murdered! It's about 1:30am in Sweden. I need to call my dad! He's asleep, I'm sure, but I need to call!"

She ran to the kitchen and dialed her house in Sweden. I followed her and listened. It took quite a few rings before the phone was answered and she quickly told her dad the news. They spoke only for a minute before she hung up.

"He didn't know, given the hour. Usually the TV isn't broadcasting now. I wonder how quickly they can get a news program on the air?"

"No idea," I said. "Stations here used to sign off overnight, but I haven't seen that happen since before I went to Sweden. Pretty much all of our stations are 24-hours now."

"I still don't believe it," Sofia said. "It's crazy! Who would want to kill him?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea," I said. "I only followed Swedish politics a little bit when I was there, so I don't know much. And I can't imagine why any foreigner would do it. All we can do is wait for the investigation. The Swedish police are pretty good, by all reports, and I can't imagine anyone limiting the resources that are going to be dedicated to solving it."

"I guess," she sighed. "We'll just have to wait to see."

The last year or so had been crazy — hijackings, murders, assassinations, plane crashes, terrorist incidents, and Challenger. When I added in all the personal trauma — Don Joseph's death, Bethany's failed engagement, the apparent loss of my deep friendship with her, the cheating scandal at IIT, and the end of my relationships with Tanya, Sofia, and Karin — it had been a hell of a year.

February 28, 1986, Indianapolis, Indiana

"Sorry we were later than usual. We were just finishing up the dishes when the news report about the assassination of Olof Palme came on," I said as I hugged Jess.

"Who?" she asked.

"The Prime Minister of Sweden. It's pretty shocking really; there hadn't been a political assassination of a leader since 1792 when King Gustav III was murdered at a masquerade ball."

I'd looked that up in a book I had purchased on Swedish history. That book had confirmed what Sofia had said about political assassinations in Sweden, though there had been a murder of a military leader a few years later.

"I don't follow Swedish politics, so that's why I didn't know who he was. I guess that's a big deal in Sweden."

"Yes, and in Europe in general, I suspect. The Swedes are neutral and pacifist. This will send quite a few shockwaves."

"I suppose it might. More importantly — is Bethany moving out?"

I sighed, "Yes. Tomorrow. She's moving in with Kurt and Kathy which is a good thing. But it sucks that such an important relationship fell apart so badly."

"I have some tea made. Let's sit and talk."

Jessica poured tea for the three of us and we went to sit on the couch. I slouched down and sipped my tea.

"OK, Tiger. It's time to talk."

"I'm depressed," I sighed. "I lost my best friend because the two of us failed each other. And now she thinks we can't even be friends or see each other. She promised she'd come by, but I don't think she will, at least not any time soon. And that sucks. I feel lost, I guess. But I have the two of you, which helps a lot."

"What can we do for you?" Jessica asked.

I smiled, "Just love me. There really isn't anything else. Nobody can fix this or put it back together. I just need to deal with it and move on."

"But that's not easy for you," Kara said.

"No, it's not," I sighed.

"Jess, Steve's friend Lyudmila is coming to town in a couple of weeks. Maybe she can cheer him up!"

Jessica laughed, "A permission slip?"

I shook my head, "No. Lyusya's offer was also contingent on me being her boyfriend. And while it's possible she might be «некультурный» enough to sleep with a married man, it wouldn't be a good idea. More importantly, sex isn't the answer to this problem."

"So what's your solution?" Jessica asked.

"To get on with life. What other choice do I have? I could get all dramatic about it or mope around saying 'woe is me' but I've tried that in the past and it never worked. I have you and Kara, and that's the most important thing right now. I did get some good news this week, though. Stephie is done with her chemo and they think she's cancer-free."

"It sounds like they didn't find any cancerous cells outside of her ovaries," Jessica said. "That's a good sign. Are you planning to go to the NASCAR race again?"

"Absolutely! Kara's going, are you?"

"And hang out with all those hillbillies?" she laughed.

"Says the redneck Jessie Lee from Texas!" I teased.

"Speaking of Jesse, how's your son?" Jessica asked.

"Great! I spend time with him every day. I'm going to kidnap him for a field trip at some point!"

"Field trip?"

"Well, I'd love to take him to a hockey game, but I think the Chicago Stadium is a bit loud for a baby!" I chuckled. "Just a walk around Washington Park as soon as it's warm enough to take him on a long walk. We have a combination buggy/stroller that I can use. He can't sit up, obviously, but I want to set a pattern of spending some quality time with him each day outside the house."

"I like it," Jessica said. "But with six or seven kids that's going to be a tall order!"

"Yes, but with those other kids, there won't be a competing parent, so to speak."

"Ah, you're concerned about Josie freezing you out?"

"Yes and no. But they are a couple and they do want time together with their son, if you get my drift. I just need to make sure I don't get edged too far out."

"That makes sense," Kara said. "They do seem to want to be a family unit. Is this going to cause conflicts?"

"I don't think so, really. Jennifer would never cut me out completely. And remember what we discussed — I did agree to help them have a baby. It's different from Elyse who wants to have my kids."

"That's an interesting nuance," Jessica said. "But I can see their point, given how society would view their family."

"Or ours, for that matter," I said.

"True. But you know what? They can all mind their own business!"

"On that issue, we agree fully!"

March 3rd, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

Cindi was sitting in the office, by the phone, willing it to ring. We were all on hair-trigger waiting to see if we'd get the contract with Waukesha, and if we did, what terms they would impose. We'd been required to submit both a fixed-time, fixed-cost estimate, as well as one based purely on hourly rates. We'd actually make more money on the hourly rates because we were assuming some of the risk due to having to hire someone, but we all agreed that the upside was well worth the risk.

Elyse had already arranged for the professional liability insurance, as well as the bond that Waukesha County required. We'd execute those if the contract was awarded. Julia also had a stack of resumes, as we'd need another full-time person. We'd discussed the possibility of hiring someone in Wisconsin, but that didn't make sense because at some point, the contract with Waukesha would end and it wasn't clear that we'd have other clients in the Milwaukee area.

"While we're waiting," Cindi said. "Can we talk about marketing our software in Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St. Louis?"

"What's to talk about?" Julia said. "Do it!"

"I'm just worried about supporting them long-distance," Cindi said.

"We can do most of the support over the phone," Julia said. "Don't you think?"