Chapter 12: Truth and Consequences

June 15, 1981, West Monroe, Ohio

"Negative," Liz whispered happily when I came home from work on Monday.

"Thank God," I said.

We both had been on pins and needles since the previous Monday, and the news had come as a relief. Jocelyn and Dale had noticed I was on edge on Saturday night, and I'd pulled them aside briefly to tell them what had happened. They were both in agreement that I had no choice but to report the guy. Jocelyn offered to emasculate him with a rusty spoon, which had me laughing and Dale cringing.

I'd had a long talk with Dale about everything on Sunday while we were playing pool and chess, and he offered any help he could give. He also thanked me again, as things with Stacey had progressed to a point where he was sure he'd get laid before he left for Madison. I wondered if that were the case, as it sounded as if Stacey was unsure, and that meant she might change her mind. But either way, Dale was happy, which made me happy.

"What are you going to do now, Mikey?" Liz asked.

"Do you remember Phil Kessel?"

"Sure. The baseball star who became a Deputy Sheriff when he graduated."

"I talked to him today," I said. "I called and asked him to stop by the hardware store. I explained what happened and asked what I should do. He told me how the investigation would work. Basically, I gave him a picture of you and your list. He went to the motel and verified the dates matched the guy's name, and the desk clerk recognized your picture. I got Phil to promise not to arrest the guy until tomorrow so I could talk to Mom tonight."

"Holy shit, Mikey!" Liz gasped.

"What? All I did was call Phil. He knew what to do. He was ready to arrest Mr. Paul Reynolds today, but he'll do it in the morning. It was straightforward because your ex-boyfriend registered under his own name. And the desk clerk identified you."

"So what happens now?"

"Phil will arrest the guy. They'll question him and then file charges. I don't know for sure how it works, but they may need to get an indictment from a grand jury because it's a felony. Phil wasn't sure because they could also do something called an 'evidentiary hearing'. He'll turn everything over to the County Prosecutor tomorrow afternoon. You'll have to testify unless he pleads guilty."

"No!" Liz gasped, and tears ran down her face.

"I think he'll make a deal, Liz. They have him dead to rights. They'll send a female deputy to talk to you and take your statement tomorrow. I already arranged to stay home."

"What about Mom and Dad?"

"That's the tricky part, I'll admit. I need to talk to Mom without Dad around. I'll do that after dinner."

"What about Dad?"

"I want Mom to tell him. She'll be able to keep him under control. I had Dale take my rifle home with him yesterday."

"Whoa! You weren't kidding when you said Dad might shoot him."

"I thought about shooting him! Can you hold it together during dinner?"

"I think so. What should I do after dinner?"

"Help me with dishes just like always. Jocelyn and Emmy are coming over at 7:00pm."

"Why?"

"Strength in numbers. Your friend and my friend. Emmy will stay with you, and Jocelyn will be with me when I tell Mom."

"I hope you know what you're doing."

"I hope so, too," I sighed. "But I talked to Dale and Jocelyn on Saturday, Emmy on Friday, and then Phil today. I'm doing what Phil said."

"I don't know, Mikey."

"Liz, come here."

She came over to where I was standing. I held out my arms, and she melted into them. I held her tightly and comforted her.

"It's going to be OK," I said, stroking her hair.

"You promise?"

"I promise. I suspect I'll get more grief than you do."

"You? Why?"

"For not coming to Mom and Dad right away. But I'll deal with it."

"How much trouble did you get in with Father Herman? You didn't talk to me after you went to confession on Saturday."

"Not much. He said something along the lines of how easy it is to fall and asked if I was seeing her again. I told him, truthfully, that I wasn't going to. He strongly suggested that I continue seeing Tasha under supervised conditions to help me stay on the right path."

"What did you actually do with Carol?" Liz asked.

"Got my first hand job," I said.

Liz giggled, "Four years late!"

"Do NOT say something like that to Mom, Lizzy!"

"I won't."

"Do you know, a few weeks ago, I was annoyed when I thought you might have had sex before I did?"

"You suspected?"

"It was when you were teasing me about my non-existent sex life."

I heard Mom call us for dinner, and we went down to eat. Liz was fine during dinner, but she kept looking at me. I wondered if Mom or Dad had noticed, but nothing was said. Liz and I did the dishes, and then I went to my room to wait for Jocelyn and Emmy. I was skipping karate again, and Sensei Adam would be unhappy, but that was too bad. Liz was more important. I read until the girls arrived. Emmy went up to Liz's room, and I asked Mom to come out to the patio in the backyard with Jocelyn and me.

"If you two tell me you're engaged..." Mom laughed.

Jocelyn smirked, "Well, we did kind of get engaged last Wednesday over the phone!"

"What?!" Mom gasped.

"She's teasing!" I said quickly. "We're just trying to figure out how not to lose our friendship after the Summer."

"If it's meant to be, it'll happen," Mom said.

"Well, duh!" I said. "But we're really talking about staying friends, not about getting married. I mean, we talked about that in a kind of roundabout way, but the friendship is more important."

"True. What did you want to talk about?"

"Liz," I said.

"With Jocelyn at your side? Why do you need moral support, Mikhail Petrovich?"

I took a deep breath, "Because of what I know about Liz's boyfriend."

"Spit it out, Mister," Mom said sternly.

"Mom, come sit down at the table. Please."

"I'm not going to be happy, am I?"

I shook my head, "No, you won't be. I'm certainly not."

The three of us sat down at the table on the patio, with Jocelyn moving her chair to sit close enough to me to take my hand.

"The short version is, I reported her boyfriend to Phil Kessel."

"Your friend, the Deputy Sheriff? Why?"

I took a deep breath, "Because Liz's boyfriend is twenty-four."

"Oh no! Oh my! My poor baby!"

"It's worse," I said.

"She's pregnant?" Mom asked, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"No, thank God," I said. "But he's married and has a six-month-old son."

"I'll cut his «яйца» (yaytsa) off!" she spat. "Your father, on the other hand, will shoot him." ("balls', as in testicles; Lit. eggs)

I didn't remember hearing that word, but it was pretty obvious it was about his gonads — either his testicles or his penis. Now was NOT the time to ask that question, though.

"I sent my rifle home with Dale yesterday," I said. "For exactly that reason."

"What is Phil going to do?"

"Arrest the «ублюдок» (ublyudok)! What else?"

"Uhm, Mike, you're talking in code again," Jocelyn prompted.

"I said 'bastard'. If I use the word I want to, Mom will wash my mouth out with soap again."

My mom actually laughed, "In THIS case, I think I could make an exception. But why didn't you tell us, Mike?"

"Liz didn't want me to tell at all when I found out. I talked to Jocelyn, Dale, and Emmy, then talked to Phil. All of them told me the same thing, which confirmed what I thought was the right thing to do. And that was why I had to tell. Once I did, Phil started an investigation. He'll arrest the guy first thing in the morning. He already has the most damning evidence."

"Which is?"

"Liz made a list of dates they went to the motel, and the desk clerk identified her photo. The guy's name is on the register at the hotel on those dates. Once they arrest him, a female deputy will come to talk to Liz and take her statement. Phil is going to accuse him of statutory rape and hold him until the County Prosecutor decides what all the charges ought to be."

"Your father is not going to be happy with you."

"Mom, I did what I thought was right for Liz. The «мудак» (mudak) is going to jail. ("asshole")

"Mike," Mom said, "I'll let you get away with that this one time. Do NOT use that word again! And how is it you seem to know all those words but can't carry on a basic conversation?"

"I can't answer that question," I replied.

"Your grandfather and I are going to have words."

"Mom, cut him some slack. He and his friends do use those words. I know I'm not supposed to, but in THIS case, it was warranted."

"Care to translate for the ignorant American?" Jocelyn asked.

"Uh, no," I said. "If I say THAT word out loud, you WILL get to witness an eighteen-year-old having his mouth washed out with soap."

My mom nodded, "Exactly. Your father is going to lose it, Mike."

"I know. That's why Jocelyn and I are here talking to YOU. She's partly cover, partly moral support. Dad won't be suspicious. But, sometime tomorrow, a Sheriff's Deputy will come here to talk to Liz, and by Wednesday morning, it's going to be in the paper. Liz's name won't be; I checked that with Phil before I gave him any details. I plan to stay home from work tomorrow. I already cleared that with Mr. Orlov."

"Did he coerce your sister? Force her into anything?"

I shook my head, "No. That's why Phil's charging him with statutory rape. Mom, Liz basically went after him. As far as I can tell, he never called her and never contacted her."

"Where did she meet him?"

"The pool."

"I KNEW I should have forbidden those bikinis, even the new ones!"

I shook my head, "It wouldn't have mattered. She was looking to do it, Mom. It wasn't a question of 'if' but 'when' and 'who'."

"Where did your father and I go wrong?" she sighed.

"You didn't," I said. "Liz made her own conscious decision. You know I've struggled with the issue for years. We've talked about it. You know what happened with April. Why is Liz any different from me? Because I couldn't find someone to do it with, and she could?"

I squeezed Jocelyn's hand. She and I would need to talk about this, but she knew most of it anyway.

"She was only fourteen, Mike," my mom sighed. "If she were even sixteen, I could at least understand even if I didn't like it."

"If she had been sixteen, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"That somehow makes her less in need of your protection?"

"You just said sixteen was different!"

"But a married man? Cheating on his wife? And who has a son?"

I took a deep breath and let it out, "At some point, each of us makes decisions we regret later. I've made a few which you know about. I can't be sure, but I have to think you and Dad both have as well."

"I have to do something about this, Mike. You know that."

I nodded, "I know. Will you allow defense counsel to speak on behalf of the accused?"

Mom shook her head, "No. Not this time, Mike. You already took matters too far into your own hands. Mind you, you did the right thing, but she's our daughter. You should have come to us and let us handle it."

I nodded, "Do I get to speak on my own behalf?"

Mom smiled, "You tried to do the right thing. You and I will have a nice long chat about trusting your parents to do the right thing. We're not evil ogres."

"I know. But Liz doesn't trust you."

"I don't get it," she sighed. "We treated her almost exactly the same as we treated you."

"And she's not me, is she? I mean, even besides being a girl."

"No. I guess I learned a lesson today. Just because a parenting method worked for one child, it doesn't mean it will work for all children. You kids remember that when you have your own."

"NOW, who's having us engaged?" I chuckled.

"Aren't you? You're sitting there, holding hands, with Jocelyn acting like the supportive wife. You didn't call Dale. Or Emmy. Or Tasha."

"Emmy's upstairs with Liz."

"You are a crafty one, Mike. I can't get too upset with you because my future daughter-in-law is acting as a shield. And I can't get too upset with Liz because Emmy is here."

"The relationship counselor who spoke at the assembly told us about having a friend support us when we had to have a difficult conversation. That's why Jocelyn is here. And it creates a 'cooling off' period so you don't act out of anger. Dad's going to need one, for sure. We learned about that in our psychology class Senior year. I do listen, you know!"

Mom nodded, "You always did. Sometimes it took a few times, but in the end, you did listen."

"As for Jocelyn being your future daughter-in-law, let's hold off on that determination, shall we? At least until Jocelyn and I sort things out?"

"I think I can wait. I'm not quite ready to have a married son!"

"And I'm not quite ready to marry! I just may do it before my Residency rather than after."

"You'll know when the time is right."

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked.

"That's the thing I like the most about you, Mike. You know when to ask for instructions and then follow them. You're going to make a wonderful Doctor."

"Thanks. So?"

"Take Jocelyn out and get some ice cream or something. Give me a couple of hours, I guess. How much does Emmy know?"

"Now? Everything."

"And before?"

I shrugged, "Whatever Liz told her."

"I'll let you off the hook on that," Mom said, making it clear she knew Emmy knew more than Liz had let on.

"Let Liz keep Emmy with her, please. She'd want me, but you're sending me away."

"I am. Because I need to get your father calmed down before you come back."

"And Liz?"

"I think I'll let Emmy take her for a walk. That's not quite within the usual grounding rules, but we are in strange times."

"OK. We'll get out of here. Two hours?"

"That should do it."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Your heart was in the right place, Mike. The most important thing. I'm not sure your dad will agree, but it's true."

I nodded, and then Jocelyn and I stood up and went into the house so I could get my keys. I stopped at Liz's door.

"She's relatively calm," I said. "She'll come talk to you. Just be honest, OK?"

"You can't stay?"

I shook my head, "I've been excused. Emmy can stay, though."

Liz sagged and said, "OK."

Jocelyn and I left the house just as my mom was coming in from the backyard. I didn't envy her. My dad loved us and usually kept on an even keel. But an adult man having sex with his young teenage daughter was going to put him on tilt like the pinball machines at the bowling alley when you shook them too hard. Jocelyn was quiet until we got into the car.

"What DID you say in Russian?" she asked.

"I called him an 'a-hole'. Mom has a REAL problem with swearing. And she was exaggerating. I can carry on a basic conversation in Russian. Well, kind of at a six-year-old level, I guess. My dad doesn't speak much Russian beyond a few standard greeting phrases, so we don't use it much at home. At church, when I was little, it was mostly Russian that was spoken, but now it's mostly English, and I more or less lost most of what I'd learned. And we never spoke Russian when we had guests, so you rarely hear me speak it."

"What's going to happen now?"

"Well, there's going to be a twenty-megaton nuclear explosion. My mom will try to pick up the pieces before I go home."

"Want to hide out at my house?"

"Are you inviting me to live with you, Jocelyn Mills?"

"Oh, sure! You can just move right into my bedroom. I'm sure my dad will be just as cool with THAT as yours is going to be when your mom tells him about your sister's married lover!"

"A reasonable point," I grinned. "Ice cream?"

"You don't have to ask twice. You know my weakness!"

"Rocky Road!" I grinned.

"And let me guess, a single scoop of chocolate on a sugar cone?"

"I am a creature of habit. You never did tell me what Julie said."

"Julie doesn't answer questions; she asks them. Good ones."

"So what was the good question?"

"She asked what made me decide to go to school anywhere except where you were going."

"Do I want to hear the answer to this question?"

I saw her shake her head out of the corner of my eye.

"No, you don't. I told her it was because I didn't even think about it. I'm really sorry, Mike."