Chapter 25

A set of grandparents more unusual than Kris’ would be hard to find.

After the Great Patriotic War, Comrade Kucherenko, undeterred by the travesty that was Stalin, continued to support and even honor the cause. His son, a Young Communist, met and married a beautiful Odessa University student ... a native Ukrainian. Not what daddy wanted. But, as things go, a grand daughter was born ... and not out of time.

Grandmother (babushka) and grandfather (dedushka) Kucherenko had been hard-line communists. They were responsible for Consul General Kucherenko’s position before the CCCP disolution and abandonment of outlying states. It was possible to see the stern resolution in Grandfather ... he was not happy with the way life had turned out. He fervently wished ... indeed ... prayed ... as much as a communist could ... for the return of Marxist rule.

Grandma (ba-bu’-sya) and Grandpa (di’-du-s) Hordiyenko were aristocrats of the old style. That they had existed through the purges and takeover was the stuff of legend. After the failure of the CCCP, their influence had kept their son-in-law in his position as Consul General.

The only thing they held in common was their love for their sole surviving grandchild. We had been grilled by daddy ... the inquisition the grandparents put us through ... oh my. Daddy was a lamb ... we were sitting with the hungriest of lions.

The questioning began with, “How do you afford such a boat?”

“Insurance payoff,” I said.

“Mind your manners, young lady, I was talking to your elder.”

“Who? Cynthia?”

“Your brother.”

“Ah ... the middle child, poor boy.”

“Middle child? But he is so much bigger. How can he be younger?”

“In case you hadn’t noticed ... we’re triplets,” Cyn said. Cyn was midterm pregnant ... beginning a belly but still able to sleep at night. Cyn looks more content than she did when hormones took over. She still looks like mom ... but relaxed. I imagine that will change the closer to term she gets.

In a change of tactics, he switched from we three as persons to our parentage. “Flintkote? What kind of a name is that?”

I stuck my finger in his nose and used leverage to lift him off the settee, “You can work us over to your black hearts content,” I snarled, “But you keep daddy out of this. Daddy was an honorable man. Not that you would know the term.” Then I set him back on his cushion and made a feeble attempt at smoothing his feathers.

That got applause from ba-bu’-sya and di’-du-s Hordiyenko. I could see the switch from against us to for me, at least. Ba-bu’-sya approved ... I had withstood the tyrant. I hauled out the big guns. Permission and power of attorney ... in hand written letters on Official Letterheads. Daddy wasn’t taking any chances. The Ukraine was no longer a puppet state ruled from Moscow. The Ukraine were a free people and they weren’t taking any shit.

We might be backwoods but we were Educated backwoods. When we lose our diction you better watch out ... when I stuck my finger in Kucherenko’s nose my speech shifted ‘suthern’ and I was ready to prove it. We are trained.

There wasn’t a great deal of conversation after the nose incdent. Comrade Kucherenko had his feelings ruffled ... and a bloody nose. I might not be a girly girl but my nails are sharp.

Unable to continue with us ... we fight back ... Dedushka shifted to Krys.

“So, Kotik. What do you do on this boat?”

“Well, I navigate.”

“You mean you steer?”

“No ... the triplets have been teaching me spherical trigonometry, the use of sextants...”

He turned a quizzical eye on us.

I spoke... “Her first attempt located us in Volgograd ... could have been worse. She learned the importance of decimal precision. She’s more precise now.”

“I’ve been learning geography.”

“How?”

“Charts, pictures, movies ... you should see the places they’ve been,” Krys said, “And hear the stories.”

Stories got a raised eyebrow.

“True stories,” I said. “Not history ... what really happened.”

“How do you know?”

“Ask enough people who were there and one gets an accurate feel of the facts. Books lie ... you should know ... you put your neighbors before the squads ... and you knew they were innocent.”

“The needs of the Party,” he said.

This time it was Krys’s eyebrows that raised.

An advantage of being a watch holder is counterclockwise winding. You want to know what your friends REALLY think of you? Try invisibility.