Chapter 48: We'll get through it!

October 2, 1985, McKinley, Ohio

"That's just too funny!" Clarissa said when I told her about the toddler and the lollipop. "So why send the Fourth Year and not you?"

"Because getting the kid the lollipop is something I would have done, and I would have enjoyed doing it. Doctor Gibbs was making a point. The funniest thing was the Fourth Year rolling her eyes like a little kid would to their parent!"

"Have you seen her around campus?"

I shook my head, "Not either of them. One other thing happened — there was a trauma, and the radiology tech didn't respond to a page. I was sent to find him, and he was making out with a clerk or candy striper. I guess it's happened before, and he's going to be fired."

"Whoa!" Clarissa gasped. "That's just unbelievable!"

"No more than a surgeon coming to work drunk," I replied. "Doctor Gibbs told me about that, too. His Residents covered for him."

"I can't even imagine doing that!"

"Really? Your entire career depends on that person — if you complain and he's cleared for whatever reason, how will that work out for you? I can see why they did it, though I agree with you that I wouldn't ever do it. It would put the patient's life at risk, and I could never countenance anything like that. But I can see someone being so concerned about their job and career that they would do it."

"That's just SO wrong! Did you ask Sandy about the tech?"

"Yes, at last night's study group. She was carrying X-rays to other departments, which is why I didn't see her then. Actually, strangely, I haven't seen her at the hospital even once! Shall we head to class?"

We walked into the building and joined the rest of our study group in the anatomy classroom, followed by lab, lunch, and the steam room for Peter and me.

That evening at church, Vickie came up to me before Vespers and quietly asked me to let Father Nicholas know she wanted to speak with him. When I was alone with him, I let him know.

"Before Vespers?" he asked. "We don't have much time."

"After, Father. She indicated she needed to speak with you, not that she wanted confession."

"She didn't say why?"

"No."

"OK. Would you go out and let my wife know, please?"

I did as he asked and then returned to the altar to serve Vespers. When the service finished, Vickie went with Father and his wife to the church office. As I was leaving, Tasha asked to speak to me. I really only had limited time because I needed to get home for our study group, but I knew Yaroslav was supposed to have 'closed' on his new house.

"Sasha told me she's not going to move with Yaroslav," Tasha said quietly. "They're supposed to move on Saturday. I tried to convince her to talk to someone, but she won't."

"She hasn't told Yaroslav?"

"No. Do you think I should tell my parents?"

"Do you honestly think they could head it off? You know your dad! If you're going to tell anyone, it would have to be Father Herman. That's who I would go to, but only after speaking with Father Nicholas, which you can do in confession if you wish."

"It's all a terrible mess," Tasha sighed. "Do you know how long Father Nicholas will be?"

"I'd call him tomorrow; his meeting could take some time."

I said goodnight, and the two of us walked over to where Elizaveta and Nik were waiting. We said 'good night' to them, and then Elizaveta and I headed home so we could prepare for study group.

"What did Tasha have to say, if you can share."

"I can. She's convinced Sasha is going to separate from Yaroslav this weekend. I suggested she speak to Father Herman because I don't think Deacon Vasily and Matushka Alexandra would have much luck changing Sasha's mind; in fact, I think they'd only make her more determined. I'm not saying Father Herman will have any better luck, but he's the one I'd start with, if I were Tasha."

"I just can't believe Sasha is behaving this way!"

"It doesn't make sense to me, either, though I suspect there's far more to this than I know, and perhaps even Tasha knows. The whole thing with Timmy is more than a bit strange if she really wasn't interested in marrying him. And if she was, then why marry Yaroslav?"

"Maybe it was Timmy who didn't want to marry? Maybe it was church?"

"Who knows? Unless one of them tells us, we'll never know, and I'm not sure anything they might say would be totally believable. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!"

"Hamlet, right?"

"Yes. Spoken by Marcellus to Horatio. And in our modern usage, implies questions about motives."

"What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it'll be ugly. All we can do is support Tasha as best we can. We certainly don't want to be involved in any way beyond that, if we can avoid it."

"I agree. Can I ask you something that's been bugging me?"

"About?"

"Your dad. You had a real problem with Paul cheating on his wife with Liz but seem to be OK with your dad doing the same thing."

"I think it's just that I promised myself not to express my moral outrage. I don't consider what Paul did and what my dad is doing to be different. I'm sure my dad does because Liz was fourteen, but that's also partly because she's his daughter."

"Holly is a daughter, too!"

"Yes, and so are you! And Holly, from what I understand, was eighteen. And you and I have a marriage certificate. For us, that satisfies your father. I suspect Holly's dad wouldn't be any happier than my dad despite Holly being eighteen. BUT I guarantee you that my dad sees things differently. All of that said, at some point, I will talk to my dad about it, but for now, I just want him to talk to me. I'll worry about him and Holly when and if it's appropriate. It may be I leave that to Father Herman, if my dad will talk to him."

"I suppose that makes sense," Elizaveta replied.

"I'm curious," I said. "What do you think?"

"I guess I don't understand why he would do it any more than I understand why Sasha is behaving the way she is. Or why so many kids think going to college is a license to sin."

"I don't know that they go with that intention, but it's certainly the case that temptation is aided by opportunity. And college provides plenty of both. Suddenly, it's easy to obtain alcohol and drugs and relatively easy to find a sex partner. Our floor in Rickenbacker was mostly nerds, and nobody was lacking for companionship."

"'Companionship', uh-huh," she replied flatly.

"I felt it was more polite to put it that way. But when you see everyone around you, or seemingly so, doing those things, it's very different from what you see while living at home. At college, all of that can be more or less out in the open, and nobody will care. At home, especially while you're in High School, you have to be more circumspect."

"So being exposed to those things is what made you do it?"

I shook my head, "No. It just made it easier, though, well, there had been opportunities I'd missed in High School because I was clueless."

"You say that like it was a bad thing!"

I chuckled, "Both Dale and I thought it was! I'm just being honest with you, Kitten. Jocelyn used to complain all the time that all Dale and I thought about was sex, and she had a legitimate gripe. Of course, I know a certain sixteen-year-old female who seems to only think about sex!"

"Husband!" Elizaveta said menacingly. "That's different! I'm allowed!"

"Yes, you are!" I replied. "But telling me to drive faster won't help now because my study group will arrive about the same time we do."

"That's just mean!" she protested.

"You love me anyway."

"I do," she confirmed.

October 3, 1985, McKinley, Ohio

On Thursday afternoon, when I arrived home from our afternoon study group at school, Elizaveta greeted me and let me know that Father Nicholas had called. I changed clothes, then returned the call.

"The original reason for my call was Vickie, but about twenty minutes ago, I spoke with Tasha Antipova. She said she made you aware of the looming disaster at her parents' house."

"She did, and after discussing it with Matushka, we're going to do our utmost to provide whatever support Tasha needs, but we feel we have to stay out of what could be a very volatile situation. I will, of course, help my brother clergyman in any way I'm able, but given our history, I might not be the best person to do so."

"I'm going to assume that means he is aware of the details of your past relationship with Tasha."

"I don't know for sure, but I believe he elected to ignore what should have been obvious. And you and I have discussed what happened when Sasha announced her pregnancy, but there is one important detail — at that point, Tasha and I had not been intimate, and we could honestly tell Deacon Vasily that Tasha was virtuous, despite Sasha's accusations to the contrary."

"Which allowed him to continue his belief even when it no longer was true. I think I can see why you want to keep some distance between yourself and Deacon Vasily if this blows up."

"If?"

"I hold out hope that Father Herman and Matushka Anastasia can help Sasha. But that's not the main reason I called. I spoke at length with Vickie, and we'll meet with her parents on Saturday. She let me know it was OK to speak to you, and she also made it clear from everything she said that she was the source of your ethical dilemma. All things considered, I believe you made the correct decision."

"That's good to hear; thank you. I take it she's going to keep the baby?"

"Yes. May I ask you how the doctor presented the 'alternative'?"

"Carefully, I think, is the right way to say it. Vickie asked me what to do, and with permission from Doctor Gibbs, I strongly suggested she speak to you, then her parents, and then see her gynecologist. Doctor Gibbs pointed out that there were options but didn't push. She simply advised Vickie that she needed to see a doctor and that the clinic wouldn't tell her parents and could provide 'low-cost procedures'. Vickie recoiled at the idea of an abortion. That's when Doctor Gibbs made the only comment you could take as pushing for an abortion by saying that given Vickie's age, it might be the best option."

"I know we've spoken about the issue, but what would you do?"

"The policy is to hand out the brochure, but there are no requirements to suggest one option or the other. I'd simply say that the clinic could provide prenatal services at low or no cost, which they do. There really is no way to avoid mentioning it. My advice would always be to discuss the situation with the baby's father and a spiritual advisor and to see a gynecologist, preferably the one the woman has been seeing."

"A tightrope to walk."

"Yes. Fortunately, there aren't too many cases like that in the ER, according to Doctor Gibbs. I'm pretty sure I know why Vickie went to the ER."

"Yes, and that's potentially going to lead to an even more uncomfortable conversation than when I've had to deal with this kind of situation in the past."

"What do you need me to do?"

"At the moment, nothing. Please encourage Matushka Elizaveta to continue seeing Debby. And good luck with your dinner with your dad tonight."

"Thanks, Father. We'll be leaving in about twenty minutes. We obviously won't be able to stop by for Vespers at Taft."

"You're always welcome, but never expected. I'll see you on Saturday."

"Thanks. Father."

We said 'goodbye', and I hung up. Elizaveta and I made quick trips to the bathroom and then got into my car to drive to the steakhouse in McKinley, where we were meeting my dad.

"How do you plan to handle this?" Elizaveta asked.

"Just listen. I mean, if he doesn't talk, I'll try to start a conversation about school or work or whatever. I don't plan to bring up the divorce or his affair unless he does. If he does, I'll let him say what he wants to say and only give my opinion if he asks for it. My entire goal is to keep the lines of communication open."

"How long will you wait before you say anything?"

"Until he's ready to hear it. That might be never. Think about Paul and Liz."

"Whoa! You think your dad might marry her?"

"I have no idea, but the only example I have is what happened with my sister. And I'm going to handle it the way I did with Liz — with love."

"That makes sense, I think. What did Father Nicholas say about the situation with Sasha?"

"Not much, really, other than hoping that Father Herman has some luck talking to her. We're both going to do our best to stay out of the blast radius, except so far as we need to help Tasha. He did say he wanted you to keep in touch with Debby."

"What's up with Vickie?"

"I can't say," I replied.

"She's pregnant," Elizaveta declared. "But I know you can't confirm that."

"It's silly for me to deny that, but I can't say anything else. It's in Father's hands now."

"How did everything suddenly get so crazy?"

"I have no idea! And here I thought medical school was going to be the main source of craziness!"

We arrived at the steakhouse and saw my dad sitting at a table so we let the hostess know and walked over to the table. I took off my ryassa and draped it over the fourth chair, and then we sat down.

"Hi, Dad," I said.

"Hi, Dad," Elizaveta said brightly.

"Hello, Kids. Anything interesting happening at school?"

"Not really," I replied. "The really interesting stuff happens during my four-hour observation shift at the hospital. School is mostly memorizing a ridiculous amount of information and cadaver dissection."

"Cadaver? As in human bodies?"

"I'm not training to be a vet!" I chuckled.

"No, of course not! I was just surprised that you're dissecting bodies. Where do they come from?"

"Mostly they're donated by the individual or the family, but sometimes they're unidentified people."

"So mostly old people, then?"

"Sadly, no. Our cadaver is, or was, a thirty-two-year-old woman who died of ovarian cancer. Well, technically, complications from having ovarian cancer."

"I don't even know what to say about that."

"Me either," I replied. "It was really unnerving at first, but I guess now you could say I'm used to it, though it's a bit uncomfortable given we have to dissect, uhm, intimate areas."

"I think that's probably enough talk about dissection," Dad said. "How is school going for you, Elizaveta?"

"Pretty much the way it always has. I make good grades and hang out with my friends when Mike's at school or studying."

"Do you two get enough time together?"

"I think so," Elizaveta said. "I mean, I'd like more, but I knew what I was signing up for when I asked Mike to marry me."

"So, you finally admit it!" I chuckled.

"It saves time! You'll just repeat the story about how I 'accosted' you!"

"Good to know you're trainable!" I teased.

"Careful, husband!" she said menacingly.

"Mike," Dad continued, "you said the hospital was interesting? What do you do there?"

"Watch and ask questions. I'm not allowed to do any procedures, though I did get to listen to one patient's heart and lungs using my stethoscope. But these first-year experiences are simply observation. In three weeks I'll have my last ER rotation, then my next rotation is to a pediatric practice near the hospital."

"Have you seen anything really interesting?"

"It's all interesting, really. Victims of bad accidents, a burn victim, and that kind of thing. And then run-of-the-mill things, like a man who bumped his head at work, though other than a big knot on his forehead, he was fine."

"Mike actually helped diagnose someone!" Elizaveta said.

"I just asked Doctor Gibbs a question, that's all. And I only knew because of all the research I did about Angie's condition."

The waiter came to take our orders and once he left, the conversation resumed.

"Speaking of Angie, how is she?" Dad asked.

"I suppose about the best that can be expected. It's unlikely she'll ever be cured or completely recover, but she's working, going to church, and taking Aikidō."

"What's that?"

"A martial art," I replied. "It's similar to karate but more defensive in nature."

"Are you going to start karate again?"

"Elizaveta and I have discussed it, but I really don't have time. It would interfere with my study group."

"How much time do you spend studying?"

"Around six hours a day; slightly less on Saturdays and Sundays. We don't study on Fridays at this point."

"Wow! Do you have time for anything else?"

"Thursday and Friday evenings, we go out. On Saturday mornings, we have band practice. And we go to church on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, of course."

"Are you performing?"

"Not until November 8th and 9th. I'll let you know when tickets are available. One or two?"

"Two, I suppose."

"Evening on the 8th or matinée on the 9th? I'll get Mom and her parents' tickets for the one you don't choose."

"Let them decide," Dad replied. "What's the name of your band?"

"Code Blue," I replied. "I wear blue surgical scrubs, and the others all wear blue as well, though not scrubs. We play mostly rock and pop covers."

"Speaking of blue, how are you adapting to wearing your cassock full-time?"

"Just fine. Nobody has really made a big deal out of it, and it did help a fellow medical student find a study group. She recognized the cassock and came to talk to me. None of my professors has made an issue of how I dress. One student complained, but nothing came of it."

Our salads arrived, and after I gave the blessing, we began eating.

"How are your friends doing?" Dad asked.

"Everyone is fine. The ones in medical school are stressed, just as I am; the rest are still in college and doing OK. Dale called, and he's loving his job, Jocelyn scored in the 95th percentile on her LSAT and will likely go to Ohio State. Gene will transfer to the physics program there."