Chapter 42: A Rose by Any Other Name

September 17, 1988, McKinley, Ohio

"How are we handling tomorrow?" Kris asked as we walked to Anicka's house for dinner early on Saturday evening, with me pushing the stroller.

"You mean with Robby and Sophia's wedding? Unless it would cause trouble with your parents, we can attend Matins and Liturgy at Saint Michael."

"We're officially a couple, so it's our decision."

"Yes, of course," I agreed. "But I'd rather not create dissension."

"It won't. They know we plan to attend at Saint Michael once we're married."

"Then let's plan on that."

"Did you buy them a gift?"

"Yes. I coordinated with Sophia's mom and I bought them a crock pot."

"She's one year behind you, right?" Kris asked.

"Yes. She and I will be on our Cardiology rotations together starting in December."

"Does she plan to practice in the area?"

"She's keeping her options open," I replied. "Robby expects to finish his PhD by next May, and he'll look for research jobs. Sophia will coordinate her Match with cities where Robby has good prospects. The big downside is we'll lose our emcees for Code Blue."

"How important is that?"

"It's our schtick, but José and I could do it. Of course, Code Blue might not have too many opportunities to play next year, depending on my schedule. Fortunately, everyone in the band is still in the general area."

"What will you do if someone moves?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. José will finish his Master's in Chemical Engineering in May and plans to look for a job in Cincinnati, Dayton, or Columbus. Sticks works for a hospital in Columbus as a medical ethicist, Kim is working on her Master's and hopes to work in the area, and Kari is a music major and just started her Sophomore year, and plans to get her Master's under Doctor Blahnik."

"At least that is not going to be a problem for a time, then."

"Hopefully a very long time," I replied. "We gelled right away, and I'd hate to have to try to replace anyone."

"How did you get started?"

"I started playing in the dorm, and when José arrived the following year, we hit it off and started playing together. He had the idea of forming the band and found Kim and Sticks. Kari came along last year. Robby and Sophia are one year behind me, as you know, and it started with Robby and Lee, but Lee was murdered by a religious fanatic who also happened to be a pediatrician."

"What?! Murdered?!"

"A few years ago. It was a hit and run. Robby was hurt badly in the same incident."

"But why?"

"For being gay."

"That's unbelievable!"

"It is. The man is serving life in prison. We're almost at Anicka's house, so I'd prefer to wait until later to tell the whole story."

"OK."

We turned up the walk to Anicka's house, I rang the bell, and Derek let us in. He greeted us and we joined Anicka, Milena, Joel, and Abigail in the great room. We had a nice chat for about thirty minutes, then had a wonderful dinner and a delicious dessert. We stayed for about an hour after dinner, then headed back to my house for evening prayers. After prayers, I read to Rachel, then we put her to bed, and Kris and I listened to music for about an hour before she headed to Oksana's house and I went to bed.

September 18, 1988, McKinley, Ohio

On Sunday morning, I fed Rachel, then showered and dressed for church. If there was something I missed about being a deacon besides serving in the altar, it was not having to decide what to wear to church. Of course, that really was only a choice of color for my shirt, and today I decided on royal blue to go with my white Dockers.

The real challenge was how to dress Rachel, who had received a number of outfits from people at church. I felt, in the end, the safest move was for her to wear a cute dress that her godmother had bought for her. Once her bag was packed and she was dressed, we headed to church where Kris met us in the narthex.

Just under four hours later, we had lunch with the congregation, then went for a walk to pass the time before Robby and Sophia's wedding, which would combine the betrothal and crowning ceremonies as was the common practice in the Orthodox Church in the US.

"Do we have time for the story about your friend who was murdered?" Kris asked as we walked along the sidewalk that led away from the church towards a neighboring subdivision.

"We do," I replied.

I started the story with meeting Sophia, Robby, and Lee, through the assault by James Bush, my run-ins with Frank and Melissa Bush, her failure to Match, and concluded with Frank's sentencing to life in prison without parole.

"And," I added, "they attended the same church as the pastor with whom I had the debate. That's the church Subdeacon Mark and Alyssa formerly attended. You met her parents as well, and they also used to attend that church."

"You've had quite a few deaths in your life for someone so young," Kris observed.

I nodded, "That's true. Deacon Grigory, Deacon Vasily, Sandy, Lee, and Elizaveta."

"I know Sandy was in your study group, but how close were you?"

"We dated a bit while we were undergrads at Taft," I replied. "But it was never anything serious. She was, as were several other girls I dated, unwilling to convert to Orthodoxy. The one who was, and was completely serious about it, was Angie, but you know what happened there."

"And you would have married her, right?"

"It's difficult to say, because it's unclear whether Angie would be the same person without her schizophrenia. She was already exhibiting characteristic early onset symptoms. The challenge for mental health professionals is that those symptoms aren't really distinguishable from the typical behavior of teenage girls."

"Including me?" Kris asked.

"Let me rephrase — typical behavior of American teenage girls!"

Kris laughed softly, "I had my moments when I was going through puberty!"

"We all do," I replied. "It's such a massive physiological change that we can't help but be challenged by it. The question with regard to Angie is whether or not her core personality showed through or if it was all her illness. There's no way to know for sure, though I suspect, based on her behavior right before her most recent crash, was that she was who she appeared to be."

"Will she be at our crowning?"

"That will be up to her mom," I replied. "Angie has good days and bad days, and it might be a last-minute decision one way or the other."

"DADA!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Any idea what she wants?" Kris asked.

"No. She had a clean diaper before we left and she ate. She asks for 'ba' when she's thirsty."

"Maybe she just wants to be carried instead of ride?" Kris suggested.

"Give it a try!"

We stopped and Kris took Rachel from her stroller and held her on her hip, the way I'd seen women do from the time I was little. We began walking again and Rachel seemed content.

"Do you want me to change my name?" Kris asked.

"I hadn't thought about it," I said. "But I'll leave the decision to you. I know some women who don't change their names because they're established in their profession, or use a hyphenated last name. I'm OK with whatever you want to do."

"Would you change your name?" Kris asked.

I chuckled, "No, I don't believe I would. Jocelyn decided to continue using her last name when she and Gene married. That said, I would like all the kids to have the same last name, and I'm not sure Korolyov-Loucks would do them any favors!"

"Do you know what's necessary to change it?"

"In Ohio, all a woman needs to do is take a certified copy of her marriage certificate to the BMV and they'll change her license. The same is true for the Social Security Administration if you have a Social Security card. Do you have one?"

"Yes. We obtained them as part of our application process for our permanent resident status."

"The one thing you would need to consult with an immigration lawyer on would be what to do about your Green Card. I have zero experience in that regard. I do know that if I want to change my name or Rachel's name, I would need to have my application approved by a judge. It's pro forma, so it's not difficult."

"You really don't like Korolyov-Loucks for the kids?"

"I was thinking of having to put that on every single form, test, or whatever for the rest of their lives! Well, unless Rachel decides to change her name when she eventually marries. That said, whatever we agree on with regard to your name and the kids we're going to have together, I'd want to change Rachel's to match, if it's anything other than Loucks."

"First, just to confirm, you plan for them to have either 'Michael' or 'Michelle' for their middle names, right?"

"Yes. It's my nod to our Russian heritage, though not Russian style. My birth certificate says 'Michael Peter Loucks', but I was called 'Mikhail Petrovich' by Russian speakers."

"And by Clarissa!" Kris declared.

"She's the only one who uses the usual male friend style of address with me. I'm curious, what do they do in France with last names?"

"Both, actually. My mother's French identity documents listed both her family name and my father's family name. Her legal name is Nadezhda Vladimirovna Tarasov. She was free to call herself Nadezhda Vladimirovna Korolyov, but her French identity documents listed Korolyov as her spouse's family name."

"What's on her Green Card?" I asked.

"Her legal name, which is Tarasov. She was given the opportunity to change it when she applied for her visa, but elected not to."

"And your name?"

"Parents must choose, and whatever choice is made for the eldest applies to all younger siblings. They chose to use my father's name."

"We're able to put any last name we wish on the birth certificate; it does not have to be one of our names."

"In France, it must be either the father's or the mother's, or it can be both, in either order. It's not as complicated as in Spanish, though!"

"José explained that to me! Or tried to, at least. Anyway, from what you've said, you want to keep Korolyov, and I'm OK with that."

"Yes, I think I prefer the French way. I'm not your property!"

I chuckled, "My experience with Russian women is that the men are property!"

"Is this where I say 'as it should be!'?"

"That would be what Elizaveta would have said, for sure!"

"For the kids, if it were up to me, I would choose Korolyov-Loucks, given I want to keep my name."

"Let me think about it, please," I requested.

"Of course," Kris agreed.

"Are there any other things you think we need to discuss?" I inquired.

"Do you believe in corporal punishment?"

"No. I don't believe anyone should ever strike another person, and especially not children."

"But you've practiced martial arts."

I nodded, "And the basic principle is self-defense, with the very first rule being to avoid confrontation. It's the duty of the practitioner of Shōtōkan to first seek to escape, then to take no more action than necessary to defend oneself or someone who is being attacked. I'm a pacifist, but I don't believe that requires me to allow myself or another person to be injured by an attacker."

"Turn the other cheek?"

"Is about responding to injustice, not specifically about violence. I have seen an interpretation which views it as complete non-resistance, to the point of allowing yourself to be killed, but to me, that requires martyrdom, something which has never been required, except perhaps in one case — the forced denial of Christ as our Lord and Savior."

"Would you willingly die in such a case?"

"Willingly? No. Would I publicly recant or repudiate my faith? No. Fortunately, that is not something I am likely to encounter in my life as an American."

"What do you believe is appropriate discipline?"

"What they call 'time outs' in daycare seem to work with toddlers; with older kids, their privileges would depend on respecting the family rules, whatever they are. Of course, as the saying goes, no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy!"

Kris laughed softly, "And this little innocent on my hip is the enemy?"

"If my sister, Tasha, and Elizaveta are any indication, the answer to that is a resounding 'yes'! At least at some point. Conflict between parents and teens seems inevitable."

"I think you can reduce the conflict by treating them as young adults once they reach puberty, but even in that case, I think you are correct that some amount of conflict is inevitable."

"I think we have some time before we need to worry about teen conflict!"

"I'm still a teenager," Kris said impishly. "And I will be for just over two years!"

"Yes, but making up after a disagreement will be FAR more enjoyable!"

Kris laughed, "I'll take your word for it! But we haven't had a single disagreement so far."

"That's true, though I'm positive we'll find something on which we disagree."

"But we both are able to compromise, so we won't need to make up," Kris said with a smile.

"Then we'll just have to find another reason!"

Kris laughed again, "Somehow I don't think we'll need a reason to do that!"

"I'm positive you're right."

"DADA!" Rachel exclaimed, reaching for me.

Kris handed Rachel to me and I held her to my chest with her head on my shoulder. Kris took over, pushing the empty stroller.

"I think she's ready for her nap," I said. "Let's walk back to the church and we can put her down in the nursery."

We turned back towards the church, and when we arrived, I put Rachel down in one of the playpens in the nursery, covered her with a blanket, and then Kris and I sat down on the couch.

"Will you wake her for the ceremony?" Kris asked.

"No. I don't want to mess up her schedule if I can help it. She already has to put up with variations."

"You have a different schedule this week, right?"

"Yes. I'm covering trauma, so I don't have to be at the hospital until about 5:50am, instead of 4:30am. The following week I'm back on the regular schedule, and then I switch to Pathology and have a regular schedule for two months."

"Dad wondered how examining people who have died helps you learn how to save lives."

"It's more about being able to use a scalpel every single day for two months to improve those skills. As a medical student, I can't use a scalpel on a live patient under any circumstances. I can, on the other hand, assist with autopsies. There's other work, of course, but the main assignment will involve what amounts to practice for surgery."

"Does it bother you working with dead bodies?"

"No. It was a bit disconcerting the first time, in anatomy class, but I think that was a combination of never having done it before and with the fact that our subject was a young woman who had died at age thirty-two of complications due to ovarian cancer. But I've had similar reactions to other procedures, including inserting Foley catheters, which are used to drain urine from a patient's bladder. You can imagine where those go."

"I'd prefer not to!" Kris declared. "I think we agree that you don't provide those kinds of details at home!"

"But speaking generally about my work is OK?"

"Yes, of course, but I do not need what you call in English the 'gory details'!"

"Then I'll leave those out unless you specifically ask. I have an answer for you about the names."

"Already?"

"I think the correct answer is found in a passage from Shakespeare —

"In other words, you're OK with Rachel being Rachel Michelle Korolyov-Loucks?"

"Yes. I'll check with my stepdad, but I think we can do that at the same time you legally adopt her. I'll continue using Loucks and you'll continue using Korolyov, as is the French tradition."

"Very modern of you!"

"I, unlike my friend Tasha's dad, am not stuck in nineteenth-century Russia!"

"Was the deacon a Tsarist?"

"He displayed pictures of the Tsar-martyr Nicholas II and his family."

"My family's one serious objection to ROCOR — their fetish for the Tsar and his family."

"The main objection raised here when they were recognized as 'passion bearers' in 1981 was that martyrdom ought to be reserved for those who died for their faith. That was not the case for the Tsar and his family. In the end, though, the bishops acknowledged the faith of the laity. At some point, I expect the OCA to formally accept their status as martyrs."

"Would you display an icon?" Kris asked.

I shook my head, "No, because of my objection to classifying political murder as 'martyrdom'. But it's also not my place to tell others how to express their faith. I will, on the other hand, display an image of Saint John Kochurov of Chicago, the first martyr under the Bolsheviks. Our parish owes its existence to his work in the early part of the century."

"He is worthy of the term 'martyr'!" Kris declared.

"Agreed."

"Mike?" Elias called from the door to the nursery, "everyone is gathering."

"Thanks," I replied.

I checked on Rachel, then Kris and I went to the narthex to join the rest of the congregation to celebrate Robby and Sophia's betrothal and crowning.

September 19, 1988, McKinley, Ohio

"Morning, Mike!" Clarissa declared when I walked into the Emergency Department just before 6:00am.

"Morning!"

She followed me to the locker room so she could update me while I changed.

"How were the wedding and the reception?"

"The betrothal and crowning ceremonies were, as they always are, identical save the names used in the prayers," I replied. "Nothing ever changes! And the reception was simple and understated, which was what Sophia and Robby wanted. She has today off, but chose not to take more time, given they were already living together."

"I wish I'd had a different shift, but you know all about missing church services."

I nodded, "It's a sacrifice I chose to make in order to achieve my goal. How was overnight?"

"Relatively quiet, though we had one DOA from a head-on collision on Route 50. The drunk survived with minor injuries and is in the custody of the Sheriff."