Part 88
Oksana saw both of her sons in the school room. She smiled. Both sat at the table, with school books open. They were talking. She listened a minute. It seemed Zander was explaining something to Peter.
She went in. "This is nice of you," she said to Zander. "But Sander, you work on your own studies; you are not spending too much time on Peter."
"It's the same stuff," Zander answered. "I'm trying to pass a high school test. High school level. And Pete does not have good grades. Do you even read his report card? Look at this!"
"These are what he usually gets," Oksana said, picking up the report card. "He and I talk about it. He needs to spend more time studying, less time playing. He is not to lean on you."
"I told Sandy that," Peter said. "But he says he learns it explaining to me. And when he explains things, they do make a lot more sense. Algebra has always been a mystery to me. Does it have any particular use? Because if it doesn't, I don't know why anybody bothers their heads with it."
"It is fundamental knowledge," Oksana told Peter. "You do not need a use for it today. But to make progress in the future, you do. Do you think anybody could build a bridge or a house, or engineer anything, without that kind of knowledge? It is not something you learn overnight. It takes years."
"OK. I always wanted to build a bring over the Atlantic," Peter answered. "This is why Sander is helping me."
"What do you want to do, Pete?" Zander asked. "Do you have any idea yet?"
"No, I suppose not. I figure I have all college and the rest of high school to figure that out."
"Not all college," Oksana said. "They want you to pick a major. I know that. In college, you decide something. But what have you ever thought about being when you grow up?"
"Nobody asks that when you're more than eight!" Pete laughed. "I guess I still want to be an astronaut. That was my last answer, when I was eight."
"What about sports?" Oksana asked. "You can coach sports, like your father did, I think. Then you need a degree for physical education."
"Or maybe I'll play pro soccer," Pete said. "Or race cars."
"Think of something more practical for a back up," Oksana suggested. "But you, Sander, are closer to that decision."
"Not really. I'm still working on high school."
"If you take this test this year, as Amanda says you can, and if you pass, then you are there. But maybe you do better to wait to think about all that. Think about passing the test only. Leave Peter to be."
"I don't see what harm it is to help him out here and there. I would have anyway. Whose older brother wouldn't?"
"Well then, not too much time, though. You help too much."
Peter laughed. "Yeah, quit being so helpful, Sander! But I'm sure you're going to pass. You know this material."
Gail asked Oksana, "It is a good thing you and your ex-husband successfully took Peter out. Do you think that you could do the same thing for Zander?"
Oksana answered: "I think so."
"I think Peter should be there, too," Zander said.
"Why is that?" Gail asked.
"He keeps them from bringing up the kinds of things that lead to a fight," Zander said. "Or, maybe, it is me he can keep from doing that."
"What will bring up a fight?"
"Almost anything. I don't know how, but it does."
"Between them, you mean, or between you and them?"
"Between them," he said. "If I bring anything up about whatever I am doing right now, it feeds right into a conflict of theirs. I can't imagine them talking about what they are doing now. So I don't know if it would cause them to argue."
"I still say you should try it," Gail said. "I think things have changed. Try making it very simple. Go to Kelly's for a cup of coffee. Fifteen minutes only. See if that works, then work your way up to lunch. Are you willing to try it?"
"Can I bring a friend of mine? That might keep them from fighting."
"We can do that without fighting," Oksana protested.
"What friend?" Gail asked. "Another person your age is not likely to be helpful."
"Alexis, or Joe. Both of them are older."
Oksana said, "Fine with me."
"No," Gail said. "It defeats the point. Ten minutes. If one parents bugs the other, they can save it for later; call each other and argue later. If they managed it for Peter, they can manage it for you. It ought to help you to see that they can do that. All right?"
Zander agreed, reluctantly, but he agreed.
"Did you see this?" Edward Quartermaine came into the family breakfast one morning, brandishing a newspaper. The trial verdict came back. Carly was found not guilty by reason of insanity. "I wonder how many jurors that criminal Corinthos bribed," he added, in high dudgeon.
AJ was nervous. "She'll be in Ferncliff, but for how long?" he wondered. "Then when she gets out, she'll even threaten to get custody, that's how crazy she is. They'll start in on that intimidation thing – they have control of the legal system, or so they are always claiming."
"They don't, or she'd have gotten off somehow," Alan said equably.
"I'll have to be really careful when she gets out," AJ said.
"That could be years," Monica said, reassuringly, "and hopefully will be."
Later there was a board meeting for ELQ Corporation.
"The first order of business is a report I have from one of our associates," Edward said. "Somehow those accursed Barrington's sold their dock property to somebody, and I can't figure out who or what it is!"
"There are some new logos there," Ned said. "Our management noticed it. We had the law firm check the title to the land. It is still in the Barringtons' name. Only the facilities have been sold."
"Maybe it is only a new company of their own," Jax suggested. "I'll see what I can find out."
Sonny Corinthos had a representative there. With the verdict, it was not surprising that Sonny did not dare to show up. The representative was a lawyer named Bill Worth. Bill just said that he thought that was a good idea.
"I'll walk down there and have a look at the logos," Jax said. "I have some people who are good at tracking things like that."
Elizabeth opened her eyes to see the room she and Paul had decorated. She sighed contently and snuggled a little more against Paul. When he woke up a little while later, he went to make some coffee. Coming back with it, he said, "I like your idea of putting art in psychiatrist's offices."
"Did I have that idea?"
"Yes, last night!"
"I forgot about it in favor of everything else!"
"Oh, what would that be?" he teased, getting back into bed and taking a sip of his cup of coffee.
"Would you help decide the subjects?" she asked. "Or the colors, or what to avoid?"
"That might be good. Hey, we would talk to people at Ferncliff about it too. The people in there could use any help they can get."
Later he went to get the paper. "Good God!" he exclaimed.
Elizabeth was making her extra special omelet. She looked up. "That Corinthos woman got a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity!"
Elizabeth looked over at the paper, still stirring. "Oh boy," she said. "I always thought Carly was nuts, but not that kind of nuts. I'm not sure that's such a good verdict. She knew what she was doing."
"She planned it," Paul said. "That shows sanity. This Dr. Barnes, who testified, I wonder what he said? Well, she'll be at Ferncliff at least. She'll get to see some of your pictures."
"She'll hate that."
"Do you know her that well?"
Elizabeth laughed. "Just to fight with her. She's Lucky's cousin. But she's jealous of attention going to anyone else. She didn't like me because for awhile I liked Jason. That was her brother-in-law, but even so, she had wanted him first, and probably still wanted him more. So then when I was competing to become the top model for Deception, she campaigned for the other girl. Not that I begrudge her that. But once she doesn't like you, it's like, you can't change that. We could meet in different circumstances. She'll remember that grudge. You might want another artist for Ferncliff."
He laughed and kissed her on the forehead. "You can use an alias. Or maybe she can learn she's not in charge at that place!"
"She's the type," Elizabeth laughed. "Put her in the insane asylum, and she'll try to be the top crazy person there. She needs attention, that's for sure."
"What a patient," Paul said. "Maybe she'll end up having a wing of Ferncliff named after her."
Quinn met Zander at Kelly's, having called to invite him to meet her there while she stopped for coffee on the way in to midnight shift.
"I'm off this shift on Saturday," she said. "Come over to my folks house for the Notre Dame Game."
He was quiet, and looked down, and fiddled with a napkin.
"If you'd like that, of course," she said, looking down and under a little to see his face.
"OK, I'll come."
"You sound hesitant."
"It makes me nervous. They might not like it if I come with you. They want the best for you. I don't think they could picture me as a good guy for you."
"But they do like you."
"As Pete's older brother."
"They like you for you. They already know you." She stopped a minute, thinking of what Paul had said. "It's the first chance they've had at that. With Paul, and especially Sean, all they got was 'here's my new boyfriend, like him.'"
He laughed at that. Encouraged, she went on: "They liked Paul. It was the way I felt about him they always questioned. I'm not sure they even liked Sean. They didn't get that much time with him. Maybe if I had married Sean, they would have learned to like him."
"Married Shyster Sean? Were you engaged?"
She giggled at his use of Danny's imaginary nickname, marveling again at what a memory he had for things like that. "No," she answered, "he asked, and I wasn't sure, and he didn't even want to give me any time at all. He just broke with me right then. It was harder because he was in another state, though."
"No wonder you get your reputation for not committing!"
"It felt wrong both times. Paul gave me more time, and I thought it might have helped. Maybe not. Maybe if you aren't sure when it first comes up, then you should consider it a relationship going nowhere. It can't be that simple, but I'm getting to think it might be towards that, anyway."
"You ought to come with a warning – do not ask this woman to marry you until you have a clearance from her. I'd be afraid to ask."
"You're so far off from that anyway. Women have it worse with you. I'd be afraid of using empty words, from your past experience. You should come with a warning – do not tell this man you love him until you have a clearance from him."
"Oh, well, I know Emily was shallow now. I learned that. I have a better eye for it, but it doesn't make me think everyone is shallow."
"All right. But don't underestimate. You might still do that. Like my family. They like you. It is not conditional on your not dating their daughter. Not at all. They know I like you. Granted you know they are likely to tease me about it. They're only teasing, you do know that, right?"
"Yeah. I've heard Danny teasing you. I never know exactly when he is serious though."
"No one has seen him be that since 1970. About the last time he was wrong, as he says."
Zander smiled. He took her free hand. "OK," he said. "I'll brazen it out."
"Good," she said. "You'll have fun. And you know what I saw the other day?"
"What did you see the other day?"
"Joanna and I went into the Outback for a drink. We sat at the bar. There was Alexis, talking to Jerry!"
He laughed. "Maybe we aren't needed."
"She had some papers, like a file, but I think she just had that with her when she went to get a drink. She was in a friendly mood. I introduced her and Joanna and he got us drinks with his usual fanfare. But they left us to talk and started to talk again themselves. So you might be right. Unless it was all business. That much I could not tell."
"The elevator is looking like a better idea every day."
"Be nice, don't tease him," Quinn said to Danny and Kathleen. "He is a little anxious, I'm sure of it."
"Since you seem to spend so much of your time trying to get another couple together," Kathleen laughed, "I think you may be a dating service rather than a couple."
"We got started on them, and now it's a big joke with us," Quinn answered, with a giggle. "Is there something there? Does one or both not realize it? Can we act as matchmakers? It's fun."
"She seems like an awfully nice lady," Kathleen said. "I like her. If this Jerry isn't for her, I may look around for her."
"Now you sound like the dating service," Quinn said. "Don't compete with ours. We will run you out of business."
"OK, I take that warning."
Joe came over, with a case of beer. Danny and Joe sat down, prepared to cheer Notre Dame to victory, and as if they might have something to do with it if the team won.
When Zander came in, he found that Quinn's brothers were both out. In fact, "Tim is over your house," was the report from Danny. Zander realized that mean Oksana's house. He didn't try to oppose that. It was as good as any other way of referring to it. Maybe better.
He sat on the floor next to Quinn. There was nothing different about the way Joe or the Connors treated him. He was still a little nervous, though. He concentrated as hard as he could on the game. He knew so little about football.
Quinn began to realize this, and whispered to him now and then, an explanation.
"What are you two giggling about?" Danny asked.
"I'm explaining how the ball gets turned over," Quinn said. "In Russia, they don't play this game, and I don't think Zander or his family have been much into it, even living in the US."
"Well heck, don't feel like it has to be a secret," Kathleen says. "We understand this. As long as you root for Notre Dame, you can be as ignorant as you like, Zander."
Zander smiled at her. "I perfectly understand the necessity of pulling for Notre Dame."
"That's all you need to know, my man!" Danny laughed. "Have a beer!"
He took the beer, a little shyly. He felt a little better.
From then, Danny and Joe seemed to make a point of explaining what was happening if it looked like something in the game could be confusing for a beginner.
When the game was over, someone had the idea to call up for a pizza. Sitting in the dining room over the pizza, Kathleen said to Zander: "I got a report from Amanda. She thinks you are going like gangbusters. Has she taken you to a battlefield? She mentioned that."
"Yes. We went on a chartered plane, a couple of days ago! All within 8 hours! It was interesting, really."
"Where did you go?" Kathleen asked.
"Quebec City."
"There's a battlefield there?" Quinn asked.
"Yes. The Plains of Abraham," he answered.
"But what Battle was there?" Quinn asked.
"The Battle of the Plains of Abraham. You don't remember it, from school?"
"No. Not a good sign, is it? What do we learn these things for?"
"It was between the British and the French in the French and Indian War. In 1759."
"And what happened?" Kathleen asked.
"The British were victorious. Their general died in it though. So did the French one. It was a fallout of the Seven Years War in Europe. I knew about that. Between the British and the French. They seemed to be always fighting with each other."
"That's interesting," Kathleen said. "I wish I knew more European history. And then what was the effect of the British winning Quebec City?"
"The British consolidating their hold on the colonies, to the exclusion of the French. They required the people in Quebec City to take an oath of loyalty to them."
"Sounds familiar," Joe said.
"You are remembering it?" Zander asked.
"Oh, no, Zander," Kathleen grinned. "Now you and I have, unintentionally, gotten them started on the Irish."
"The Irish?" Zander asked. "What have they got to do with it?"
"Oh, boy do you have a lot to learn," Quinn rolled her eyes, and gestured at Danny.
"You know where they got their first practice on things like that? The British. Conquering other people's land?" Danny asked, eyes all twinkling in merriment.
"Ireland," Zander hazarded a guess.
"Right! You catch on quick, Zander!" Danny laughed.
"The songs on the tape you gave me," Zander said to Quinn, "now I understand a little better. The narrators in those songs most often sound as if they are in America, not in Ireland. In a couple of the songs, they sound as if they blame the British for their having to leave Ireland and come to America."
"Yes," Quinn smiled. "You're really catching on, now."
"When did the Connors come to America?" Zander asked.
"In the 1870s, I believe," said Quinn. "The Hanleys came in the 1850s, on account of the famine in 1849, probably."
"But how do the British come in for getting blamed for a famine?"
"The explanation goes like this, I think," Quinn said. "The British pushed the Irish to the less desirable land as they tried to take over. The Irish multiplied anyway, because the potato had been introduced from the new world, and it would grow on this less desirable land. The potato crop was blighted in the 1840s. The Irish were so dependent on that one crop, that they starved. Now how that's the fault of the British, I'm not sure. I suspect because they pushed the Irish to the less desirable land, where only the one crop would grow, leaving them dependent on one thing, which is obviously potentially disastrous if that one thing isn't around."
"Pretty good," Joe said, "You have it down in a nutshell, Quinn. But anyway, we dislike the British as a sort of joke around here, Zander. We don't really hate them."
"Gaad Dahm them," Danny said, in his best Irish brogue.
Everyone else laughed so hard they couldn't talk for a minute. Zander smiled, sort of catching on, buy enjoying how they were amused, anyhow.
"Stop with the British, right now," Quinn said. "Zander gets too much scapegoating. The Quartermaines were always doing it to him. So I won't blame him if he identifies with the British. God knows what the British have done to Little Emily. And I didn't tell you, Zander, but you must know, Lucky told me how you ruined her Christmas vacation. You must have yelled at her but good."
"Well, let's see if I can work this out," Zander answered, grinning. "The British caused the famine. That caused large numbers of Irish to come to America, which includes the Hanleys. The Hanleys descendants include a nurse, who was taking up the attention of Emily's former boyfriend at the same time she wanted to make him understand she was not at fault for breaking up with him by letter. The former boyfriend was therefore short with her, which in turn wrecked her Christmas vacation. Therefore, though it took them centuries to set it up, the British wrecked Little Emily's Christmas vacation."
"You're all right, Zander," Danny said. "You got it down cold already!"
"Seriously, Amanda talked to me about this," Kathleen said. "I have a plan in the works to take you to Gettysburg. We can take the boys, too."
"Wait a minute," Quinn said. "You're not going when I can't go."
"How often do you have Saturday off?" Kathleen asked, grinning.
"Take them out of school one day, then."
"See if one of your buddies will trade shifts with you," Kathleen answered. "Doesn't that Joanna gal owe you one for her date, or something like that?"
"OK. But tell me when, or you will have to listen to me complain."
"We've survived that!" Kathleen answered. "And we'll have to again many times!"
"Why Quinn, are you an expert of the Battle of Gettysburg?" Danny asked. "I've never noticed that before."
"I want to be there to help Zander deal with you," Quinn answered.
"I couldn't survive it without you," Zander said.
Everyone laughed, and Zander felt good to have raised it. He joined in.
