Chapter 20—Discoveries
1
"Kira, something is wrong with the pizza," Raisa said to her.
Kira glanced at her plate. Then she looked up at her sister. "I'll say!" she agreed. "Papa got us again!"
"Say what?" Anya squawked.
"Guys, there's no pepperoni or bacon bits this time," Kira pointed out. "He's a pain!"
"Oooh! You better not say that!" Raisa said. She went through all of the boxes. "Guys, everything's all cheese!"
Anya slumped. "Oh, man. He's too tricky for our own good!"
"Can I have some of your pepperoni?" Nikolai asked her.
"Nope. I don't have any. Nikolai, Papa didn't order pepperoni tonight. Just cheese," she explained.
He made a face. "I'm telling!"
His sisters burst out laughing. Whoever heard of telling on their own father?
2
Callen made a face, too, but he looked away from the dining room. Anna laughed.
"You better hope they don't tell on you!" she gasped, laughing at him.
Anya crept out to the kitchen; she had been chosen to tell their mother that their father wasn't being nice or fair.
"Callen! Stop!" Anna hissed. "What's wrong, Anya?"
"We think Papa messed up the pizzas tonight. None of them have pepperoni or other good stuff on them," she told her mother.
"Oh, no!" her mother sympathized. "Do you think the pizza shop messed up instead of Papa?"
"I don't know, Mama," Anya replied, leaning on her mother. "Mama, what's going on? We got no movie tonight. We got no popcorn tonight. The pizza is messed up. So…what's going on, Mama?"
"We're busted, Callen," Anna mumbled at him. "We need to be fair, now." She stood up and took him by the hand.
He grinned sheepishly. "Okay, baby."
3
"Guys, go sit down," Callen said, taking his own seat. "You did catch me."
"What?" shrieked Kira. "You tricked us again?"
"I did," he admitted. "Twice over, too."
Nikolai climbed off his chair and stood directly in front of his father. "Papa, are you looking for trouble?"
Anna burst out laughing. "He got you good, Papa!" she squeaked.
Anya thumped her head on the table. "Ow," she grumbled, rubbing her head. "Papa, why did you trick us?"
Anna put her hand on Callen's arm, and he stayed quiet. "Guys, most of you got in trouble at school today. In fact, the only one who didn't was Raisa.
"If you get mad at your teachers, don't take it out on them or the other kids. Wait until you get home and tell me, or tell Papa. Tonight, we grounded you in a different way."
"How?" asked Kira. She was still upset with Tone so she couldn't think straight. Usually, she could figure out her father's ploys, but not tonight.
"With the pizzas," Anna said. "And the movies, to begin with. No one got grounded for the weekend yet, but you can be if you mess up again in school this week," she explained, "which will be particularly awful this week. You won't be able to go to the Amusement Park with Bubbie and Dedushka, for starters."
All four heads shot up.
"Say what?" said Anya.
4
"We've arranged for Bubbie and Dedushka to take you to the Amusement Park on Saturday, but if you mess up again in school this week, you won't be able to go," Anna explained.
"This is going to be so fun," Anya gushed.
"Not if you get into any more fist fights, Anya," said her father. "You, too, Kira. You slap anyone this week, you'll get double-grounded. And Nikolai. No more temper tantrums in 's class."
"What about me?" Raisa asked.
"You haven't gotten in trouble in school this week, so you better keep it that way," Anna added. "If you don't, your grounding will be super annoying."
The other kids laughed. "It's not funny, guys!" Raisa yelped.
"Yeah, well. Don't be stupid. You're the only one who behaved so far, and Mama and Papa already know you've been good, so why mess that up?" Kira said.
Her entire family looked at her.
"How about it, Raisa?" her father said. "Will you be going to the Amusement Park or not?"
5
All four kids fled. They ran upstairs as fast as they could, piling up in Nikolai's room.
"Oh, man," said Anya. "Do you think they'll actually do it?"
"Do what?" Kira asked.
"Ground us."
"Probably," Kira answered. "The one thing I do know is that I do not want to find out!"
"Yaa," agreed Nikolai.
"Guys, why don't we just go to bed? We got no movie. We got no popcorn. The whole night has been duller than dull," Raisa said.
Kira and Anya both gawked at her. They were shocked by her attitude, which, for once, was right and proper for the situation.
Not knowing what else to do, Kira nodded. At last, she found her voice.
"What a great idea!" she said. "Since it's so early, I might as well read the book from my English class that I do not like."
"Okay," agreed Nikolai. "I can read my liberry books?"
"Sure," said Anya. "And I'll read mine, too."
"What about me?"
"Raisa, don't ruin your good plan. Find a book here, and read that," Kira commanded. "Just don't get any of us in trouble, okay?"
With a smirk, the youngest sister replied, "Okay."
"If she does," growled Anya, "I swear to God, I will kill her myself!"
6
"Tone, I need to talk to you," Kira said the next day.
"Why? So you can slap me again?"
"No, but if you don't shut up for a minute, I might kill you." She had him up against the wall with no means of escape.
None of the other students moved to help him. Some even laughed. They just continued on their way, giggling or smirking, or both.
"Anthony, I need to talk to you, so stop being such a jackass for a minute, please.
"I need to apologize for slapping you the other day. Please don't talk about my mother, especially when you know she's been hurt in a car accident."
Tone stared at her. He hadn't expected her to apologize, and he knew better than to poke at anyone's mother, hurt or otherwise.
"Ah hell, Kira," he replied. "I thought I was being funny. I didn't know I was hurting your feelings. I'm sorry about that."
"Thank you, Tone. Tone, it hurt so bad because we all thought she was going to die, and your joke made everything so much worse for me. I'm okay now, and so is my mom, but, please, oh please, use your common sense, okay?" She looked up at him.
Tone looked at her. He was having a hard time dealing with the sadness on her face. "Okay, Kira. Can we stay friends?"
"Sure, but we have to be nicer and more respectful of each other, Tone," she replied, giving him a hug.
He was so startled that he hugged her in return. She really was his best friend since preschool, and he truly didn't want to mess that up.
After a few minutes, they collected themselves, and their belongings, and went to class feeling much better than they had been.
7
"When do you want to go through Raisa's things?"
"Are you crazy, Callen?! We're not going near her room until Saturday!" Anna replied. She was as curious as he was, but did not want to risk Raisa catching either one of her parents.
Callen slouched down far enough on the couch so that he could put his feet up on the coffee table. He looked at Anna. "You feel like watching a dirty movie? I can't find them on here."
Anna laughed. "I don't know. Maybe," she said, picking up the remote. "I had to enable all of the parental controls after Raisa watched The Blue Lagoon."
Callen chuckled. "I'm glad that worked, but how about releasing it so we can watch a dirty movie or two?"
"Why Grisha Callen! What are you thinking?"
"Exactly what you think I am," he replied with a smirk.
"Oh, boy," she said. She flipped two more buttons, and the adult channels bounced into life. She held onto the remote. "I think we should do a bunch of scrolling so we can pick and choose."
He tried to snatch the remote from her, but she wouldn't let him have it. So, he kissed her instead.
"Oh, no!" she objected. "Stop!"
"What'd I do?"
"You'd be surprised," she answered, straddling him. "Look, Mr. Funny Boy. We are going to do exactly what we said we would, and I mean it. Otherwise, I'm turning off all of the adult channels again!" She stared him down, and he realized that he had lost the war. Then she kissed him.
"Here's the deal. We're going to watch a bunch of crap that will be full of blood, guts, gore, sex, and violence. How's that?"
"Sounds good to me!" He shook her off his lap, and then held out his arm so he could snuggle her.
Anna curled up, into him. She flicked the remainder of the switches, and suddenly, their cracked screen was full of all kinds of colorful adventures that were not suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen.
8
"Baby! Wake up!" Callen cried. "It's time to get the kids!" He shook her.
Anna swung at him, but he caught her fist.
"Don't do that! We have to pick up the kids right now!"
She glanced at him through her slitty eyes. "Can't they use their wings and fly home by themselves?" She held onto his arm.
"Anna Kolcheck, you are looking for trouble!" He kissed her and shook her off. "I'll go, but you need to fix the TV right now, please!"
Her eyes opened very wide. "Oh, damn!"
9
"Hey, Mama! Look!" Raisa shouted. She waggled her math test in front of her mother's face. "I got a 50!" she shrieked.
Anna took the paper from her daughter. "This is awesome, baby!" she praised. She gave Raisa a big hug.
"Papa! Look!" Raisa showed her paper to her father.
"You did this by yourself?" he asked.
"Yes, Papa. I tried it your way."
"Well, I'm glad you did. Let's keep doing that, okay?"
"Okay, Papa," she replied, giving him a hug. She ran off.
10
"What was all that about?" Anna wanted to know.
"I told her if she tried doing her problems the way I do, she might do well on her next test, and she did."
"Your way?"
"Yep," he smirked. "The good, old fashioned way you and I learned. I don't care, Anna. It worked, and I am very happy about that!"
11
Kira rummaged through the cold cuts drawer in the fridge. She did not find anything to her liking. Then she went through the freezer, and felt like she had discovered gold: There was an unopened pack of pepperoni, and she snatched it and hugged it. Then she held it up as if it were a small child.
"You're going to help me with dinner tonight," she said, feeling smug.
The pack was frozen solid, and she wanted to use it on the pepperoniless pizza. While she was trying to figure out her dilemma, her mother joined her.
"What are you doing, Kira?"
"Not much, Mama. One way or another, I am putting pepperoni on the pizza tonight."
"Oh, really?"
"Oh, yes, Mama. Please? It was pretty awful yesterday."
"I know. I just hope you guys learned something from all this chicanery."
"Don't worry, Mama. We did," Kira said, giving her mother a hug.
"You go do your homework, and I'll fix dinner."
"Okay, Mama…but will you please use the pepperoni on the pizza tonight?" Kira begged.
"Not a problem."
12
"My God, I thought they'd never leave!" Callen wailed on Saturday morning. He glanced at the kitchen clock. "Anna, it's almost nine-thirty. They were supposed to leave at eight."
"Yeah, well, sometimes my father isn't too great about the time," Anna told him. "The point is that they finally left, and with all of their paraphernalia!"
He sank into the couch. "You're right about that!" he agreed. He leaned back and closed his eyes.
"Nope!" Anna said. "We have work to do!"
He groaned and grumbled, but he got up and followed her up the stairs.
"Anna, should we check everyone's rooms?"
"No. The other kids aren't misbehaving or doing unusual things like Raisa is."
They did stop in the other kids' rooms long enough to straighten up their beds. Even Anya's bed needed straightening. But, Raisa's bed, they pulled apart.
They shook out all of her bedding, and checked every nook and cranny, and everything came up clean. They remade her bed, and then began to go through her dresser. They dumped out every drawer right onto her bed, but nothing caught their eyes.
Anna didn't like that Raisa had some sexy-looking panties in her drawer, and wondered where she got them.
"Look at this," she said to Callen, holding up the panties.
He frowned. "Why is your underwear in here?"
"It's not mine," Anna replied.
"Say what?"
"Callen, I don't wear crap like this, and you know it. You bought me my sexy underwear, and it sure isn't lacy like this!"
"Damn. I wonder what else we're going to find!" he said.
13
"We're going to put it all back the way we found it, Callen, which was a jumbled mess, thank God."
"Oh, for sure!" he agreed. "Whoever heard of putting trashy, lacy underwear on a nine-year-old?" He shivered.
Anna hugged him. "I'm just as repulsed as you are," she said.
"I know, baby," he soothed. "Let's get this back into its drawer as quickly as possible."
Anna agreed, and together, they stuffed Raisa's lingerie into its drawer. Then, instead of searching the top drawers, they chose to go through the bigger drawers in her dresser. Nothing was revealed there. Just her jeans and shorts, and a few skirts. They put that stuff back as best they could.
Then they sat on Raisa's bed and stared at the top drawers of her dresser. The middle was average width, and the smaller drawers were classic in size.
"You ready, Callen?" Anna asked apprehensively.
He took her hand and held it. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be. So far, we haven't found a thing, and I'm glad."
"So am I, but I'm not too sure about these drawers, Callen."
"Good God, Anna! What do you think you'll find?"
"I don't know, Callen, but it's scaring me. Maybe we'll find some of the answers we're looking for."
His eyes opened wide. He did not miss her implications. "Oh, God, I hope not!"
14
But they did. They found too many things hidden in Raisa's drawers. Callen recognized the powder in the folded paper. He sniffed it and tasted it, and wondered where his daughter had gotten cocaine from. He also was able to identify the tiny straw and spoon, too.
Anna focused on the envelope with the gumdrops. She didn't know what they were, and bit off the edge of a purple one. She did not like the resulting feelings. Then she had Callen sniff them. He did not recognize their scents at all, but he did realize that they were laced with drugs. He wondered if Raisa had eaten any of them.
Anna and Callen were very diligent in going through all four drawers, and any items they found buried in the back of them. They sniffed everything, and were very careful to wrap everything the way they had found it. They weren't ready for Raisa to know that they had gone through her personal belongings just yet.
After they packed and closed every single drawer, Anna ran off to her own room. She dove onto her bed and began to cry. The drug paraphernalia was too much for her to handle, and that it belonged to her youngest daughter was beyond intolerable.
Callen had the foresight to turn off the light in Raisa's room. Then he went after Anna. He picked her up and carried her to the blue chair where he could cuddle her tightly. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, and he had drawn up his legs, resting his feet on the ottoman. He wanted her to be "locked in" his grip no matter the source. Callen knew that he was falling apart inside, so he could only imagine what Anna was feeling.
He managed to pull the afghan off the back of the chair. Then he draped it over Anna, making sure she was covered up to her neck.
She was alert enough to appreciate it. "Thank you, my love."
He tightened his tight grip in acknowledgement. Then Anna relaxed and snuggled into her niche.
Callen began to rub her back softly. She took a moment, and wiped her face on him. He smiled from the heart.
"Are you okay now, my baby?"
She nodded. "Yes. Please stay with me, Callen."
"Not a problem." He closed his own eyes.
By the time their children got home several hours later, they were sound asleep. Kira cautioned all of the kids to be quiet, but it didn't matter. Their parents didn't hear them.
15
Roberta chased them all downstairs. They sprawled on their dining room chairs.
"What's going on, kids?" she asked.
Kira shrugged. "I don't know, Bubbie."
"Excuse me, pretty lady," Arkady said, "but I must be leaving now. I have appointment."
"Oh, baloney," Roberta replied. "You don't want to stay for dinner with us?"
He patted his rather rotund belly. "Not today, pretty lady."
"Oh, come on, Dedushka," said Raisa. "Please?"
"I cannot," Arkady replied.
Raisa got up and gave her grandfather a huge hug. "Okay, Dedushka."
He hugged her back. Then Nikolai hugged him.
"Bye, Dedushka," he said.
"Bye, kids. Bye, pretty lady." Arkady waved at them all, and then left.
"Bubbie, what's for dinner?" Anya asked.
"Nothing until we go through the fridge and freezer," Roberta replied.