Elena

The story of a 2nd generation Russian-American girl who moves from a big northwestern city to a small southeastern town. With only her eccentric, sometimes embarrassing architect parents and her fat cat Anatoli, Elena escapes the monotony of home and befriends two strange sisters who run the cafe and bookshop downtown. It is there that one day she picks up an unmarked book, full of old spells written in the language of her ancestors. Previously unfamiliar with the archaic Cyrillic written in the book, she is surprised to find that she understands what is written. Entranced by the strange book, she is hardly without it, missing meals and sleep, she finds herself whispering the words to spells not spoken in centuries, until one day she decides to try one and her world changes forever.

 

An Excerpt 

She stared at the big red X marking the calendar on the wall at the foot of her bed, the eighteenth of August. The first day of school for MudCreek public schools. It was eighteen days away. The thought of starting school filled Elena with both dread and excitement. The long-legged teen sprawled on her bed, one bare foot nearly hanging out the second story window, the other leg hanging off the bed, her toes just brushing the wood floorboards.  Black rimmed glasses lay discarded on her pillow far away from her. Even though she had the window open and not one, but three fans including the ceiling fan blowing on her, it was nothing but hot air. Hot sticky air. 

Stupid hot sticky air. 

Not really air at all. 

She hated Louisiana.

The long brown waves of her hair clung to her face, neck and back, and she pulled at the light blue t-shirt she wore in an attempt to peel it from her body. Only the fact that she lived on one of the busiest streets in town kept her from removing it and her denim shorts.

Elena stared at the calendar. The prospect of starting 10^th grade in a new…small…town did not rouse any excitement in her,  instead, it was simply the thought of having something, anything, to do that made her look forward to it at all. The boredom of the summer was as present and oppressive as the heat.

After a few more miserable moments of feeling the sweat drip from her body as though her very essence was slipping away, she decided she had had enough lying around at home. She would just have to muster the energy to go downtown to Gayle and Cleo’s shop. The two sisters were always good, if eccentric company and the mental image of herself in an air conditioned room was positively heavenly.

It took several minutes for the lanky brunette to pry herself from the sheet, sit up, pull her hair into a ponytail and put her glasses back on. She stood and switched off each fan before exiting her room. Once in the upstairs hall and away from the hum of the fans, she could hear her parents talking, their pencils scratching away in their studio downstairs. She passed the door to their bedroom and descended the iron staircase that spiraled down from the circular top floor into the lower level of the house.

“Elena! You’ve emerged!” Her father’s smile greeted her first as she stepped off the stairs and into the doorway to the studio both her architect parents shared. Her father tall and lanky, and her mother short and curvy, both bent over the same blueprint design. Lisa Ivanov took the pencil from her mouth and greeted her daughter.“Elena – missed you at breakfast.” 

Mr. Ivanov added, “And lunch.” before his wife continued, “There’s some toast in the microwave for you.”

Elena looked to the windowsill of the studio. Anatoli, her fat tabby sat swishing his tail, and looked back at her with grass green eyes. She stuck out her tongue at him childishly. If the Ivanovs didn’t hide any food left out, the cat would claim it in an instant.

After getting her toast and savoring it in front of Anatoli, Elena walked to the open window and scratched him under his chin by way of making up.

“Elena,” her father stepped away from the table, “Lapushka, you sleep past noon more and more,” He wagged his finger at her in his usual attempt at being stern. “You need to get in the habit of waking early for school.” Her father looked down at her with blue green eyes that matched her own. 

“Mmhmm.” Her mother agreed from around the pencil now back in her mouth. Elena looked toward her with a smile and one raised brow.

“Mama, you know you have a pencil in your hair too?” Mrs. Ivanov reached up into her slightly graying blonde bun. “So I do! Don’t change the subject dear.” She said all this, never talking her eyes from the design she was contemplating.

Elena sighed and turned back to her father. He was still standing in front of her pulling his serious-parent face, his long brown eyebrows drawn up, making his eyes overly wide. She had to suppress a laugh every time he did it! Giving her father a hug usually did the trick, and sure enough, this time was no different. “I will tomorrow Papa.” She said as she stepped past Anatoli who was now entangling himself around her feet.

“Where are you off too now?” Mr. Ivanov asked making his way back to the drawing table. “Just to Gayle n’ Cleo’s.” Elena called as she reached the front door.

Crunch.

Her foot had landed on something just outside as she stepped onto the front porch. Bending down to retrieve it she saw that it was a tiny package from a company called ‘Your business is Our business’.  She stopped in the doorway and turned back toward her parents.

“Your business is our business?”  She asked, already beginning to swelter in the hazy summer heat.

“Huh?” came Mr. Ivanov’s voice, followed by “Oh – the cards!” Suddenly he was in the doorway beside his daughter. “Our new business cards, Elena- Look!” He opened the box and pulled out a card, on it was printed:

Timeless Architectural Designs

Dmitri & Lisa Ivanov

D. Arch.

Free Consultations!

www.ivanovdesigns.com

“Cool, Papa.” Elena replied already turning back toward the outside, away from her father's beaming expression. 

“I’m glad you think so – here take a handful down to Gayle and Cleo!” He handed her a stack of cards from the box.  After she had taken them, her father brandished the box overhead and grinning exclaimed “Advertisement!” before he closed the door and returned to his study.

Shaking her head at the strangeness that was her dad, Elena soon reached the corner of Magic Circle Ave, the main residential street that circled the town, and turned onto Main, the predominant shopping strip that stretched through the heart of MudCreek. The heat was still oppressive and Elena could feel her hair beginning to plaster itself to her skin once more where strands had come loose from the ponytail. She would persevere through it she told herself, as she pushed at the edge of her glasses with her index finger to keep them from slipping down with the sweat. Soon I will be enjoying the cool air-conditioning at the Alchemist and Wishing Well! She quickened her steps that would take her the six blocks to the sister’s side-by-side shops.

 'Elena' will be a short story and is inspired by the book 'Russian Folk Belief' by Linda Ivanits and various beautiful Russian Fairytales.

I chose her parent's names based on popularity indexes of top boys names in Russia in 1970 and girls names in America for the same year.  *A little note about her mother's name, Lisa, while also being the most popular name in the U.S in 1970, also sounds like лиса, the Russian word for fox. I bet Dmitri thinks that's cute.