Junior Year Box Set

“Yuri talk about you much. First mad, then …” she said as she looked perplexed for a moment, and then said something in Russian to Yuri’s mom. She replied in Russian, after which Grandma turned back to me.

“Then confuse-ed, now proud be your friend. You good to him, good for him. I watch you at games, booster tent, other place. You patron, boss, general; not only with friends—with school, with town,” she said. “Not from new papers, not from …” There was another brief exchange in Russian. “Not from in-her-i-tanz. Not from age. From here.”

She patted her heart.

“Here.”

She pointed her finger to her head.

“Here.”

She pointed to her groin and said something to Yuri in Russian. He smiled and turned to me.

“Balls,” he translated.

My face got warm, but I held her stare. She looked at me as if seeking confirmation of something.

“Question is, why? Why you do this for her? Why Yuri?”

I looked her squarely in the eyes.

“Because Jan is one of us. And because Yuri is also one of us.”

There was an almost imperceptible change in her face. It was almost like a recognition or affirmation, so I continued.

“I’ve watched you, too. You are strong; fierce, even—but you care. Your family is strong. Yuri gets much of what he is from you. If you agree, you’ll help both Yuri and Jan. Your family and Yuri will be very good for Jan. If you can do this for her, I think she will be very good for Yuri,” I said.

“How?” she asked.

“Yuri’s learning how to treat women but needs someone to help him more than I can. Jan will help him understand what he can and can’t do. She’ll help him fit in better with the fairer sex. For Jan, she needs someone to show her that there are other ways to get someone to like her … other ways than with sex or drugs. I believe she can help Yuri in other ways. Jan can gain a purpose and help him reach his goals. I think the two of them will make a great team if they learn to trust and work with each other. One thing that comes to mind is that Yuri’s going to start getting recruited for college football soon. He needs to put a program together for his own development. Jan’s pretty organized when she wants to be. She can work with the people who help me and learn to help Yuri with recruiters, and with the recruiting and skill-development programs that he’ll need. Who knows, perhaps Jan can learn Russian from you while you learn English from her. That way it wouldn’t be just her and Yuri. I think she has a lot to offer the family as a whole,” I suggested.

Jan looked up at this, with an intense, interested expression on her face. Grandma continued to gaze at me and seemed to come to a decision. She nodded her head.

The corner of Uncle John’s mouth twitched as if he wanted to smile, but he was soon giving me a blank look again. It really was unnerving when a Dawson did that. I didn’t like being on the receiving end of that look.

“Okay,” she said, and then turned to Jan. “You live here now! We your family!”

When Yuri’s mom started to protest, Grandma turned to her and said, patiently.

“You know how I grew up. You not know all I see as girl, as young woman. This okay,” she said, and then turned to Jan. “You in our family now. You do what Yuri say, you do what I say. Study. Help Yuri with, ah, what David say, program. Help me with English, you learn Russian. No booze, no drugs. You bad girl, we punish.”

Then she smiled gently. I was confused as to why Jan seemed now to be part of the family. I would have to talk to my uncle and uncover what had happened at Jan’s house. But I kept my mouth shut because my uncle and everyone else seemed to be okay with it.

“You good girl, we love you. We love you anyway, even when bad; but we punish because we love you. You part of family now.”

Then she tugged sharply, and a startled Jan slid off the chair arm and into her lap, where Jan was hugged fiercely.

“Okay, little girl? You okay to have new family, take care of you?”

Jan looked at her from inches away, startled. Then something seemed to melt in her. She buried her head in Grandma’s shoulder and nodded vigorously. A few seconds later, her shoulders started to shake. I realized she was crying.

Grandma looked at Yuri and me and made a shooing motion with her free hand. We quietly opened the front door and stepped outside onto the porch. Uncle John and Mrs. Antakov followed us out. Yuri looked at me apologetically.

“Grandma can be a little intense.”

I grinned at him as I shook my head.

“Yuri, you are the master of understatement!”

I turned to my uncle, and he gave me a weak smile.

“Jan called me last night,” Uncle John explained. “She wanted to thank me for talking to her. I could hear loud music in the background. I asked her if she was having a party, and she explained her mom was the one with guests over. Long story short, I thought it’d be a good idea to visit her home to see what was going on. Something didn’t feel right. I called Yuri because he’d agreed to support her, and I wanted her to have his backing if it was needed.