| The Most Insidious Kind |
| By Artemis |
| Part 6 |
| Borya was forced to stay in for the rest of the day lest his father realize he was not actually sick. On the plus side, however, here lay a golden opportunity. If he just played his cards right, he could miss another day of school, and he might be able to have out with his friends again if his father thought he had sufficiently "recovered." His father would be off the next day, so he also might even be able to get some good breakfast out of the deal. As he was getting up the next morning, idly wondering if he'd see Alice again, he heard the doorbell ring downstairs. Curious, he exited his room, hearing voices below. He was descending the stairs when his father called, "Borya, come see who is here!" Borya came down the rest of the flight, thinking for sure that he would be greeted by one of his idiotic friends come to see him when they were supposed to be in school. Instead, the person standing there was one of the last people he would have expected. "Linka!" "Borya!" she said excitedly. It had been over a year since they had seen each other, though they had communicated often by letter. Her joy quickly changed to concern, though, as she saw how ragged he looked and realized he should have been in school. "Are you all right?" "I-- uh, I'm just getting over a cold," Borya said. "Get dressed," Dima told him, eyeing his son's light-blue bathrobe, "and I will make Linka my famous blintzes for breakfast." Borya, who had not yet had his now-routine morning fix, nodded and slowly made his way upstairs. "And Borya, for once, please comb your hair." Borya shut his door as he entered his room, first popping some Bliss before getting ready in order to wake himself up. He was finding he needed it just to feel normal now and at least four pills to get a decent high, taking another pill every fifteen minutes or so to keep it going. He got dressed in one of his favorite shirts (a black tee with a grinning skull wearing a party hat), fixed his hair, and slipped on a pair of shades to hide his red eyes. He returned to the main level, opened the door into the kitchen, and announced, "Ta da! For my mega-cool cousin, I combed my hair." Linka, who appeared to have been talking with his father before they were interrupted, looked over at him and saw his forehead. With a worried expression, she asked, "Borya, when did you get that cut?" He realized he had forgotten to cover up the gash with his hair when he had combed, but it was too late now. "Uh, last week," he explained. "It's nothing." He winced as he saw his father already taking out the first-aid kit from beneath the counter. "It looks like something to me," Dima commented as he removed a cloth and some alcohol from the white box to clean the cut with. Handing them to his niece he said, "Here, you put this on while I finish the blintzes." Linka poured some of the clear liquid onto the cloth and approached Borya. "Guess I was thinking too hard," he quipped, shrugging. "Borya," she said, "stop clowning--" "Yes, Sergeant Linka!" he said energetically, saluting wildly and accidentally knocking the bottle out of her hand. "Borya! The alcohol!" she gasped as they watched it sail overhead directly towards where Dima was cooking. Hearing Linka's shout, Dima turned in time to see the bottle coming his way. Reflexively, he tried to grab it but missed, and the plastic bottle landed on the stove, spilling everywhere and exploding with enough force to send him flying backwards. "I must get the extinguisher," he said as he crawled away from the burning range. Seeing the flames spreading to the curtains and beyond, a frantic Borya asked, "What do we do?" for the life of him unable to remember anything he had learned about dealing with fire. Thinking fast, Linka spotted the box of baking soda her uncle had left out while fathering the ingredients for breakfast. "Use baking soda," she explained. She shook it into the air in front of her. Borya wasn't sure exactly how that was supposed to help until she continued, "and... Wind!" There was a sudden flash, and it seemed as though the ring she wore on her right hand was responsible for the baking soda being blown onto the flames, which quickly began to recede. But that was impossible! Borya gasped and lifted his shades for a better look, wondering if the Bliss was causing him to hallucinate, but there, plain as day, was his very own cousin using a ring to put out a fire. He lowered the shades and shook his head in disbelief. This was definitely something he would have to ask her about. Once the flames had disappeared completely, Dima fanned the air with the day's issue of The Washington Post. "I will clean up this mess here." He started wiping up the soot from the counter. "Why don't you two go on out. You could show Linka around the city, Borya." "All right," he replied. "One second, though. I'll be right back." He left his father and his cousin in the kitchen and dashed upstairs. He would have to buy some more Bliss today, but he was flat broke. So he crept into his father's room, making sure to avoid the creaking floorboard at the entrance, and snuck roughly $30 from the wallet on the dresser. He would find a way to pay his father back, Borya vowed, preferably before the money was discovered to be missing. Pocketing the cash, he went back downstairs. "I've told Linka where the Russian cafe and that bike rental place are, so you could get yourselves some breakfast and have some fun biking around." Dima pulled some money from his pocket and handed it to Linka. "Oh, that's not necessary," she said. "I have money of my own." Dima smiled at her. "No, I insist. You are our guest! And besides, after saving our kitchen you should get some reward." Linka chucked and reluctantly accepted the bills. As she and Borya then walked outside via the front door, Borya wondered if he might be able to convince her to try some Bliss. Then they would be able to use the cash for the bikes and food to buy some more so that he could give his father back the stolen money. Before he could bring up the topic, however, they had already reached the rental shop, which was a mere block from the house. Linka entered the store and held the door open for Borya, who seemed lost in thought. "What are you waiting for? Come on!" she urged with a grin. "Oh, sorry." he shrugged and went in after her. Part 7 |