Her Russian

Chapter 1-Galina

(Picture of Galina Ivanov)

Galina Ivanov sat nervously in the lobby of Wolfram, Davis and Stein, a very prestigious and well known law firm in downtown Boston.

She had received a registered letter from them, three days after her babushka (grandmother) passed away, asking for her presence as soon as possible for the reading of her will.

Galina had no idea her gran even had a will, much less anything to leave to her. Zoya, her gran, had practically raised her from the age of seven.

It was discovered, at that age, that Galina suffered from a heart condition called Arrhythmia and would take Coumadin for it.

She was very self conscious about the scar that ran down the middle of her chest. The doctors felt it best to do exploratory surgery first and that was what she was left with, a reminder of how weak she was.

Galina stood at an even five feet tall and weighed ninety pounds. She had beautiful blonde hair and gorgeous green eyes and had just turned twenty-one.

Men, although she could never figure out why, seemed to flock to her because of her looks. She had porcelain skin and pretty pink lips and was shy most of the time and quiet.

"Ms. Ivanov? Sorry to keep you waiting" an older man greeted her. "I'm Alfred Stein" he said holding out his hand. Galina shook his hand and followed him to his office.

Taking an offered seat, Galina crossed her legs, pulling at her skirt and waiting for him to begin. "Can I offer you tea or coffee, perhaps?" he asked politely. Galina shook her head. "No thank you" she replied.

"Okay then, let's begin, shall we?" His tone became very monotonous after a bit but then he got to the part that pertained to her.

"Your grandmother has left you quite well off" Mr. Stein started with. Wait, what? How's that even possible?

"She also left you her home in St. Petersburg, Russia" he continued. What? This was just getting more bizarre by the minute.

"All she has asked you to do, to accept this, is move to her native homeland. Your cousin, Irina Ovinko, will pick you up from the airport and see you to your new home. Do you have any questions?" he asked.

She must have looked like a deer-in-headlights, but yeah, she had questions. A million of them.

"H-how much did she leave me? I mean she struggled while raising me, so this doesn't seem right to me" Galina told the lawyer.

Looking through the file in front of him, Stein read off the figure to her. She choked on thin air. "I-I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" she asked. "Fifty million" he answered.

By the time she left the law firm, Galina had a new bank account, credit card and key to a home she never knew existed. She couldn't help but wonder what else she didn't know about her gran.

Exhausted from just that trip, she headed back to her tiny apartment, to think. Russia? Her mind was boggled.

She knew she was Russian by birth, both parents were born there and immigrated to the US right after she was born. They weren't nice people and that's when her gran came into the picture.

Especially when they found out about her heart. You're weak, her father would say. Who says that to a child? Her mother tried to be affectionate but her father would yell at her and soon even the hugs stopped.

Enter her babushka. Soon she was smothered in love. Hugs, kisses, books before bed, hot cocoa in the winter, her chicken soup when she was sick, Zoya more than made up for it all. Speaking of Zoya, she needed to call her cousin right now.

"Irina?" Galina said into the phone. "Galina, oh my goodness! It's so wonderful to hear from you, devushka (girl)" her cousin exclaimed. "What's going on?" she asked. Galina paused for a moment and then replied "Well it looks like I'm moving to St. Petersburg."

It got quiet. Really quiet. "Irina? Are you there?" Galina called out. "Da, I'm here. I'm just really shocked is all. Why the sudden change in location?" she asked. "Zoya passed away. She left me a little money and her house. I need a change anyway" Galina remarked.

The two girls talked a little longer and Irina told her to email her travel arrangements and she would personally pick her up from the airport.

Galina made her reservation for day after tomorrow. This would give her enough time to pack her one large suitcase, a few pictures, get her heart medication refilled and contact St. Patrick's to come get what she couldn't take with her.

She went next and spoke with Ms. Hansen, the elderly spinster lady that Galina rented her apartment from. Besides Zoya, she would really miss Ms. Hansen.

Once that was done, she made another walk through on her bathroom. She would just buy all new toiletries once she arrived in Russia, she was basically out of food, so what she did have, she would just give it to Ms. Hansen.

Pulling up her laptop, she checked the weather for the temps and that would tell her if what clothing she had would be sufficient.

She had five pairs of fairly nice skinny jeans, six sweaters, four dresses, one pair of black heels, one pair of flats, one pair of tennis shoes and a brown pair of boots. She was good on socks and undies and her night clothes were just usually boxers and a tee shirt.

Going through all the dressers, under the bed and the closet worked up an appetite so she ordered an extra large cheese pizza with a 2-liter bottle of Cherry Coke. That would get her through this evening and tomorrow. After that she wouldn't have to worry about it until later.

Because she liked to be prepared, Galina went ahead and set out her clothes for her trip. She chose her slightly stressed skinny jeans, a white tank shirt, a caramel colored sweater to layer with, a matching brown scarf and her brown boots.



While she was waiting on her pizza to be delivered, she emailed Irina her flight information and then sat down to take a moment of quiet reflection. Sighing, she said aloud "Zoya I really miss you and I really wish I knew what was in store for me now."

A loud knock on her door, drove her back to the here-and-now, as she got up to answer it. She opened the door to a friendly face. Pete. He always delivered her pizza and he always asked for her phone number, to which she always said 'no'.

Thanking him, she gave him a pretty good tip, shut the door and proceeded to dig in. She ate three slices, which was unusual for her, due to her size but she didn't eat breakfast that morning and she was starving.

After she got everything cleaned up and put away, she decided to go ahead and take a shower and then slip into bed, her last thoughts being of Russia and what new adventures would she experience while there.