*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
*****
Elena Mollenkay sat in the cramped airplane seat and wished she'd taken a sleeping pill. The man seated next to her was a very large man; he did not fit in the small seat. He crowded against her, and his body odor was quite strong.
Thankfully, though, the plane began its descent. The pilot made the announcement they would be landing in Porasch, Poland in twenty minutes.
And again, her companion's elbow 'accidentally' brushed her breast.
"Pardon," he said.
Elena did not answer; the one time she had answered, the man had used it as an excuse to start a conversation. She had smiled and answered him in English. He had looked at Elena's American hairstyle and American clothing and had assumed she was American.
Then he tried to speak English and Elena had politely told him his English was deplorable.
It was five forty two in the morning when they landed. By seven o'clock, Elena was seated on the train that would take her from Porasch to Tremblink, her small hometown. And her airplane companion was traveling from Porasch to Amstern, the town just past Tremblink. So, again, he attempted to seat himself next to her and engage her in American English.
She made a point of getting to her feet and sitting in another seat away from him.
"She is rude American," the embarrassed man said to the few passengers that were staring at him.
"But I am not fat bore," Elena called out in perfect Polish.
The man waddled to another car as the passengers laughed.
It was just after twelve o'clock when Elena directed the taxicab to the apartment complex her mother lived in. Her mother had considered herself fortunate to secure a two bedroom apartment forty nine years earlier, during the Communist regime that had held Poland in its fierce grip. Even after the fall of the Communist powers, her mother kept the large apartment, rather than move to a smaller and more modern apartment. Her mother did not believe that the Communists were no longer in power.
The taxicab driver carried Elena's eight large cardboard boxes up the flight of stairs, complaining of his back on each trip. But Elena and her mother, Anna Kowenski ignored him; they were too busy laughing and crying and hugging.
Finally, Elena paid him for his fare and gave him a few Euros for his troubles.
Elena smiled sadly; her bedroom was exactly as she had left it twenty eight years earlier, when she'd left the apartment to marry Joseph Mollenkay. There was a small bed, an Army cot, actually. Her father had bought it for her when she was nine years old, and it had excited her then to think that she was sleeping on the bed that a brave soldier in the Polish Army had slept on. Her father seemed to have that sixth sense; his little girl was not interested in the dolls and princess things.
Now, at age forty seven, it was not nearly as exciting to think of sleeping on such an uncomfortable bed.
Her dresser was still there, and sliding open the top drawer, Elena smiled; her old undergarments were still there.
Each drawer held her old clothing.
"Mother, really, why did you not throw this out?" Elena asked.
"We paid good money for those things," Anna answered, then coughed again.
Her mother must have been waiting to see her daughter again; she passed away in her sleep four days later.
Her ex-husband was at Anna's funeral; he and Anna had maintained friendship even after Elena had asked for a divorce.
"So, you will be staying?" Joseph asked, not introducing Elena to the bored looking large breasted teenaged girl that stood next to him.
"I suppose so," Elena said.
She'd given her home and automobile in Bender, Louisiana to her last lover, a sweet faced blonde eighteen year old girl. So she did not have that to return to. And truthfully, her entire time in America, she'd felt more like a visitor than a resident.
Here, she felt like she was home.
"Good, good, ever need anything; you just call, all right?" Joseph said, kissed her cheek fondly and turned to walk away.
"What became of Sophia?" Elena asked, mildly curious.
Sophia had been the beautiful red headed French actress Elena had caught Joseph with that had prompted her to ask for their divorce.
"Ah, you did not hear? I thought it was international news?" Joseph asked.
"No, no, first year in America, I watch the television, but I am just learning language so I don't understand news," Elena admitted.
"Ah, well, Walter, you remember Walter? Good looking young man?" Joseph said.
"Walter Pemikan?" Joseph's companion asked, but both Elena and Joseph ignored her.
"Anyway, Walter and Sophia in movie together, they fall in love and they bet married," Joseph said. "Then, one day, she is in my movie, but she feel sick so she go home and she catch Walter in bed with his lover..."
Elena waited, smiling. Joseph's excitement was palpable.
"...Ivan. Yes, Walter is soft and Sophia start screaming, she will tell everyone and Walter take his gun and he shoot and he kill her," Joseph said.
"No!" Elena gasped, saddened.
"And Walter tell Ivan, this is what they will do. At Walter's trial, Ivan will be witness, but then he will confess to murder and Walter will be released," Joseph continued. "Ant then, at Ivan's trial, Walter will confess he is the one who killed Sophia."
"Really? You know that to be true?" the large breasted companion asked, but again, Joseph and Elena ignored her.
"And Ivan does confess, Walter is released and Ivan is arrested," Joseph continued. "Then at Ivan's trial, Walter is put on the witness stand, but instead of saying 'I did it, I am guilty' so Ivan will be released and they will now both be free, Walter breaks down and screams at Ivan that he had loved Sophia and he will never forgive Ivan for killing her and Ivan is then put in front of the firing squad."
"Oh my goodness," Elena gasped. "So Walter is out? Free?"
"No, Ivan had an older brother, Peter," Joseph said. "Peter paid Walter a little visit and no one knows where Walter is now and Peter isn't saying."
"So, when is the great Joseph Mollenkay making the movie?" Elena asked, smiling.
"Making the..." Joseph mused then brightened.
"Come, Tonya, I need to write," he demanded.
"It's Sonya," the girl said as she followed Joseph.
Six days after her mother's funeral, Elena roused herself out of her lethargy. She'd been sitting at her mother's apartment, doing little but eating and sleeping. She had not even bathed since the day of the funeral.
She fiddled with the taps until she finally got a warm spray, quickly lathered up and rinsed and got out before the hot water ran out.
Then she dressed in American Levis jeans, a fashionable blouse, not bothering to put a bra on over her breasts, found her bathing suit, and walked the four blocks to the community swimming pool.
When she'd been a teenager, the community swimming pool had been the place to go, to see other girls, to talk and laugh and gossip and giggle. And every now and then, she'd meet a girl that thought like she did and they'd kiss and touch each other.
But she wasn't supposed to hug and kiss and touch other girls, so when Joseph Mollenkay, a local University student had shown the quite beautiful Elena attention, Elena had gone along with what was expected of her.
Elena found a locker, stripped out of her clothing and wiggled into her bathing suit. A few of the women in the changing room did look at her as she walked around in her American bathing suit.
Because it was the middle of the day, there were only a few people at the pool. Most of the girls paraded back and forth in their bikinis, but they did not get into the swimming pool. Elena put her towel onto a stool, and then climbed the ladder to the three meter board.
The water was ice cold. Had she not been underwater, Elena would have screamed. That was one of the things she'd forgotten about the community swimming pool; it was kept very cold.
"Quite cold, isn't it?" a cute red headed girl giggled as Elena surfaced and gasped.
Despite the chill, Elena couldn't help but smile at the girl's giggle.
The girl had short red hair, sparkling green eyes, and a plethora of freckles all over her round face and neck and shoulders.
