Dream of the Unliely Princess

When the aircraft had taxied to the terminal, she'd gotten just the briefest moment to reply to the goodbye that the dancer offered as she was escorted off the plane by the man. He hadn't so much as looked at Oksana.

She was detained for a very brief interview. It had almost been funny. After a few questions, she'd said that she intended to set up a gardening and landscaping business, and offered to show the agent the books which she had in her luggage pertaining to the subject as it applied to where she was going and what would -- and more to the point -- what wouldn't grow there. "But I am certain that you have similar plants here to what I am used to working with," she said, "different species, no doubt, but, similar climate, and everything."

The agent looked bored and asked her where her tools and implements were, if she was going to be gardening. Oksana looked a little shocked. "I could not bring them as I traveled by plane. Do you mean that no one sells such things here? I cannot be the only gardener in this large country -- at least I hope not."

She was told that she could go after showing him that she had the wherewithal to make a proper start at a company. As she walked out, she heard the agent behind her, "Ms. Zaratskaia, are you sure that you're not forgetting anything?"

When she turned around, he was right there, less than a foot away from her, obviously expecting her to jump out of her skin.

"No," she replied with a smile, I think not."

He smiled pleasantly, "Welcome to Canada."

"Thank you," she smiled back just as pleasantly.

As she walked in the terminal, she saw a man in a black chauffer's uniform holding a piece of white cardboard with her surname on it. She palmed her ring and walked over to him, reaching to shake his hand. He saw the mark, but she saw no recognition in his face. "I'm here to drive you to Edgar, Ontario." He consulted a piece of paper, "You're Ox -"

She stared as he obviously struggled with her name. What came out of him almost made her laugh. She'd never known that a name such as hers could possibly be so tortured as it was when he'd tried to say it. She slipped her ring back on, remembering that her instructions had only applied until she was here.

"Yes," she said with a small laugh, "that is me, at least I think it is. My name is Oksana Zaratskaia."

"Bingo!" the man smiled, "I'm very sorry. I'm terrible with names."

They spoke little on the way and Oksana looked out at the scenery with interest. She was amazed at the size of the limousine and then saw by reading the emblems that it was a Cadillac. Even she had heard of the name. At length, she asked about the town, since she was on her way to visit a friend there.

"It's a nice little place," the chauffer remarked, "what we call a bedroom community here. Many of the people who live there work in other cities and towns, but like to live in a country setting. I'd say that your friend there must be pretty well off, if they live there."

"Yes," she nodded, "I believe that he is."

Eventually she found herself in front of an older home, large and rambling. The front door opened, and she was looking at the man with the long pony tail and his wide smile. "So you made it, Oksana."

She put down her bag and hugged him a little carefully while still trying to look as though they were old friends. "It's so good to see you again, but I have many questions." She'd whispered it in Russian, not knowing about the driver.

The smile didn't waver, but he nodded as he paid the driver, and then turned when they were alone, "I have many answers for you. Nice ones too, I hope very much." He picked up her suitcases, leaving her only her carry-on. As they walked to the door, he smiled.

"The answer to the first one, I think, is that you need have no fear. You are as free here as those birds over there in the trees. The answer to the second one is that the people here know me as Gene. Of course, to you it is Yevgeny," he said with as much of a smiling bow as he could manage while still holding her luggage.

"What secret name do I have here, then, if they can make 'Gene' out of 'Yevgeny'?"

He grinned, "It is not such a long reach, if you think that 'Yevgeny' is 'Eugene' in English. So they shorten it and I am quite pleased that they do. You? You have a wonderful, beautiful name here. Would you like to know what it is?"

"Very much," she chuckled.

He put the bags down inside the door and leaned in to whisper. "Oksana." And then he kissed her cheek.

She looked at his smile as he said, "Wonderful, isn't it?"

"Well yes," she smiled in a slightly confused way, "at least the way that you say it. The driver looked as though he'd swallowed a fly when he tried to say it."

They stood in his kitchen as he made them something hot, and she again declined his offer to sit comfortably. "I have been sitting for two days now, Yevgeny. Sitting in cars, in departure areas, in government offices, in airplanes, waiting and sitting and waiting to sit some more. Please, I cannot stand this anymore. Please explain to me what you have done here. Kirrill did not tell me much, other than what he would do if I refused to come to you."

His expression changed in an instant and she saw that he had great concern for her. "What do you mean, Oksana? Did he threaten you or anything?"

She held up her hands, "No, Yevgeny. He did nothing to me. He couldn't understand why you wished to do this for me either. He said that if I decided not to come, that he assumed that you would no longer care what happened to me, and then he said that I would be, ... working for him and not for you. Actually, he did not make that last part clear to me, but it was plain that it was his assumption, and ... I guessed that it might be a safe one to guess at myself, since I cannot see another reason here." She looked down.

He stepped forward looking concerned, "No, Oksana. I will have to pay Kirrill a visit soon if it went like that. I made my wishes quite clear to him. You? You have nothing such as this to fear from me. You do not have anything at all to fear. Forgive me, please. I did not want you coming all of this way, after months of not knowing anything, ..."

She could see that he was shocked and upset at this. She found that she didn't like to see him upset, and at the same time, it showed her that he must care for her as well.

He shook his head in some disbelief. "It only had to be this way because I needed him to do it for me, so that you could get here safely, out of that life that anyone could see that you were about to fall into. I could not stay long enough myself to do it for you."

What he wasn't saying was that he didn't think that he could have gotten her out of the Ukraine any other way. After all, why would she have trusted some killing beast out of a nightmare?

She looked at him with a bit of a nod, "He said to tell you that I was well taken care of, and that if his dreams now come true, he will never lay eyes on you again. He said that you would laugh."

"Well I am not laughing if he made you afraid at all, though I am happy to hear that you were looked after, but not that you were made to feel forced in any way. The only choice that was to have been before you was to leave your life there behind to come here, or to stay. I do not know what to say now."

"Then please stand still for a little princess, Yevgeny," she said as she stepped closer. They looked at each other for a moment, and then she reached up, standing on her toes to hug him again. "I had a long time to think. I see that you are not even really surprised, but ..." she kissed him softly, "I know that it was you in the alley. I have not told a soul, not even Kirrill, and I never would, but why, Yevgeny? Why have you done all of this for me?"

He sighed, knowing full well that she must have put it together for herself by now. Still, he felt a little relief. "I have ... something of an affliction, you might call it. I only put it to some good use for you that night, that's all. I sometimes can sense people's feelings and thoughts as I did while I stood there on the street. I knew full well that you hoped that I might express an interest in you, and I knew why. You hadn't really gotten started yet, and needed both the money and at least a little knowledge that someone might find you desirable. You are desirable, Oksana. Very much so. But not like that in such a way and in such a place. That would be nothing more than a cruel shame. I struggled with it, but then I sensed another person's intent and then I had to act."

"That is another thing," Oksana said, kissing him again with some care to hopefully express what she was trying to say. "I never had much of the chance that night, being scared out of my wits at first, but I want to thank you again for saving my life."

She let him go then, stepping back to smile up at him. "So? What happens to me now?"

He made them some coffee, speaking over his shoulder, "Now? Well, you rest from your journey. We can talk later, but I have heard that you know how to really garden. It is what I knew about you anyway. You have enough money to truly begin a business here, but I would advise you to wait to begin over the next winter for this. The earliest that you could act is in the fall, and then to secure the workspace that you would need for the spring. The winters are long here too, so there will be plenty of time for you to plan and prepare. You need to see how things are here first, no? In the meantime, you can be my gardener," he laughed a little hopefully, "though you do not have to accept my offer in any way."

"I live alone here. A cleaning company comes every Monday and Thursday to keep the house for me, and I pay someone else to cut the lawns. If you would like to make a little more money, you could do this yardwork for me, and I would know that it will be done properly. But what I am really after is something quite different, and I hope very much that you will like my idea."

He set their mugs on the table and motioned for her to sit for a moment, "Ahh," he said, slapping his head lightly in frustration, "I forgot about your travel-worn backside once again. Please stand if you wish, but I will sit down as we talk."

Oksana laughed at him a little and sat down across from him.

"I have built a garden, an inside garden. It is as a greenhouse and the systems are almost automatic for the ventilation, watering, lighting, winter heating, and the automated blinds. I would like it very much if I could be your first customer. I would like it if you could help me to care for the plants and I want you to maintain it for me, year round, since it is always a problem for gardeners here to have work during the winter. They usually find work ploughing snow."

"I have created a little jungle here, with even a few trees inside. There are a couple of little ponds with plants and fish even, to keep the balance, and I have two pools, one heated, and one not. The heated one I use for a little spa, and the other one is a place to escape the heat of the summer in a cooler, more shaded and secluded setting. There is a washroom and shower to wash off the dirt that comes from working there, and even a gardener's workbench. It waits only for the gardener, if you think that you would like to work here. You can see it whenever you like."

He was pleased when he saw her eyes light up. "Oh yes, please, Yevgeny. May I see it now? It sounds lovely."

She followed him through the house, and then to a curiously heavy-looking sealed door which he unlocked by passing a card near to a reader. "This door must remain closed at all times," he said a little apologetically, "I need to keep the humidity inside here, or I will have mold in the house. If this interests you, I will give you a card for your use, obviously. You will need to come and go frequently, no?"

Oksana was prepared for a greenhouse, but when the door opened, she felt her jaw drop as she stared in wonder.

The room was huge, over two hundred feet long, he told her, with windows everywhere. She heard fans running and even felt the air moving. Mostly, it was open, though she couldn't see very far for the heavy vegetation. The floor was not flat. It had some contour to it, higher in some places and lower in others, so that it seemed very natural. He turned and smiled at her. It was a little shy, but she could see that he was proud of what he had done. "Welcome to my little rainforest. Do you think that you would like to work here?"

He was actually a little shocked at her response as he found her in his arms. "My God, Yevgeny," she kissed his cheek in joy, "You ask a ragged gardener girl to garden here as though I might say no? This would be like a dream for me. I should pay YOU for the honour to work here."

"No, Oksana," he smiled as she stepped back, "I will pay you, and well for something like this. You'll have to care for the lawns as well, and I would like to help you to set up your company, if you would allow me to. Whenever you wish in the next few days, we should see about getting you a garden tractor and whatever else you need so that I can tell the people that I use now for the outside that they can now stay at home, since it is always so hard for them to come when I call them."

He led her through the trails, pointing out some of the features. Oksana was in heaven looking everywhere. "This isn't a garden, Yvgeny. You have made a paradise here. The first thing that I will need will be a roll of twine, so that I can tie the end to something near the door and pay it out as I go so that I may find my way back later," she laughed. "My answer is yes, my friend. When can I begin?"

He was genuinely pleased, "You may begin at any time, at almost any hour, but there are times when I think that you shouldn't be here. This place is meant to be enjoyed. Why else would I go to the trouble?"

He sighed then, looking down, "Oksana, you know more about my affliction than anyone, though you have only seen a little. I harm no one. Well, unless they wish to kill beautiful gardeners in alleyways at night. No one knows of this but you. But there are times when,..."

He sighed again as he leaned back against a boulder. "You may work or come here into the evening, if you wish. There is low lighting here and there which comes on automatically, but it is not enough to do much more than find your way by, so that the plants may have their natural respiration cycles. At midnight, a chime will sound, and then you have about three minutes to find your way out before the lighting switches off and it is completely dark, aside from any moonlight which comes through the polycarbonate roof panels. I come here then, most nights for a few hours to feel a little as though I was back where I came from. I do not think that you would wish to be here then, though I would not harm you if you were here. You may not like to see me then, that's all."

He brightened a little, "Oh, and I must also point out that I must be away from here at times for a few days, now and again. But even so, on the weekends, I like to come here and work a little myself on the planning and the upkeep, so be sure to leave me something to do, alright? I do this most days, but you should also not be here on one of those two days, I think, in the daytime. You can decide which day, the Saturday or the Sunday. I will leave the choice up to you, or we can talk about it whenever you like."

It was very warm, and with the humidity, they had both begun to sweat a little. Oksana wiped her eyebrow as she looked up at him. "I understand about the night time, I think, Yevgeny. But what is this about the day time? Why wouldn't I like to be here then?"

She thought for a brief moment about how to word what she wanted to express. "I saw someone very different that night to anyone that I have ever seen. If you say that you would not harm me, then I think that I can trust you. I know that you are different, Yevgeny. I want to say that you may turn into what I saw in the alleyway at anytime, if it is up to me, I think, but what happens on those days?"

She chuckled a little hopefully, "Do you turn into a nudist or something?"

He laughed with some mild embarrassment, "As a matter of fact..."

Her mouth fell open. "No!"

She stared at him with a soft smile, "Really?"

She thought that even above all of this, she couldn't believe her luck.

"You may find that working in this place can lead one's mind to little desires to be, ... perhaps a little bit more natural here -- especially because of the controlled climate and how it is so warm here. And why not? It is meant to be enjoyed as well as to give one the joy of tending to it. In the daytime, no one can see into the windows, and no one really comes into the back of the place. I do come here then to enjoy it like that myself. If you find that it appeals to you in that way as well, we can even trade the days for this, if you wish. I would not mind at all."

She found herself struggling for just a second or so, and then she grinned at him. "Listen, I want to assure you that I can understand that if you do not wish for me to be here at those certain times, then I will not be here. But I also want for you to know that it is only if it is you who is shy about this somehow. For myself, I wouldn't mind it a bit to have you running around like that," she laughed, "I wouldn't mind it at all. Can we go back to the house now, before I get even more inspired and you find yourself talking to your new gardener naked herself from this heat?"

He nodded with a smile, and led her back. "Why, Oksana? Were you serious?"

"I might be," she laughed at him, "But I have just gotten here after traveling for what seems like forever. Perhaps I am a little wobbly from it, and hearing these things from you... What a wonderful place I have come to if I can have the chance to see you like that, Yevgeny."

She giggled a bit and he asked.

"I am trying to think of how much I should offer to pay to see that at least once."

For the moment, he was speechless.

She sat in the kitchen and looked at the blank reader card that he'd given her, telling her that no one else was allowed to come there, unless a system was giving problems and there was a maintenance person sent to repair something. She sipped her coffee, wondering. "It all sounds heavenly. Where am I to sleep tonight, Yevgeny? Is there a hotel or something like that nearby?"

He thought a moment, "Not really close by, but not far either, by car. I can help you with this as well if you wish, but really, if you are not bothered by me, I have a small guest house. He pointed out the window, "right over there. Please, save yourself the bother and stay here, unless you are nervous about me or my intentions. I will understand it if you are."

His face grew serious, "Oh, and please, Oksana, I want to make it plain to you that I have no expectations of anything from you in return for bringing you here. So put yourself at ease on that account. What I would like most of all from you is that you can keep the secret about my affliction, and beyond that, I have a hope that I have made a friend, and even a gardener, but nothing more than this."

Oksana had a lot more to think about now, but overall, she felt a great deal of relief and the beginnings of a little happiness. She had a thought and put a couple of things together before speaking. She thought with a little humor that "uncle" Kirrill would have been at least a little proud of her that she'd finally seemed to learn to think with her mouth shut when faced with surprises or things which required careful consideration.

She deliberately placed her hand on the table between them and watched his eyes dart quickly for a moment at the ring. It was what she'd thought that she'd see, and it told her a lot. She took his hand and brought it to her own, laying his fingertips onto the ring with great care. He watched her and then looked at her face.