Kat's father was furious when he found out it would cost upwards of $50,000 to transport and accommodate eleven witnesses for the hearing. "Are you crazy?" he had asked. "You're digging us deep in a hole of debt."
Orysia's eyes stared at her husband coldly.
"Must we have all eleven?" he asked. "Why not just the best five or six?"
Orysia said nothing. She walked away.
There was really no one to talk to about all of this. Kat had drifted away from her friends at St. Paul's, and she didn't feel close enough to either Beth or Callie to confide in them. She wondered how much Michael knew? He treated her no differently at school, and so she assumed that his father had said nothing to him about the upcoming hearing. She knew that Ian suspected something was wrong, but he could never guess the magnitude of what she was going through. Who could?
Just then, she noticed that someone else had entered the bus shelter. She looked up and recognized Dylan, her old acquaintance from day camp. He looked like an overgrown version of the kid he used to be: dark hair buzzed Marine short, a handsome face that still had a bit of childhood pudginess, and friendly chocolate brown eyes. In day camp he'd been a bit on the short and chubby side, but now he was tall and big with muscle, not fat. He wore a navy wool bomber jacket with his school team football logo on it.
He noticed her staring at him so he turned around. "Kat," he said with surprise. "How are you?"
She didn't want to alarm him by saying how she really was, so she just told him she was fine.
"Are you going to Cawthra now?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied. "I switched over from St. Paul's at the beginning of the year."
"There's a lot of freaks at that school," said Dylan. "Be careful."
Kat was surprised at this statement. As far as she was concerned, Cawthra was simply filled with very creative students. If they were freaks, then so was she.
Just then, a black SUV pulled up and the window rolled down. "Hey, there," a familiar voice called.
Kat looked up. It was Ian, his fluorescent yellow hair glinting from the reflection of the snow. "Need a ride?" Ian looked directly at her, and did not even acknowledge that Dylan was standing beside her.
The back door of the SUV opened, and there was Lisa in the back, beckoning her.
With a grin, Kat ran over to the vehicle and hopped in. She waved good-bye to Dylan. "It was nice seeing you again," she called out as she closed the door.
"You should stay away from that creep," said Ian, looking out the window and pointing towards Dylan.
"He's not a creep," said Kat. What was his problem with Dylan, she wondered?
The uncomfortable silence that followed was broken when Lisa said, "Kat, I'd like you to meet my father, Dr. Hung Nguyen."
The driver of the vehicle turned to face Kat in the back seat. Dr. Nguyen extended his hand.
Kat drew one of her freezing hands out of the depths of her pocket and grasped Dr. Nguyen's. She was surprised at its warmth and strength.
"You are Lisa's friend who knows about mushrooms, right?" asked Dr. Nguyen.
Kat smiled. It had never been her claim to fame before. "Yes," she replied. "But probably not as much as you."
Dr. Nguyen grinned, then turned back in his seat to face the steering wheel. "Are you coming to our house, or would you like me to drive you home?" he asked, looking at her through the rearview mirror.
Kat hesitated. Before she could answer, Lisa piped in. "If you're not doing anything, come on over. Ian's coming."
"Sure," said Kat. "That would be fun." She was grateful for the distraction.
Kat looked out the window in silence as Lisa's father drove away from the bus stop. She noticed a few kids walking home, grins on their faces, glad that the holidays had started. A woman crossed in front of the SUV at a busy intersection, her arms loaded down with gift packages. The sight made Kat gulp back sadness. This wasn't exactly going to be a happy holiday for her family.
Lisa's father drove up Cawthra and over the highway and into one of the many new housing developments that had blossomed recently. He turned onto a street with deeply creviced tire tracks of mud and frozen dirt. Lisa's house was a large grey stone mock Tudor on a postage-stamp sized lot. Dr. Nguyen parked in a gravel-covered driveway in front of a two door garage.
When Kat followed the others into the house, she was enveloped in a wonderfully aromatic cooking smell that she couldn't quite identify. It was vaguely familiar. Images of her grandmother fluttered into her mind.
"Come on," said Lisa, unzipping her long boots. "Follow me."
Kat poked her head into the living room and dining room as she passed. Everything was bright, white, and modern. The hallway opened up into a galley style kitchen in the centre of the house. There was an island with a cook top, and on one of the burners was a gigantic stainless steel stock-pot. The lovely aroma was emanating from that.
"My grandmother's making soup," said Lisa, lifting the lid and peering inside. "Can you tell that lemongrass is her favourite seasoning?"
Lisa opened the refrigerator and rooted around until she found three cans of cola. Tossing one to Kat and one to Ian, she gestured for them to follow her into the basement. A corner of the room was finished like a standard rec room with a television, stereo, sofa and chairs, but the rest of it was a huge raised dance floor, with a bar at one end and a small elevated stage and a single screen karaoke system at the other. A glittering mirror-ball was hanging from the ceiling.
"This is bizarre," said Kat. "Your parents must have a lot of parties."
"Not really," said Lisa. "But they sometimes have a few friends over to dance. They love karaoke. My mother won the karaoke system in a contest, so my dad surprised her by building this little stage. Then he put in the lighting system."
Lisa walked over to the stage area and flicked one switch. The lights dimmed; she flicked another and the mirrorball began to rotate slowly. Kat noticed that coloured light was reflecting off the mirrorball and bouncing around the room. Lisa flicked another switch, and her image appeared on the screen behind her.
Ian grinned broadly. "Can I put on a tune?" he asked.
"Take your pick," said Lisa, pointing to a stack of CDs.
Ian flipped through. Most were bubble gum tunes from the 1960s and disco from the 1970s. He pulled out a CD of Saturday Night Fever."This should be good," he said. "What do you think?"
"Sure," Lisa replied with a mischievous smile. "But you've got to perform it."
Lisa popped the disc into the unit and handed Ian the microphone. The screen filled with his image. Along the bottom, the lyrics for "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees appeared, one line at a time. A bouncing ball keeping time. "Stand right here," she said, pulling him to the centre of the stage.
Kat sat cross-legged in the middle of the dance floor and settled in for the performance. Lisa hopped off the stage and sat beside her on the floor. They clapped to the rhythm of the bouncing ball.
"Well you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man — no time to talk!" Ian wailed.
Kat watched the whole absurd scenario of Ian strutting around like John Travolta. He was really quite good. She had been feeling so depressed all day, but watching Ian do the high camp karaoke rendition had her grinning ear to ear.
CHAPTER 18
SVIAT VECHIR WAS usually one of Kat's favourite days in the whole year. While her friends and their families were putting away the last of the tinsel and starting on their New Year's resolutions, for the Baliuks and others in their community, the festivities were just getting under way. Ukrainian Christmas Eve was celebrated on January 6th, and the meticulous preparation of the traditional twelve meatless dishes started weeks in advance. This year, Sviat Vechir fell on a Sunday. Christmas day was on a Monday. It was the first day of school for everyone else, but Genya and Kat would stay home to go to Christmas service with their family. After that, they would have a midday meal of goose and cabbage rolls.