All the Things You Are

Jelena stifled a yawn and glanced out the window as the plane began its descent towards Ruzyme Airport, the suburbs of Prague coming into view. In a few hours, I'm going to be meeting my dad, at least that's what the lawyer says. But we do look a lot alike and it matches up, why did he contact me now?, she wondered.

The plane touched down and taxied over to the gate, gradually coming to a stop as the flexible ramp was attached to the door. Jelena was grateful for being in first class when she was amongst the first passengers to get off, clutching onto her clarinet case with all her documents inside. She quickly went through customs as she had nothing to declare and looked on warily as a young man her age with longish curly brown hair came over, extending his hand. "Dobry den, Jelena. Your father told me to come and pick you up, I am your cousin Milan", he said, extending his hand.

Jelena gave him a tepid handshake and a look. "I don't know about that, dude. I want some answers first", she retorted.

Milan nodded in understanding and raised an eyebrow when he saw the clarinet case instead of a purse. "I play the clarinet and everything I need is in there, makes more sense than a purse. And I think I play it rather well", she added confidently.

"This is going to be interesting", he muttered under his breath.

Milan nodded in approval when he saw that she had only a large dull green duffel bag with her, not wanting to carry a lot of things back to his car. "Kladno is about an hour from here, Jagrs have lived here for many, many generations. Our family used to own a lot of land and even had a title that had been given to them by the Hapsburgs, but the Communists stole everything. My uncle house is a replica of the Jagr ancestral manor, we went from nobles to peasants and back", said Milan with a grim smile.

Jelena said nothing as she followed him towards the parking lot, Milan stopping at a black late-model Audi and taking out the keys. "My uncle got this for me when I turned twenty-one", he said proudly, clicking on the Unlock button and opening the doors and trunk as he placed the bag inside.

Jelena settled into the passenger seat as Milan got inside and started the engine, the radio turned to Outlaw Country on the Sirius satellite network as she raised an eyebrow. "You can change the station if you want", he said as he put on the seatbelt and backed out of the space.

She nodded and scanned the dial and found the 40's station as it played Frenesi by Artie Shaw. "That's what I play, I've been playing clarinet since I was a kid. One of my music teachers played in Stan Kenton's band back in the 50's, I can play a lot of stuff and I can read music', she said.

"How wonderful, I just listen to music. Your father isn't at all musical, he is an athlete", said Milan thoughtfully.

"That's why this is so fucked-up, imagine getting a call from someone famous claiming they're your dad", she said dryly.

"Touche, Jelena. But you can deny you look just like your father when he was younger, you have the Jagr looks", said Milan as he followed the signs to the highway.

Milan drove onto the highway and glanced over at Jelena as she leaned back in the black leather seat. She was tall and slim with shoulder-length curly dark hair that was a shade of brown verging on black, her blue eyes the color of a cloudless sky in her sharp-featured Slavic face with its high cheekbones and slightly tilted cat-like eyes of a sort not usually found in many Americans, even if she did speak English with an American accent.

Milan drove westwards along the highway until he saw the exit sign for Kladno. The city itself appeared to be nothing more than a massive sprawl of apartment buildings and small houses on its outskirts and a pretty restored Old Town of Baroque and Art Noveau buildings that looked like something out of a postcard, quickly driving through it. Outside the town were several low hills that sprouted in the middle of a plain, many of them covered with trees except for one as they approached. From the road it resembled a medieval manor house of the sort where the local lord could survey his domain, the house easily one of the biggest in the entire area. The house was three storeys high and made of solid red brick with white wood trim, surrounded by manicured gardens and guarded by a wrought-iron fence with the family coat of arms.

Jelena couldn't help but gape when Milan drove up to the gate and pressed a code to enter the gates, the house easily the largest and grandest she had ever seen. "I know, Americans may have big houses but nothing quite like this", he chuckled.

Jelena was still speechless as she let him help her out of the car, but now she felt the heavy weight of anticipation settle on her. "Relax, cousin. My uncle is probably more nervous than you", he said reassuringly as he led her inside the house...