All the Things You Are

"After practice we can come back to the house for a bit and then we can go to Cerny Kocka, they have karaoke tonight", said Milan after breakfast the following day.

"Do you play too?", asked Jelena, sipping her coffee.

"Ne, I used to play in college until I tore my ACL and I had to get two surgeries, I can't do anything except skate. I went to college at the University of Wisconsin", said Milan proudly.

"Awesome, you're a Badger? I went to Dietrict College at Carnegie Mellon, I have my BA in Russian studies and I'm looking to get my masters, my minor was European Studies", she replied as Milan looked very impressed.

"Vyborny, Jelena. What irony, you are Czech and you have a Russian Studies degree. Of course you must speak Russian", he teased.

"Da, ya gavareyt Russki", she retorted.

Jaromir came by the table and smiled at them, dressed casually in jeans and an orange Flyers t-shirt which read Orange Crush. "The rink is not far from here and perhaps some of my teammates are going to be there. Milan, I know it's ironic but you do remember I speak Russian too, we had to when I was in school. And it could come in handy, it did when I played in Omsk", he teased.

"When is Deda coming?", asked Milan.

"He is arriving from Karlovy Vary tomorrow", he said.

"Looking forward to meeting the old man", said Jelena dryly.

Jaromir just shook his heand and put a hand on her shoulder. "I told him about you and he wants to meet you, dceruska. He is not an ogre", he chided.

"I hope not, I hope he's not one of these old dudes who thinks he's royalty", she retorted, an amused look in her blue eyes.

Jaromir burst into laughter. "You aren't intimidated, I like that", he said approvingly.

"That's because I'm an American, we haven't had royalty in a few hundred years. Unless you consider the Kardashians to be royalty", she deadpanned.

"Ti legrarni, Jelena", said Milan, as he put everything in the dishwasher, added the soap and turned it on.

Half an hour later, they were at the town's arena as Jaromir led them past security. "Since I own the team, I don't need to be checked by security", he explained.

The arena was a large barn built back in the 50's, the interior bare and spartan with only a few banners handing over the ice providing color. The seating area consisted of but a handful of plain wooden seats bolted to the floor and near the boards with the rest of the seating nothing but bare wooden benches, but it was immaculately clean as the janitors had just cleaned it yesterday.

"I know it's quite drab, but the building is still good and sound, it makes no sense to build a new one if this one is still good. And all the other arenas in the league are like this", explained Jaromir
The arena was an aging barn that had been built by the local Communist authoritie.

Jelena nodded in understanding as the men left to change in the dressing room below the ice. She sat down in one of the seats near the boards and set the clarinet case on her knees, idly wondering what the acoustics were like here.

Jelena watched as Jaromir and Milan skated onto the ice in practice uniforms, the soft murmur of the skates against the ice sounding very loud in the arena. The two men started out by doing a few simple skating exercises, skating around the perimeter of the ice in a leisurely fashion, then gradually picking up speed. She watched and mentally winced, know she couldn't go anywhere that fast. That's why I took up music, she thought dryly.

She took out her clarinet from its case and clicked on a few of the keys, checking the reed under the mouthpiece to make sure it wasn't cracked. Jelena played a few notes before playing My Blue Heaven. The cheerful jazz standard echoed throughout the empty arena and was magnified by the arena's acoustics, her clarinet veering from creamy mid-range notes to higher pitches that did not sound at all harsh.

Both Jaromir and Milan looked at her direction with surprised and delighted looks on their faces. Jelena just laughed and played I Got the Sun in the Morning, their smiles growing wider.

"Wow, ty hrat na skvely", said Milan admiringly.

"Dekuji, I've been playing since I was ten and I practice a lot. Plus, the acoustics here are great", said Jelena.

"I think my father would like this, I don't think anyone in the family is musical, though", said Jaromir thoughtfully.

"We can stay out a bit late tonight, lucky your room is far from my uncle's", said Milan as Jelena gave him a look.

"That is gross, I don't want to even think about that", she said, making a face.

"And since we are going to be drinking, I'll call the driver to come pick us up", he said.

"You guys have a driver too?", she asked in disbelief.

"Ano, but only Vera uses him. My uncle and I drive, then again she is always shopping and needs the driver to bring back her stuff", said Milan a touch bitterly.

Jelena nodded in understanding as she went to her room to change. And lucky I didn't end up in one of the fancy rooms, she thought as she looked through her closet. Her room on the second floor was on the far end of the hall, smaller and less fancy than the others. It was decorated simply with pale peach walls adorned with tiny purple flowers stenciled onto the walls, a matching carpet on the floor. The bed was a simple full-sized one with a modest white lace canopy overhead and a cream lace-topped quilt and matching pillows, the dresser and nightstand made of polished dark cherry wood that smelled pleasantly of lemon.

Jelena changed into a blue denim knee-length Gap dress and stockings with black suede boots whose heels made her nearly six feet tall. She combed her hair as it fell in loose waves around her shoulders, adding just a bit of makeup before leaving the room.

"Prijemny, cousin. If anyone bothers you, I can take care of it", he said. Milan had changed into pressed gray slacks and a cream polo shirt, his brown hair neatly combed.

"Save that for whatever girl you hook up with", she teased.

Milan chuckled, a quick shadow falling across his face she didn't see. "I'll drive us there, I know the owner and he'll watch the car for me. We'll call the driver later", he said, reaching into his pocket for the keys.

"Does my dad mind us coming back late?", she asked.

Milan shook his head as he opened the door of the car. "Ne, I think he did crazier things when he was younger. I've heard the stories, Uncle Jaromir was a wild man when he was younger. He had long hair, drove flashy cars and always had beautiful women with him, everything. But he isn't like that anymore, he even converted to the Orthodox church when he was living in Russia. He won't expect you to go with him, though", said Milan.

"I wasn't actually raised in any religion, I did go to Catholic school, though", said Jelena.

"Me too, religion isn't really big here. Anyways, i hope you like karaoke, the karaoke machine at Cerny Kocka is really good", said Milan as he drove away from the house.

"I don't sing, I play the clarinet. All the other girls wanted to sing, so I had to do something different", she chuckled.

"I see, and they all wanted to be Britney Spears, sprarvny? We have rubbish pop music here too, every country has its awful music", Milan mused aloud.

Milan parked in the lot adjacent to the club and led them inside. The club was inside of a modest two-story house, the first floor with a long bar along one side and a small dance floor and a stage for karaoke while the upper floor was an extra bar and a few tables. Christmas lights were strewn across the bar and twinkled softly in the dim interior, the walls decorated with posters for local bands and signs advertising various beer brands. A jukebox in the corner played I Got Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks as Milan led them over to the bar.

"Dva pivo", he told the bartender.

"Reckon you ought to get drunk if you're going to do karaoke", she chuckled.

"I know, it's always more fun towards later on when everyone is really drunk and they do karaoke", said Milan as the bartender set down two pints of beer in front of them.

"What sort of music is popular here?", she asked, taking a sip of her beer.

"Country is popular here, we're not fancy people like in Prague. Techno and pop too, our pop may be worse than what you have in the states", he teased.

"It can't be worse than Russian pop, that is horrible", she retorted.

"Ano, cousin", he agreed.