The cold war 12

Chapter 07 When the past comes to visit

It was four thirty in the afternoon as Elena Volkova sat in her living room, sipping her chamomile tea, she had considered making herself something stronger to drink, but with it being a Thursday, she had decided to try and be good.

So far, it had been relaxing week, business was quiet, as it always was in the fall, and with Irina taking on more responsibility lately, and with Ben now helping out, she had more time for the other things she enjoyed in life, like painting, going to the theatre, and meeting with friends.

Thinking about Ben, she shook her head, she still couldn’t quite believe the messily dressed, slothful boy, who she had taken in, and received nothing but childish disrespectful behaviour in return, was the same person who had left the house that morning with her daughter, dressed in a cute top and skirt, off to do a little shopping and get their nails done.

She thought back to when her daughter had first mentioned the idea of teaching Ben a lesson, and that by experiencing some of the things she had to deal with each month, he might gain a little more perspective on what modern day women have to go through.

Elena had found the idea amusing, but never thought her stepson would actually agree to it, and if he did, she had expected him to have quit at the first sign of something he disliked. But to his credit, he hadn't quit, he had stuck with it, no matter the how embarrassing or inconvenient the challenge put in front of him.

She still found the idea of a boy dressing as a girl strange, in her culture, men were men and women were women, there was no grey area, but with Ben adapting to the role like a duck to water, she had been starting to question her ideas about gender lately.

“He must want to be a woman”, she thought to herself, “it’s the only thing that makes sense, that must be why he has been so rebellious and difficult all these years, he must have felt miserable and trapped”.

It wasn’t the first time she’d had this thought, as she had watched him over the last few days looking so comfortable wearing her daughters clothes and strutting about in Irina's high heeled shoes. He had even started learning Russian, shocking her the other day by calling her Mamulya, just like Irina, and asking her how her day had been.

The question that kept coming to her mind, was, how did she feel about Ben living as a woman? She still hadn’t decided. There was a side of her, having lived in the west for so long, that said to hell with it, if he’s happy, then let him live his life as a woman, but then there was another voice in her head, the voice telling her it wasn’t right, and that a man should be a man.

There was also the matter of her business, Irina had gone against what she had told her, explaining to Ben what they did in the office, she had even given him the number of some of their most important clients. This worried her, as most of these men were very traditional in the way they thought about the world, if they found out, the person they were talking to was in fact a sissy boy in a dress, it would ruin her reputation, it could even destroy the business she had worked so hard to build.

But it was too late to change things now, it had already been done, she had scolded Irina for disobeying her and made her promise to treat Ben like a real girl from then on. No more trying to embarrass him, he was to be treated like a woman at all times, and she was to go out of her way to make sure none of their clients ever found out his true gender.

Hearing the front door open and then close, Elena turned her head towards the doorway, “Mamulya, we’re back”, Irina’s voice sang out through the appointment.

“I’m in the living room”, Elena replied in Russian.

Elena looked over to the chair opposite, where her guest sat and gave him a nod. He looked a little awkward sat there with his cup and saucer, obviously not a fan of chamomile tea, but at least he was polite enough not to say so.

They had sat in silence for the last ten minutes or so, the young man, had at first, tried to strike up a conversation, but the silence didn’t bother Elena, and she had no intention of wasting her time with pointless chit chat.

The voices in the hallway were getting louder, “so you’re saying you wanted them to add sparkly jewels to your nails like mine”, she heard Irina say.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying”, Ben replied, “it’s just if we don’t have to do things exactly the same anymore, why couldn’t I at chose the length or at least the colour, this red it so bright”?

“It matches your lipstick”, Elena heard Irina reply as she noticed an odd look on the face of her guest, “well it did before you wiped most of it off on that skinny latte cup”.

giggling, Irina entered the room and stopped dead, noticing the man sat opposite her mother. Ben following her in couldn’t see the man as Irina was blocking her view, “Mamulya, do you like my nails”, he said looking towards Elena, and wiggling his fingers, his long acrylic red nails, shining in the light.

“Yes, very pretty, Bunny, but we have guest”, Elena replied.

As Elena finished her sentence, Irina stepped out of the way, allowing Ben to see the man sat on the other side of the room staring at him with a shocked look on his face.

“Jake, oh my god”, Ben shrieked, “what are you doing here”?

(See image 7.1)