“Can you spot anyone yet?”
“Yeah, Mrs. Hayes is putting streamers on the tables and Mr. Hayes is putting cans and bottles in some coolers. What’s Zima? He’s looking at it suspiciously.”
“It’s a weak American drink. What are they wearing?”
“She has an ugly visor on. And shorts that look uncomfortable. And a sleeveless blouse. Oh, there’s Mrs. Jenkins. She’s wearing a sleeveless dress. The men have on tan shorts and those baseball shirts. The Reds? The dumb boys at school wear those shirts. Mrs. Anderson just showed up wearing jeans shorts with a sunflower print blouse.” Natasha reports as she peaks out of the big window in the living room.
Damn this American holiday. Last year, their first summer in Ohio, they got out of the block party by going camping, and this year, Alexei got caught in the driveway by Steve and Claire Hayes and was too dumbstruck to say camping again or any other excuse. He came in and seriously asked Melina if this holiday was an annual event. So now they were going to spend the day celebrating America. She had been debriefed before their mission on what could possibly happen – fireworks, grilled meats and anything that could be covered in the American flag would be covered in the American flag. Obviously, one of her goals was to keep Alexei from drinking too much lest he go on a rant about geopolitical conflict in front of the neighbors.
“Does this look OK?” Melina pops out the master bedroom wearing a long sleeveless summer dress with a floral pattern.
“It looks fine.” Natasha responds, clearly bored and ready to go play with the neighborhood kids. She was dressed in jean shorts and a red tank top.
“Should I wear sandals or can I get away wearing my sneakers?”
“Sandals.”
“Where are your dad and sister?”
“Mr. Hayes asked him to get some extra bags of ice, and Yelena went with him.”
“So, we’ll head over when they get back. He can carry that damn watermelon he was so excited to try.”
Melina returns to the bedroom to find her sandals. She’s digging under the bed she shares with Alexei when she hears the pitter-patter of tiny feet making their hurried way to the room and plop on the bed.
“You better not be wearing your shoes, little miss, on my bed! Wait, come down here and help Mama find her missing sandal.”
Little Yelena easily crawled underneath the bed and found the sandal and was rewarded with a kiss to her forehead.
“Ready for the party?”
“Yes! Let’s go! Nat, let’s go! Daddy, let’s go!” Luckily, Alexei caught her hand before she crossed the street without looking.
***
“We may have to sing the national anthem of this …” Alexei says as the family unit stands by their Ford Explorer.
“Al, no politics.”
“OK, anyway, gamefaces girls. “
“Remember, we are the Rushmans. Natalie, Nell, Al, Melanie, Mom, Dad. OK, have fun.” Melina reminds them and herself.
Alexei has Nat carry the bag of ice, he carries the watermelon, Melina carries a salad that had far too much mayonnaise to be called a salad and Yelena skips across the street because she was too little to carry anything.
Food was deposited in the shade, ice was handed off and the girls went off in separate directions while Alexei draped his arm over Melina and made small talk with some neighbors.
***
“Hey, Al! Fred and I were talking about weddings. His nephew just got married and he was telling me that their first dance was that U2 song. … One! And Donna and I went to a wedding a while ago and they also danced to that song. I don’t think it’s that romantic of a song really. Back when Donna and I got married, our first dance song was ‘Ain’t No Mountain.’ He had some Carpenters song. What was your song?”
“Oh, um. What … was it?”
“Uh oh.”
“Hey, hon, what was our song … at our wedding reception?” He says as Melina walks by with Marcus’ wife, Donna. As he does this, Marcus gives Fred a look like this could end badly.
“You don’t remember?” Melina responds with a twinkle in her eye. She stops just short of feigning shock, that would be selling it a bit too hard.
“Was it that Air Supply song?” He’s seen it on one of those infomercials and the name of the band had struck him as odd.
“Making Love Out of Nothing At All!” Fred exclaims, hoping to help his fellow man in this sticky situation.
“Yes, thank you Fred! Was it that?”
“Nope,” Melina denies him a correct answer, they didn’t have a song and they both knew this, and she feels like playing the disagreeable wife like she had seen on the American sitcoms they watch with the girls. “I’m just going to walk over there and when you remember our song, come find me.”
Melina walks over to some of the ladies in the shade and sits down. She grabs a Zima and raises it in Alexei’s general direction. Playing the typical suburban couple is almost too easy sometimes.
“Sorry man.”
“Yeah, hope you’re not in the doghouse for too long.”
Knowing that isn’t the case at all, he plays along and lets out a grunt like he’s seen on that American sitcom he watches with the girls. He turns around to keep an eye on girls taking turns on a tire swing in the next yard.
***
While Yelena ran over to Alexei to get him to twirl her around before they ate, Nat gets a look at Sasha’s new bike. She really likes Sasha and has to bite her tongue every single time Sasha’s mother calls her in for the night because for a second she thinks she’s being called in as well. Sasha was really excited about her purple bike, it was a 12-speed, while Nat only had a 10-speed.
“It’s so cool.” Nat is generally in awe of it.
“Thanks. Hey, did you ever notice that all the moms except our moms look the same?”
Thinking for a second that her family had been found out, Nat tries to regulate her breathing.
“Well, they all have that short mom hair.”
“Oh yeah! I don’t think my mom is ever going to cut hers. Like ever. Your mom’s braids are so pretty.”
“It’s a whole thing. She goes and visits my aunt Camille in Cincinnati and has them done.”
“Neat.”
The girls are soon called over to get some hot dogs, and as much as Nat and Yelena would like to pile their plates with chips, Melina insists they take some cold vegetables from the deli platter the Carlsons brought to be polite. Alexei finds he likes baked beans. Melina glares at him and he takes a heaping spoonful of her non-salad salad.
***
When it gets dark, Alexei finds Melina and Yelena sitting on an old quilt in the Hayeses’ front yard. Melina is explaining quietly what she should expect from the firework show put on by the local Jaycees at the park a few blocks over. He sits down at the end of the quilt and Yelena crawls into his lap and continues to listen to her mother. After a minute or two, Melina scoots back and leans her head on Alexei’s right shoulder.
***
As Alexei carries a slumbering Yelena over his shoulder and Melina guides a very tired Natasha back to their split-level, Alexei proclaims “I think that Air Supply song is actually very fitting.”
Melina blushes and hopes it’s too dark for Alexei to see, but then the motion sensor lights near the front door flash on and he sees her face.