Fort Collins

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “Uh,” Sissy said. She licked her lips and fidgeted with the tube to the nasal cannula that blew oxygen into her nose. At this moment, she was glad Sandy had insisted on hooking her to the portable oxygen tank before coming into this room. “Do you want the medical diagnosis? Or what happened? Or. . .?”

  “You are in possession of Sissy’s medical records,” Sandy said in a firm voice.

  The ten adults around the table started shuffling through the papers in front of them. After a minute, the man in the center pushed the papers aside.

  “If I may speak for everyone,” the man said.

  The man looked around the table at the five women and four other men. Sissy noticed that one of the men was the man that Nadia had talked to on the way into the building last night. Noticing her look, the man gave her a slight nod. The man running the show looked at Seth last. Sissy had the distinct impression that the man knew Seth.

  “I believe the heart of the issue is very simply this,” the man said. “Ms. Delgado is an apprentice in our program. We take our responsibility for our apprentices very seriously. We want them to flourish as dancers without the pernicious influence of lascivious teachers preying on our young people.”

  Sissy blinked at him.

  “‘Pernicious’ means. . .” Sissy’s morning warm up teacher started to say.

  “I understand what he’s saying,” Sissy said in an irritated voice. “I’m not an idiot.”

  The woman grinned. The man in the center’s lips flicked up in a fast smile before settling to more neutral.

  “I just find the question irritating,” Sissy said. “You know Ivan! Many of you have known him intimately. How can you even think. . .”

  “We have a tremendous responsibility,” the man in the center said.

  “That you take seriously — yes, I heard you,” Sissy said. “I’m sorry. I’m very tired, and my side has started to hurt. What is it that you wish to know?”

  “We’d like to know about your relationship with Ivan,” the woman sitting to Sissy’s right asked.

  “You know about my relationship with Ivan!” Sissy said.

  The adults looked up from the papers in front of them to focus on Sissy.

  “This woman,” Sissy gestured to the woman who’d just spoken, “the one next to you, the one over there, and I’ve seen a photo of Ivan with the one sitting there — they’ve all dated Ivan.”

  The man in the center raised his eyebrows with surprise.

  “Why don’t you tell the room what my relationship with Ivan was like when you were dating him, Janet?” Sissy asked the woman on her right.

  “Uh,” Janet said. She blushed bright red.

  “Go ahead,” Seth said.

  Janet looked at the man in the center, and he nodded.

  “She was his student,” Janet said. “She was a child. He was quite fond of her. He worked with her every afternoon after school for an hour or so. I believe Mr. O’Malley paid him. Um. . .”

  Under the table, Sandy gave Sissy’s hand a squeeze. The woman on Sissy’s left gave Sissy an ironic smile.

  “I dated Ivan for a while when he was here in New York,” the woman said. “I’m Eva, Sissy. He had just returned after working with Sissy in Denver.”

  Eva shrugged.

  “He told me about Sissy,” Eva said. “Sissy had a terrible eating disorder. He was worried that she might die. He also told me about Katia.”

  Eva’s voice hardened.

  “Frankly, I was more worried that Katia would murder me in my sleep than the insane idea that Ivan had molested Sissy,” Eva said. “The woman was completely mad. I cannot believe that we are even entertaining the idea that. . .”

  The man in the center cleared his throat, and Eva shut her mouth. The man gestured to another one of the women. She raised her eyebrows, but he gave her an insistent nod.

  “I have seen the video.” The woman’s voice had a thick German accent. “Isadora, Sissy dear. I saw my dear friend Ivan trying to save his student’s life. That is what I saw.”

  “And your relationship with Ivan?” the man in the center asked.

  “He was a dear friend to me,” Isadora said with a soft smile. “He still is a dear friend to me. As for his relationship with Sissy, I can only tell you what I saw when they were here, as I had Sissy in class. She has an incredible talent, the best I’ve seen in a long, long time. Ivan treated her with the utmost professionalism. If that is no longer the case, then something has changed. They both faced death. I imagine a lot of things have changed.”

  “I had Sissy for morning warm-up,” another woman said. “Sissy, you might not remember, but I’m. . .”

  “Melinda,” Sissy said. “I remember you from Denver.”

  Melinda smiled at Sissy.

  “I dated Ivan when I was in Esprit de Corps in Denver,” Melinda said. “I met him because I wanted to improve my chances of moving to a New York ballet. I found him. . . captivating.”

  Melinda smiled.

  “I can tell you that he loved Sissy, very much, in fact,” Melinda said. “I have been around the. . . what did you say? ‘Pernicious influence of lascivious teachers’?”

  A beautiful woman in her prime as a soloist ballerina, Melinda’s smile lit up the room.

  “I grew up with such a pernicious influence,” Melinda said. “I know what it is to be groomed by a pedophile. That is not what was going on between Ivan and Sissy. Ivan loved her. Her father saved him from the gulag specifically so he could work with Sissy, for God’s sake. She’s extraordinarily talented. How could he not love her?”

  Melinda sniffed at the man in the center.

  “Are you married to Ivan?” a man on Sissy’s left asked.

  “No,” Sissy said.

  “Are you dating?” the man asked.

  “I’ve never been on a date with Ivan,” Sissy said.

  “But you’re involved?” the man in the center asked as a way to regain control of the room.

  “Involved?” Sissy asked. “What does that mean?”

  “I think they want to assess what’s going on with you and Ivan,” Seth said.

  “Just tell them about Ivan,” Sandy said. “I can fill in what you don’t remember.”

  Sandy looked up at the adults in the room.

  “I’ve known Ivan most of my life,” Sandy said. “I can assure you that he has not been anything but appropriate and professional with Sissy — and every other child he’s been around, for that matter.”

  “Did something change?” the woman sitting on Sandy’s right asked.

  Sandy nodded to Sissy.

  “I died,” Sissy said. “I think that’s what happened. I died on the sidewalk and then again when I was saving Ivan from Katia. He died on the surgery table after Katia tried to kill him.”

  Sissy sighed. She felt the weight of everything that had happened catching up with her.

  “I think death has a way of clarifying things,” Sissy said. “Don’t get me wrong. I have always loved Ivan, and he has always loved me. Don’t most teachers love their students? I can tell you that most students love their teachers.”

  “That is why it’s so important to ensure that our students are not vulnerable to their teachers!” an elderly man said with a distinctive lilt.

  Sissy gave him an exhausted sigh.

  “I know you’ve spoken with Ivan,” Sissy said. “And. . . I. . .”

  “Just answer for yourself, Sis,” Seth said.

  “Um. . .” Sissy licked her lips and took a breath. “Well. . .”

  ~~~~~~~~~

  Monday midday — 11:02 a.m.

  Denver, Colorado

  Noelle waited while the lawyers argued over this tiny, stupid stuff. She thought the jury was going to scream in bored frustration. The Judge certainly seemed angry. Noelle was pretty sick of it herself. She’d hoped to get back to school. As the clock ticked, she knew they were going to break for lunch soon. She was going to be stuck here all afternoon.

  The Dep
uty District Attorney turned to Noelle, and Noelle gave her a hopeful smile.

  “Looking at the time, why don’t we take a break?” the Judge asked. “Ms. Norsen, remember you are still under oath during lunch.”

  “We don’t talk about the trial,” Noelle said. “None of us. It’s important to take out the garbage.”

  Noelle sneered at the defendant ,and the jury chuckled. The defending attorney jumped to his feet and started yelling. The Deputy District Attorney shook her head.

  Noelle leaned back in her chair.

  She was definitely going to be here all afternoon.

  Chapter Three Hundred and eighty-six

  Finishing up

  Monday midday — 12:42 p.m.

  New York City, New York

  Sissy paused to catch her breath. Remembering Seth’s encouragement to not let them set the tone, she let the pause linger. She focused on calming her breath as she looked around the room. She took the time to look into the face of each of the people in the room. When her breath was easy, she gave a slight smile before nodding.

  “I get it,” Sissy said. “I really do. You see me — a young woman, a ballerina, from Denver — and you think ‘These people from nowhere-ville Denver, they’re all inbred and stupid. They are not as sophisticated as we are here in New York City. They can’t possibly know what was going on.’”

  Isabelle cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow to the man across from her. Sissy nodded at her acknowledgment.

  “You couldn’t be more wrong,” Sissy said. “Someone I love very much was involved in child pornography for most of her upbringing. Her situation was a topic of conversation in my household growing up. I knew as a young child that children could be preyed upon. I knew how to catch it before things got out of hand and what to do if it happened. Moving to New York, my sister and her husband both worked with me so that I knew strategies to keep myself safe. I spent an hour with my patron, Otis, while he warned me of the dangers of ballet companies. None of this was about Ivan. This thing with Ivan. . . It’s new.”

  Sissy gave a firm nod before continuing. “We have no secrets in our family. We also don’t pretend that life is easy and the world is safe. I knew there was a risk moving to New York. More than that, I knew exactly what to do if something awful happened to me.

  “Before that, myself and my brothers and sister had to go through dating school. We learned how everything worked. I wasn’t thrust out into the world. I was informed of what happens between men and women. I was also given real skills how to know what was right for me and how to deal with things if they weren’t. That’s not to mention that many of my closest friends and my brother are now embroiled in a big rape case in Denver.

  “That’s how I ended up getting shot. That’s where I was last week — to testify in a huge, violent rape case. So you see, these issues are ones that even unsophisticated Denverites have to deal with.”

  Sissy stopped to take her breath.

  “That doesn’t mean. . .” the man across from Isabella said at the same time the man in the middle said, “We have every right. . .”

  “I haven’t finished,” Sissy said cutting them off.

  Seth leaned toward Sissy in support.

  “You’re asking me if Ivan groomed me to be his lover,” Sissy said. “Let’s get down to what you’re really asking. Did Ivan ask me to touch his penis? No. Did he encourage me to kiss him in a sexual way? No. Did he take naked pictures of me? No. Did he reward me for being seductive? No. Did he subtly encourage me to meet his sexual or other needs? No. Did he touch me, stroke me, or bend me in positions that were sexual in nature? No. Did he give me presents when I was seductive? No. Did he touch my genitals? No.”

  Sissy asked and answered each question in quick succession.

  “What Ivan did was love me,” Sissy said.

  One of the men opened his mouth to speak.

  “I haven’t finished,” Sissy said. “You made me come here and answer your questions. You cannot then cut me off when I’m doing just that.”

  “Go ahead, Sissy,” the man in the middle said.

  “When I say that Ivan loved me, I mean that he held me on his lap while I bawled my eyes out at my father’s funeral,” Sissy said. “He talked to me like I mattered. He treated me like a human being, not a stupid child. He bullied me until I believed that I could possibly be more than I was. He believed in my dreams, sometimes more than I did. He showed up, was present, listened to me and responded thoughtfully — every single day for years.”

  “Was his love sexual in nature? No,” Sissy said. “Did I know that he was a sexual being? Yes. He had lots of girlfriends, a few of them you’ve heard from. Did I believe that he wanted me to be one of them? No. Did I ever feel pressure to be his girlfriend? No. He treated me like his precious ‘Sissy.’ I only ever wanted to be just that.”

  Sissy nodded.

  “That’s what I have to say,” Sissy said.

  “Has something changed in your relationship?” the man in the center asked.

  “I have answered this question, more than once,” Sissy said. “For the record — death changes things. The rest is none of your business.”

  “We need to. . .” the man in the center said.

  “No,” the man who’d met Nadia at the limo last night spoke up. Sissy was surprised that he had an Australian accent. “We have heard what we were concerned about. We do not need to know the intimate details of Ivan and Sissy’s relationship.”

  He looked up at Sissy and smiled.

  “I’m Ian Beckenshire, Ms. Delgado,” the man said with a nod. “Ms. Delgado told us that her relationship has changed since she and Ivan battled back from the very brink of death. I can tell you that she is not lying or exaggerating. They nearly died. It’s a miracle that we are not mourning the loss of our student and teacher instead of badgering her with provincial questions from paranoid busybodies.”

  Sissy raised her eyebrows in surprise. She felt more than saw Sandy do the exact same expression. She glanced at Seth. He seemed amused.

  “You cannot. . .” the man in the middle said.

  “Yes, in fact, I can,” Ian said. “It has only been a week or possibly two. How does this young woman have any idea what her relationship with Ivan is or will be? She is young and injured. He is still recovering. She’s just returned to New York after testifying to her attempted murder at a horrific trial and, now, has testify to us about the very nature of love. I, for one, have heard enough. The rest is, indeed, none of our business.”

  He nodded in Seth’s direction.

  “Out of sheer, human decency, I move that we let this matter drop,” Ian said. “Who agrees with me?”

  All of the women and some of the men raised their hands.

  “That is the majority,” Ian said. “You must now drop this!”

  The man in the center shook his head.

  “If you’re truly unwilling to stop this witch hunt,” Sandy said, “I am exercising my right to cancel Sissy from her contract. I will also be fighting Ivan’s contract. They have both received offers from ballet companies all over the world. There is no reason they should stay here and have to put up with this inquisition.”

  The adults looked at Sandy with surprise.

  “Ivan’s contract is binding,” the man in the center said.

  “I’m so glad you’re clear on that point,” Seth said. “If Ivan is not relieved of his contract, I will remove all levels of my support of this ballet company. I can assure you that Otis and his family will no longer financially support this ballet. Katia’s husband will remove his support. Further, I will speak with all of your remaining benefactors. I think you’ll be surprised at how persuasive I can be.”

  “I can assure you that Kerminoff Industries will retire their support of the ballet company as soon as possible,” Ian said.

  “You will lose most, if not all, of your charitable support,” Sandy said with a raise of her eyebrows.

  Sandy got up from her
seat. She held her hand out to Sissy.

  “Come on, Sis,” Sandy said. “We’ll let the lawyers work out the rest.”

  Sissy gave Sandy a confused look but didn’t dare not to do what Sandy asked. With Sandy’s help, she got to her feet, and they left the meeting. Seth followed behind.

  “Your turn,” Sandy said to Schmidty, who was waiting by the door to the room.

  Schmidty gave a quick nod with his head and went into the room. Sissy leaned on Sandy as they threaded their way through the hallways to get back to where Ivan and the others were waiting. Ivan held her for a long moment before letting it go.

  “How did it go?” Ivan asked.

  “Awful,” Sissy said.

  “Sissy was fantastic!” Seth said.

  Otis gave Sissy a pat on the back while Mari hugged her tight.

  “What now?” Sissy asked.

  “You should take her to expensive hotel for good food and rest,” Otis said.

  “I’d rather just go home, if that’s okay,” Sissy said.

  Otis gave her a big smile and brief hug.

  “Are we done?” Ivan asked.

  “For now,” Seth said. “Schmidty is in there, finishing up the details.”

  Ivan nodded.

  “I would love to go home, as well,” Ivan said. “Please, you are all welcome. I will call ahead and have Giovanni get lunch together.”

  Mari looked at Otis, and he smiled.

  “I’d love to see the apartment,” Sandy said. “To meet Giovanni.”

  “You know Giovanni?” Sissy asked.

  “I helped him with your room,” Sandy said with a smile. “I wanted to take Sissy shopping after lunch if she’s up for it. Then I need to rush off to get back to Denver. Noelle is testifying today, and I have marriage class tonight.”

  “We should keep moving,” Seth said.

  “I can’t go shopping,” Sissy said. “I have to meet with school.”

  Sandy smiled, and Ivan chuckled.

  “What?” Sissy asked.

  “You just went through the fire,” Seth said. “You can rest this afternoon.”

  “Take on next fight tomorrow,” Otis said.