Chapter 27: Preparing to Jump...
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I was in the hospital for the better part of a week. When the doctors finally did let me go home they sent me on a very restricted schedule. I wasn't allowed to run or skate, or lift weights. I wasn't to do anything strenuous or take any bumps. I was to stay hydrated and make sure that I ate. The doctor suggested 5 small meals rather than 3 larger ones. The hospital arranged for a translator to make sure that Alexi knew all the doctor's orders. I wouldn't be able to fight it. I was going to have to allow Alexi to interfere.
And interfere he did. You'd have thought that I was a small child. Alexi can be very controlling and it is not good for him. He made sure that I ate and dictated our schedule. It wasn't like I could do anything anyway. I was allowed to go to the ballet lessons as long as I didn't overexert myself. Alexi made very sure that I didn't. I walked in the morning while he ran. I had to stay in some kind of shape.
He dragged me over to the madhouse where he lived for dinners until I threatened to go home to Newport. We had a huge fight. We were both enraged, but there was no violence. I had to eat and if I wouldn't eat with his family then we would eat at my apartment, but I would eat. Alexi insisted.
Alexi was obviously concerned about me and he really wanted to take good care of me. As hard as it was to accept, I really needed his help, but I was not about to let him take over my life. He could be so dictatorial. We had almost as big a fight over that as we had had over dinners with his family. When we spoke again, he was very penitent. Being controlling was part of abusive behavior, he was going to work on it.
Things improved. I walked while he ran. I did the ballet and while he watched out of the corner of his eye, he was solicitous but not smothering. I watched his skating practices with one foot up on the boards stretching my thigh muscles. I even did a tiny little bit of weight training until Alexi caught me and made me stop.
That first day, I had a huge pile of mail under the slot. Mama had sent a large envelope with my mail from home. There were several postcards from Sasha. Each one said basically the same thing,"(this city) is great. I wish that you were here. I think of you often. My heart is in your hands." There was an envelope that had come directly to Chicago with snapshots of Sasha next to people like Brian Boitano, Melissa Phan and Millar and Schutes. There was even one of Lily Lee, the Korean national champion in 1989. Each one was autographed. There were several pictures of Sasha with Yelena and Mikhael in various sight-seeing type places and even an action shot of Sasha doing a quad in practice. Wrapped up under the pictures was a short letter and 2 paper tickets and two laminated tags that hung off of chains.
Darling,
I hope to see you in Chicago on the 30th of July. I've enclosed good tickets for the show at the Chicago Center. There's also all access passes for backstage. I'd really like to meet your new partner, so make sure you bring him. I'm free after August 1 so maybe we could fly back to Newport together. I really want to be with you.
Loving you, Sasha
I wrapped everything back up and considered my original decision not to tell Sasha who my new partner was and not to discuss the existence of Sasha with Alexi. I knew that it might cause me trouble in the future, but as I had said, I'd burn that bridge when I got there. Sooo here I was, my bridges crackling merrily before me, in flames. I had to go to the show. Not that I would miss it for the world. I hadn't seen Sasha in 6 weeks. I hadn't seen Yelena, Mikhael, Vitor or Irina since the Olympics and I was not going to pass up the chance to meet Brian Boitano and Melissa Phan. Sasha and Alexi were going to have to meet eventually. I guessed this was it.
Text Copyright © 1998-2003 Mary E. Tyler
