Elly Solo (Beginning)

Elly Kolb was devastated.  She had just finished the Fall semester of her Sophomore year at college with a C, two D's, and two F's, after having maintained close to a 3.8 in her freshman year.  Elly had an unique kind of intelligence, and an irresistible personality.  She lived and breathed music, and she had joined a school with an international reputation for music, intending to pursue an education firmly centered on music.

One of the most pivotal events in Elly's life was the birth of her aunt, Tomasina, mere minutes before Elly herself.  Elly's father had died tragically overseas days before she was due. Elly's mother and  grandmother had been pregnant at the same time in the same town in Ohio, and once the babies were born, they helped each other, and for a year or two the infants grew up pretty much together.  Then, various things happened; Tommy's father died, and Tommy and her mother, Elly's grandmother Elly (after whom she had been named) moved away to Illinois.  They always got together during holidays and vacation, and were called the Twins, since they were inseparable, and having to go back to their separate schools always caused tears.

Then, somehow, in their twelfth summer, the two girls discovered each other in a new and startlingly different way.  They fell in love; they discovered love together, and shortly afterwards, sex.  Everyone eventually knew what they were doing, but being highly intelligent, and responsible, and sensitive, they conducted themselves in such a way that it was easy to overlook the physical aspect of their relationship.

Both girls were enormously gifted, musically.  Both of them sang, and had beautiful voices.  They started violin with they were just six, and a few years later progressed to viola for Elly, and Cello for Tommy.  By the time they were sixteen, their "joint personality" was so firmly established that everyone was stunned when signs of discord were first noticed.  They had attended a private school in Minnesota, at which Elly's mother Janet was principal, and when they graduated, got admitted to the same university as freshmen, where by their sophomore year, Elly could not tolerate Tommy any more.  Once they finally broke up, Tommy seemed to be mostly intact, but Elly was most definitely not.

Meanwhile, Elly's 'aunt' Helen, also a musician and a professor at a small Pennsylvania college, had been stunned when a movie in which she had appeared had become offensive to Christian conservatives.  (It had been a comedy about a ping-pong playing group of girls, but where the main character, Helga, falls in love with a woman. It was essentially a parody on an action-adventure with a parallel plot, but Helen had never in her dreams imagined that the movie was so objectionable that one-third of the students in her little college would transfer out.)  This is where our story begins.  Helen has just offered to resign, and been refused.  She has taken the Spring semester off, and come to spend the holidays in Philadelphia.  Apropos of nothing, Helen is about six months pregnant, and is enormous. (This is a little more than a year before Crystal meets Janet.)

In Ferguson, where the Krebses and the Nordstroms were celebrating Christmas, things were not much more pleasant. Elly and Tommy had declared an uneasy truce. Their Fall semester had been stormy, and after a brief one-week reconciliation, Elly had broken off with cruelly unkind words. It was as though what little common ground they had found was now lost. Tommy was thrown back on the company of her friends, and Elly went her own lonesome way, hostile to everyone she met. Her grades were the lowest yet, of her college career.

It was miserably cold, and there was nowhere to go. In desperation, Janet gave Elly the keys to the little school chapel, and told her to go play the organ.
Elly was surprised. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Be careful, darling.”
Elly looked at her mother as though she had never seen her before. It was a gesture that had cost Janet very little, but Elly acted as though they were the keys to Fort Knox. She grinned her thanks, and went off, and Janet watched the lonesome little figure tramping off in the snow, looking very determined. Elly had sold her violin, and grandma Elly had been heartbroken. It had been a beautiful instrument, made by Helen, and worth easily several thousand dollars, even without the added value implied by the notoriety of its maker.

“I wish you could talk to her,” Janet said. “I never seem to talk to you except to ask a favor,” she said, full of self-reproach. “You must be up to your eyebrows in your own worries!”
Helen snorted.
“You know I’m pregnant, right?”
“Yes, so I gathered. We saw you on TV the other day. You looked really cute!”
“Which one was that?”
“Oh, the one where you had the little barrettes in your hair!”
“And I looked like a whore!”
“No, you didn’t! Did anyone suggest that you did?”
“Well, all those barrettes; I looked like a porn star!”
“Nonsense!” Janet said. “It was a little precious, but you’re a law unto yourself, fashion-wise, you know. Everyone’s wearing barrettes, ever since that show!”
Helen laughed.
“Jan,” Helen said reluctantly, “I could use a little advice.”
“Yeah? Tell me.”
“I’m sort of—in love.”
“Oh no!”
“Please, Jan, don’t make fun of me!”
“Who is it?”
“You know who Diane Elfman is?”
“No. Should I?”
“She’s … it doesn’t matter. It’s …”
“Is she cute?”
“Jan, it’s not her. It’s her daughter, Maryssa Brooks.”
“Maryssa. Nice name, sort of cute.”
“She’s beautiful, Jan …”
“Of course,” Jan said, unable to resist the sarcasm.
“… and she’s so innocent, and decent, and … I can’t really put it into words!”
“Okay.” said Jan, gently. “What’s the problem?”
Taking a deep breath, Helen launched into her story, which took almost half an hour. Helen found it impossible to abbreviate it, but fortunately Janet seemed to be interested. She asked questions, and Helen was overjoyed when it became clear that Janet was beginning to get a feeling for Maryssa’s personality.
With a sigh Janet gave her verdict. “She seems a really nice girl,” she said. “Of course, from her point of view, she’s right. It’s an excellent idea to slow down. She needs to slow down, even if you don’t. You’re forty, and you’ve been around the block; but she’s just a child!”
“Yes, yes, but …”
“If Gena fell in love with an older woman, wouldn’t you suggest she took it slow?”
“Gena? But she’s just sixteen!”
“Same difference, Helen.”
Helen was silent for a while.
“What should I do?”
“Be respectful, charming, attentive, and well-behaved.”
There was a silence.
“I love her like crazy, Jan!”
“You love everybody like crazy, dear; I’ve never known you to love anyone any less!”
“This one is different. She’s helpless; it’s as if I’m her rock, the only thing she can cling to. God, it makes me feel incredible!”
Jan frowned. “As the basis for a commitment, it doesn’t sound like much.”
“I love her, I love her … what do you want me to say?”
“What about Amy?”

Amy was an old friend whom Helen and Janet had known for more than a decade. Helen and Amy had gotten together in the Spring, and Amy had left her highly-respected post as staff surgeon of a major hospital in Cleveland to come live with Helen, when the Helga disaster had hit. Now Helen had made matters worse by falling in love with Maryssa Brooks. Amy was most definitely not amused.

Helen sighed. “Amy … we’re right where we were in the summer, which is nowhere in particular.” Helen seemed to be almost growling. “At least, we’re sleeping together. It could be worse.”
“I had such hopes that you two would settle down together! Helen, what will it take to make you settle down?”
“I don’t know!” wailed Helen. “Amy had hardly moved in, when I was fooling around with three other women!”
“It sort of proves that you’ve never fallen in love. Not really.”
“That’s bullshit,” Helen said fiercely. “And you know it.”
“All right. Well, will you talk to Elly?”
“Sure,” sighed Helen. “Of course I will, Jan; I love the kid like crazy. I could phone her, or maybe you could send her over.”

Elly was not in a mood to talk to Jan, but at least she was pleasant. Elly and Jan sat in Janet’s study, Jan pretending to read, and Elly humming to herself.
“Would you like to visit Helen a little earlier? We’re all coming over next week, but apparently the children are going off to Paris, and Helen is pregnant, and … she’s going through a rough time.”
“You’d be a lot more help than I would,” said Elly.
“I told her as much as she could stand to hear,” Jan said, grinning. Elly echoed the grin. She knew how sensitive her mother was to giving advice, and she had a feeling what this trip was all about.
“Okay.” Jan’s eyes opened wide. She had expected a little more resistance. “I’ll take a Greyhound, if you like.” Goodness.
“No need. Will you find a good flight? I’ll pay when you’re ready.”
In less than half an hour Elly had found a ticket for an unbelievably low sum, and Jan was being chased out of Elly’s room, her offer of helping to pack very firmly refused.

Helen felt like the proverbial elephant. She tried to snuggle up to Amy, but Amy couldn’t bear the heat.
“You’re way too hot,” she said. “I’m sorry, Helen, but I’m going to have to sleep in another bed, if you keep getting fresh.”
“Shit, Amy, I’m not getting fresh, I just want to … jeeze!” Helen heaved herself out of the bed, furious. Amy avoided her eyes. “You sleep here. I’m going out to the sofa!”
“Don’t lose your temper, Helen, you know you’re hotter than a furnace!”
Helen took a deep breath and calmed herself down. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I guess I’m getting a little inconsiderate.” Amy turned to stare at her in disbelief. Helen smiled. It felt good to be in the right. Poor Amy looked so non-plussed that she felt like laughing. Helen sat on the edge of the bed and said sweetly that she wanted to make life as pleasant for Amy as possible.
“Let me guess: Maryssa threw you out.”
Helen drew a sharp breath.
“Not exactly. But she declared a sort of go-slow policy. We’re not sleeping together anymore.”
“Oh, you poor thing!”
Helen shrugged. She looked about. Her life was a mess, but really, she was feeling quite unconcerned. Things had pretty much bottomed out, but at least she was making money, and she was in love, and Amy wasn’t being a bitch, and little Elly—no, Elly—was coming over; it could be a lot worse.
“I could sleep on the sofa, no problem,” Helen said. “You could come and tuck me in, if you like!”
Amy smiled. “It’s tempting, but I decline,” she said gently. “I’ll come check on you in the morning. Have you taken your medication?”
Helen looked at her, startled. “Actually, no!”
“Well, go take it. Don’t fool with the health of the baby.”
“Does it get diabetes, too?”
Amy shrugged. “There are some complications, but generally speaking, the new drug is safe for both of you. If we can’t keep your sugar in control, we’ll switch to insulin.”
“Thanks for everything, Amy.”
“Sure you can manage?”
“Yeah.”
Helen turned out the lights, and headed downstairs. It was incredible how Maryssa managed to influence Helen’s mood. She arranged the sofa nicely, with a blanket from the closet, and lay down. Her phone was next to her on the coffee-table. Her personal assistant Betsy and her kids had come down to Philadelphia with them, and Helen could hear Betsy arguing with Carol and Kate in their room.
Also with them, it so happened, was Natalia Zemanova, the Czech soprano, who had been visiting Helen for Thanksgiving, when the Helga fiasco first hit the TV news. Natasha had watched Helen and her family completely fall apart, and had decided to stay a little longer. It was Natasha and Betsy who were really holding things together. Natasha had finally decided that it was safe to leave Helen by herself for a couple of weeks; Gena, Helen’s adopted eldest daughter, had become very glum, and it seemed better to separate mother and children for the holidays.

Helen decided to ask whether Natasha could take Betsy’s two girls also. They were a handful, but … it might be a good thing for them. She had to enlist Gena’s aid to keep them in control.
Helen could feel Maryssa’s love like a warm comforter over her. Maryssa was a miracle. Helen would give it all she had, and make it work. With or without Amy, she would make it work. No one needed her more than Maryssa and Matt, and she was determined to be strong for them.
Helen felt Maryssa lying awake, worried about her. There seemed to be an almost psychic relationship between them, as though Maryssa knew when Helen was upset. No, that was impossible. It was her heart that made it seem that way. Helen slipped into sleep almost imperceptibly.