CHAPTER EIGHT
Josie McMillan
JOSIE WAS AMAZED when stepping on Red Square in Moscow, she knew she would have an extremely regimented and not very fun life, on the contrary, she would feel much more pain than she could imagine or dream, they would massacre her skinny body until she was pure muscle to withstand the most diverse maneuvers that a ballerina could withstand.
Man... it's so crazy... I'm really here.
She noticed that there were cannons buried in the ground and she passed her foot gracefully over them and felt that they had a hidden history, they were there for some reason and Ivana realizing that the girl had noticed them tried to tell the story that they were Napoleon Bonaparte and were there as a symbol of the grandiose victory over the greatest general in the world.
— We beat Napoleon and Hitler with the same strategy, waiting for the rigorous Russian reverse to arrive and do the job for us.
— Apparently they underestimated you.
— Ignorance is always a blessing to the winning side of a war.
Josie would never forget that phrase.
Contrary to what I imagined, the square was extremely beautiful, of course Ivana also said that it had once been called that way, Praça Bonita, but that was another story that she would not have time to tell at that moment.
AS EVERY VICTORY is accompanied by tragedies, Josie 's life could not be different, as she just stepped into Russian territory and her hand ended up having an accident and died.
THE GOLDEN RULE of ballerina rehearsals was:
If you don't train until you're in excruciating pain, it's because you haven't trained enough to be the best... and no one there could afford to be the least bit better than any dancer in the world.
On the first day of training, Josie thought she wouldn't survive the massacre they did to her body, she felt pain even in her hair.
Although she thought it was impossible until that moment...
She discovered the hard way that it was possible.
The next day, there she was again doing all those exercises required by Mrs. Krumanoff, step by step, she didn't understand anything at all, she just followed the way the others did, it was like she was the ugly duckling of the class, none of them laughed with fear of reprimands from the teacher, the rule was simple: you made a mistake, start over and do it again as many times as necessary, when you think it's good, do it again, because:
The good is the enemy of the excellent…
Over time, pain became her best friend, and if she wanted to have a future, it would be important to overcome pain day after day.
THE HARDEST PART about moving to Russia was not understanding what people said, so his roommate had been responsible for teaching him Russian. She also didn't understand people's coldness about relationships, the hardest thing was staying away from Mark and Anthony...
It was killing her inside like a hungry lion…
THE FIRST GOOD THING from her childhood that Josie remembered was Mark and his violin and Anthony with his irresistible charm and unstoppable talent, fighting over who could share her lunch with her, at the end of the game, she ate their lunch and everyone they were happy.
The friendship began unpretentiously, the three were not rich, but they were funny and not given to trifles. They were talented in their innate gifts, however, everything they invested together ended up in a leaky boat, maybe that's why it was so fun to walk with them.
Josie loved listening to Mark play while Anthony recited Shakespeare poems. She didn't know which of the two she liked more, until the day she came to a more than obvious conclusion:
She simply loved them both in the same way and in the same proportions.
Mark was shy and quiet, however, when he spoke with his violin he left her extremely emotional and thoughtful along with his thousand faults.
Anthony was the opposite, he tried tirelessly to make her happy with his atrocities, but on the days when he was sad, he managed to make her even worse, there was no middle ground in his world:
It was simply all or nothing.
Josie never thought about what it would be like to date either of them, it was impossible to choose one, but after a while, she found it interesting if she had a — colorful friendship — with either of them, or who knows...
With both...
However, she knew that Mark would never agree with that — Anthony would have liked it all, that was for sure — that he was the center of his universe, which somehow delighted her, she just didn't know if she was ready to be all that in her life. someone's life.
LIFE IN MOSCOW was somewhat monotonous, Josie went from practice to home and from home to practice, she only took Monday off and rested a little, however, she slept so much that she didn't even see her day off go by.
With the training came the pain in her feet — all over her body, however, her foot in particular was in tatters — her mother always said that every disease in the world could be cured with a good foot bath, but despite being relaxing water warm. She realized that the best thing for her training problem was the opposite, a good bucket of water and ice (which she affectionately called in honor of her mother — "Cold foot"). It made your soul leave your body it was so refreshing and it gave an immediate relief, along with a good dose of vodka, which you had to get used to, since traditionally, if you refuse to drink it in someone's house it's considered a fault. of education in Russia.
EVERY WEEK JOSIE SENT a letter to Mark and Anthony. He was sad to hear that Mark was alone, he even managed to get a scholarship to the college of music and play with the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, but as always, he preferred to continue his boring life next to his old violin than interacting with the world at the same time. around her, however, she was also happy to know that she was fulfilling her dreams, as were she and Tony.
Josie chuckled to herself, remembering the many times she'd been jealous of Pastorius — Mark's violin. Like every self-respecting, proud woman, she liked attention, exclusivity, wanted to be played by Mark the way he played that damn violin, or even the way Anthony played it...
He had the gift of driving her insane.
Josie's scolding with Mark is that he respected her too much, treated her like a goddess on a pedestal, leaving her in doubt if he really liked her, deep down he knew he had burning desires about her, but it was up to him to show them. and not for her to discover them.
But it would be a good idea to try...
He's letters were always talking about the same things, after all, his life was playing the violin...
Nothing more, nothing less.
Every now and then he said that he had gone out with some girl, nothing serious and she knew why it wasn't serious, his words screamed for a desire trapped in a heart that knew he shared that love with another man with which there would be no competition, after all, at all times he called them by their name.
The life of a ballerina wasn't that exciting either, I woke up at dawn, hardly even had breakfast, had a strict diet, didn't go out with people outside the circle for the simple fact of not having anything to talk about with those who didn't know about her training routine and pain dressings.
Josie opened Tony's letter and saw a picture of him in front of the poster of his play, he had received wonderful reviews, he knew he had to train harder and harder not to fall behind them, Mark and Tony were doing their part of the promise to succeed, to be the best, but she wanted to enjoy more than to be the best.