Dance with Me: Short Story Collection: fiction based on a true story and creative nonfiction

By Lana M. Rochel and Yuliia Markovych

These are contemporary short stories that take you from the early 1990s to the present day. The title of one of the stories became the title of the book itself. Dance with Me invites you to follow the characters’ stories in the rhythm of the Waltz, Tango, and boogie-woogie.
With an adventurous summer love story of a medical student and a linguist girl from Kyiv, you move to a Christmas story of students trying to solve a mystical puzzle. Years later, the characters have a happy family. One night the woman has a dream about a beautiful lake in Canada, will it come true?
Soon, the narrative gets dramatic, blunt, and slightly political at times, with the truth revealed in private correspondence. With unexpected twists, you run a gamut of emotions from thrill and sadness to hope and joy.
Tracing the same characters at different stages of their lives makes the collection unique in its storytelling. You see new people appear and impact the protagonist's life. Some of them stay, others go, and so is life.
Written in English, the book tells ten extraordinary stories from the ordinary life of Ukrainians before russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
Several hyperlinks are included for factuality and readers' interest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lana M. Rochel Author
• Release date: Apr 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9781739092108

Book preview

Dance with Me

Short Story Collection: fiction based on a true story and creative nonfiction

Lana M. Rochel

Lana M. Rochel Author

Copyright © 2024 Lana M. Rochel

All rights reserved

This is a book of creative nonfiction and fiction based on a true story. Short story collection. The characters and events portrayed in this book are factual, but some parts have been fictionalized in varying degrees, for various purposes.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover Design by Yuliia Markovych

Photography

Credit: Vera_Petrunina

Credit: Pyrosky

Credit: MarioGuti

ISBN 978-1-7390921-0-8

Lana M. Rochel Author

https://www.patreon.com/LanaMRochelAuthor

Lana M. Rochel Author (Podcast)

All correspondence to:

Lana M. Rochel Author

Flat 3F, 2 Sugarhouse,

Dundee, DD1 2SH

United Kingdom

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Preface

He, She, and the Trains

Christmas Came Early that Year

Who Scammed My Cheese?

My Little Star Girl

Will Be There If You Fall

My Blessing, My Curse

Jam Session

Better Late Than Never

Dance with Me

A Saga to You

About The Author

Epilogue

Books In This Series

Books By This Author

Preface

One by one, I had written ten stories by 2022.  Each of them was composed to tell its own story whether based on fact, on truth, or loosely based on a true story.  You might easily trace the same characters at different stages of their life in most of them, which makes the collection unique in its storytelling. Originally written in English, the book cast a light on exceptional stories of ordinary life in Ukraine before russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

Photo Credit: Vera_Petrunina.Description: train on railroad, travel concept, copy space, summertime.

He, She, and the Trains

Based on a true story

I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then.

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Atrain was chugging along, and a picturesque mid-summer countryside behind the window was slowly changing into a city landscape at the beginning of the 90s. It revealed the residential area of Poltava, a Ukrainian city of regional significance with over one thousand years of history, located in the central part of the country. 

‘Wow! I’ll be in Poltava soon, ‘she thought, sitting on the edge of her seat. ‘Oh crikey! I’m dating a guy in med school – a guy of 24!’

​With all the maturity and decisiveness of Arthur, a five-year difference in their age seemed weighty to Sonia. For this reason, she had been laboriously trying to hide a lack of experience with men since they met. She would have felt embarrassed if such a handsome guy like Arthur had learnt he was the first guy she had ever kissed.

There wasn’t any problem with suitors in her life. Besides, there were a few who would be very willing to date a tall, slim girl with a graceful waist and attractive curves. Her voluminous and kinda messy, shoulder-length, dark locks had a wave; and thick bangs framed the almond-shaped grey eyes. However, all their prosaic attempts failed. Sonia wasn’t interested in either of them and since she wasn’t – they had a slim chance to ask her out. Not that she thought they were out of her league, rather she was a hard nut to crack, just a girl who could say ‘no’. 

Sonia had a male friend, good-looking and intelligent – one of her peers, who managed to become more than just a friend, but still less than a boyfriend.  They ended up in the same Kyiv National Linguistic University (KNLU), the same Department of English Philology, and the same group. Most students were girls. He could pop by her room in the hall of residence for a cup of tea, although always with his mate. Sonia would also catch his glance when they were sat opposite each other in the class.

There was something flirtatious between them. Even so, their relationship didn’t go any further, whichever reason the young man had. He might have felt inexperienced with girls because he was two years younger than her. Probably, he hoped for another four years of side-by-side at the university. They say it takes two to tango, while their tango had been making baby steps for too long.

But, hey! What happened to that a bit of a shrew nineteen-year-old girl after she had met Arthur?  Occurred, the guy was standing out from all the others she had ever met. Despite only two weeks since they saw each other for the first time, a gleam in his eye and the black moustache smile would stir her imagination.

All that madness began when on the spur of the moment, she agreed to accompany her childhood friend Ksenia to Kyiv, as her bezzie mate was going to enter the capital city university, too. In her second year at uni, Sonia seemed somehow more experienced and more assimilated to the big city life in the eyes of Ksenia’s parents. She had just come back home for the summer holidays. Now, she would travel back to Kyiv after only a few days of stay. However irrational it looked; she didn’t mind it.

‘Frankly, I was going to take my summer practice in late August, but I may well arrange it in July instead. Why not?’ she explained to her parents her instant decision to come back to Kyiv right away.

‘Sha la la!’ Sonia felt rejuvenated. She was thrilled about taking a one-night train ride to Kyiv together with Ksenia.

Unfortunately, the girls managed to buy only the cheapest tickets with no sleeping option first. (Summer train tickets are usually in great demand and thus should be booked in advance.)

‘It’s not the kind of thing we were hoping for, huh?’ sighed Ksenia.

Before the departure, they dared to ask for a better option at the railway station, and surprise!

‘We’ve got two tickets in a sleeping car, sis!’ exclaimed Sonia.

‘Whoa! You’re kidding me!’ said Ksenia.

‘Seriously! We’re covered up for the travel.’

​No doubt Arthur was having his destiny cooked as well when due to the traditional twice-annual time changes in the national train timetable, he missed a direct train from Lviv to Poltava. Oops-a-daisy!  After an idle attempt to buy a new train ticket the same day, he succeeded in getting on the ‘girls’’ train a few hours earlier without one.

A quite tall and broad-shouldered young man, with ember hair and eyebrows, brownish moustache and slightly mischievous, the blue-lagoon colour eyes must have been a charmer. He talked the train attendant into letting him jump into a departing train - yup!  She promised the random passenger to find a spare bed for him for the night. Meanwhile, Arthur had to roam somewhere else – in a sleeping car with empty seats, and he followed her instructions.

Eventually, all of them wound up in the same sleeper on the train to Kyiv. Later, the guy needed to get off in the capital and catch whichever train heading to Poltava.

​Arthur, a student at Poltava Medical School, was supposed to come back and join his summer military training for another couple of days. As a rule, there’s no compromise when it comes to military service, even for students, even if we talk about just summer training. However, Arthur’s case was quite out of the ordinary. They let him go for a few days so that he could attend an attempted murder trial in his native town in the West of Ukraine and give evidence in court.

It had been a close shave in winter.  The young man had been attacked almost at the footsteps of his house by a man with an axe. That winter night Arthur arrived at the railway station of his native town after a football competition (he was an excellent goalkeeper playing for his school’s team). He was walking home with a big bag, full of clothes to be washed during his short stay.  Dressed in a good leather coat, he looked fit and trendy.

The attacker had spotted Arthur and mistook him for a fartsovshchic (a person engaged in the illegal business of acquiring consumer goods and currency from foreigners). With the intention of mugging, he followed the boy all along his way home and finally attacked him with an axe on the porch of the building where his parents lived, just a few meters from the front door. They started fighting. For fear of his mother being the first one to hear them and open the door, and thus at risk, Arthur didn’t make a single scream! Still, they had made enough noise for his father to open the door and spook the attacker out. Phew!

Anyway, dealing with all that stuff, Arthur had to take a few train trips. Having missed the one he had bought a ticket for previously, his chances for adventure only grew as soon as he had left his comfort zone.

Even implausible things might happen to you because the destiny wheel is rolling on  fuel made in heaven!

Anyway, for Sonia, Ksenia, and Arthur, the train ride turned into a mind-blowing experience. At the beginning of the journey, there were only a few passengers in their sleeper, and it was impossible for Arthur not to hear the girls’ cheerful chatting and laughing nearby. Whichever reason they had to stroll there and back along the aisle, they passed by him - one by one, plenty of times.

‘Oop pa pa, my commuters must be fun,’ thought Arthur, who was sat alone, getting bored, ‘To eat? Uh-oh, my snack...What a fool to leave it in the bag! ‘He was starving. ‘That tall brunette is blessed with fantastic long legs. Sexy blue jeans, girl! Hmm…Shall I?’ With this thought, Arthur approached the girls suggesting they were playing an easy-peasy card game of ‘Cheat’.

After the precise and patient explanation of the bluffing game rules, he said, ‘Voilà! *  Let’s play it!’ 

​Playing Cheat allowed them to observe each other quite closely, the liars and truth-tellers, which happened to be big fun with loads of eye contact. That was mint! In their turn, the girls treated him to all the delicious foodies their parents had loaded them with. It would make any guy as happy as Larry!

At dusk, the sleeping car got almost full. The passengers settled on their beds for a good night’s rest, yet Arthur didn’t leave for his. Instead, the two of them behaved like active toddlers who didn’t want to go to bed no matter how many nighty bedtime stories had been already shared.

‘You say you ….’ said Arthur, taking a chance to stare at Sonia’s beautiful eyes and longing for her sensual lips.

‘Yes, ….’ She agreed, explaining something  with her head turned to one side and slightly tilted sharing a  warm smile with the involved listener.  Feeling the degree of their conversation boiling, she blushed. ‘Oh dear! It’s too early for a kiss,’ she thought. Good it was quite dark for him to notice her embarassment.

Sonia’s adorable voice and gestures kept Arthur interested in whatever they discussed. The scent of chemistry filled the darkness of the sleeping car, but they were not alone. Both didn’t sleep a wink until the very morning when the train arrived in Kyiv.

The platform was full of hustle and bustle, and the guy said, ‘It was lovely meeting you, Sonia. Listen, after a few days of military training, I’m gonna make the most of the summer break at my granny’s in the country.  I’ll drop you a line once I get there. Okay?’ 

‘Sure,’ nodded Sonia. She didn’t mind giving him her address in Kyiv, and they moved in different directions.

Funnily enough, the three of them went off the train and parted so that they would meet only about two hours later at the university hall of residence again!

Soon after Sonia and Ksenia had unpacked their suitcases in the room, they left to buy some groceries.  None of them would have expected to see a catnapping in the lounge armchair Arthur on their way back. He just opened his eyes at the sound of them entering the hall door with full bags! So knackered had been the macho that he went out like a light in the dorm lounge as soon as he had a moment to chill.

When the girls had left the railway station, Arthur headed to the ticket offices right away. Just then they announced a train to Poltava starting in minutes – bang! The guy might have lost the plot, since instead of catching the train waiting on the platform, Arthur got carried away by the idea of seeing Sonia again and purchased a ticket for the afternoon train.

‘What if she’d given me the wrong address?’ he wondered, ‘Man, you’ve got to check this out. Now!’

The distance of more than 200 miles between Poltava and Kyiv was big enough that one could give up on the relationship. Either the beating to the student’s wallet or the fact that med students should budget their time effectively could add strong arguments against their dating.

Whatever, there was something special about that upbeat personality girl, with a great sense humour and enchanting smile, and Arthur didn’t want to delay working her charm secret out. Without knowing Kyiv, he followed the address and found Sonia’s students’ hall of residence.

‘We can have another couple of hours together,’ hoped the guy, electrified.

So, now he knew her address was real. Besides, with every hour they spent together, Arthur was getting more and more attracted to Sonia. And yet he had to rush, while instead of that, the two of them were stood outside the hall, almost silent, looking into each other’s eyes, unable to part for the second