The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko (32 page)

Scott Stambach
lives in San Diego, where he teaches physics and astronomy at Grossmont and Mesa Colleges. He also collaborates with Science for Monks, a group of educators and monastics working to establish science programs in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries throughout India. He has written about his experiences working with the monks of the Sera Je College monastery and has published short fiction in several literary journals, including
Ecclectica
,
Stirring
, and
Convergence
. You can sign up for email updates
here
.

 

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Contents

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Foreword

Part One: The Count Up

              
I. The Anesthetization of Ivan Isaenko

              
II. Spectrophobia

              
III. The Day I Came Online

              
IV. Coma Boy

              
V. One Day in the Life of Ivan Isaenko

              
VI. The Children of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children

              
VII. The Bleeders, the Non-Bleeders, and Polina the Interloper

              
VIII. The Three-Monthers

              
IX. The Staff of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children

              
X. The Jungian Archetypes

              
XI. Dr. Mikhail Kruk, the Director

              
XII. My Therapist, Dr. Arkady Yakovlev, M.D.

              
XIII. My Mother

              
XIV. The Early Days

              
XV. Polina's Chemo Hair

              
XVI. My
Hui

              
XVII. The Sarcophagus

              
XVIII. Ivanism

              
XIX. Polina's Journal

              
XX. The Case for Diacetylmorphine

Part Two: The Count Down

              
Day 21. Hazing and Initiation

              
Day 20. The Day We Contributed to Max's Rearing

              
Day 19. Game Night

              
Day 18. The Nothing Day

              
Day 17. Stars and Stairwells

              
Day 16. The Retroactive Biography of Ivan Isaenko

              
Day 15. Polina's Magic School Bus

              
Day 14. The Janis Joplin Day

              
Day 13. The Day I Conversed with the Director

              
Day 12. A Day of Sleep

              
Days 11 and 10. Crying with Nabokov

              
Day 9. Blood Brothers

              
Day 8. The Organic Wonderland (and Other Conversations)

              
Day 7. дзень я закахаўся ў

              
Day 6. The Little Green Folders

              
Day 5. Conversion Disorder

              
Day 4. Good-Bye, Yellow Brick Road

              
Day 3. The Suitcase Day

              
Day 2. The Day of Delirium

              
Day 1. The Death of Polina Pushkin

Part Three: Farewell Song

              
I. The Aftermath

              
II. The Funeral

              
III. The Drive Back

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Copyright

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF IVAN ISAENKO.
Copyright © 2016 by Scott Stambach. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Ervin Serrano

Cover photographs: silhouette of boy © 4x6/iStock; paper texture © Nicoolay/iStock; tissue box © Stuartbur/iStock; red texture © Phloen/Shutterstock; vodka bottle © Photographee.eu/Shutterstock; baseball © David Lee/Shutterstock; books © Catherine MacBridge/Getty Images

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 

Names: Stambach, Scott, author.

Title: The invisible life of Ivan Isaenko / Scott Stambach.

Description: New York: St. Martin's Press, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016007227 | ISBN 9781250081865 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250081889 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Teenage boys—Fiction. | Teenagers with disabilities—Fiction. | Critically ill children—Fiction. | Children—Hospitals—Fiction. | Belarus—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Literary. | GSAFD: Love stories. | Humorous fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3619.T354 I58 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2016007227

 

e-ISBN 9781250081889

Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
.

First Edition: August 2016

 

1. *
      Roughly translates from Russian as “walrus dick.”
   

    
   

2. *
      Translates from Russian as “shit eaters”; however, it also carries the connotation of those who are cheap or stingy.
   

    
   

3. *
      This note was not written within the body of Ivan's original text. Rather, it was written in the right-hand margin of this page. Nevertheless, we thought it worth including.
   

    
   

4. *
      A famous Russian dessert better known as “bird's milk cake.”
   

    
   

5. *
      Translates from Russian as “devil.”
   

    
   

6. †
      Russian slang for “ass.”
   

    
   

7. *
      Roughly translated from Russian as “fuck off.”
   

    
   

8. *
      Presumably, a mispronunciation of the Russian word
   shokolad,
   which means “chocolate.”
   

    
   

9. *
      Traditional warm Russian drink made from honey, spices, and jam.
   

    
   

10. *
       Popular Russian slang for “dick.”
    

     
    

11. *
       Roughly translated from Russian as “shithead.”
    

     
    

12. *
       A late-1960s Soviet/Russian animated series produced by Soyuzmultfilm.
    

     
    

13. †
       A popular Polish black-and-white TV series based on the book by Janusz Przymanowski.
    

     
    

14. *
       A Russian card game that is popular in post-Soviet states. The object of the game is to get rid of all one's cards. At the end of the game, the last player with cards in his or her hand is referred to as the fool (
    durak
    ).
    

     
    

15. *
       The satiric 1842 Russian classic by Nikolay Gogol about a man who tries to trick landowners into buying their dead serfs.
    

     
    

16. *
       Better known in the West as Lou Gehrig's disease.
    

     
    

17. †
       In the interest of informing the general public, the editors have deemed it important to clarify that there was a spike in the following conditions during the time period in which Ivan was at the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children: fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva disease, progeria disease, Dupuytren's contracture, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Parry-Romberg syndrome, collagen II gene disorder, multiple sclerosis, and most forms of cancer.
    

     
    

18. *
       American psychologist (1902–1987). Founder of the humanistic movement.
    

     
    

19. *
       Russian for “old hags.”
    

     
    

20. *
       Roughly translates from Russian as “beef whistle.” The translators had no idea what to do with this one.
    

     
    

21. †
       The name given to the figurehead of the Russian Orthodox Church.
    

     
    

22. *
       Presumably a Russian translation of the bestselling American book
    The Guide to Getting It On
    by Paul Joannides.
    

     
    

23. †
       Presumably, a Russian translation of the 1971 book
    The Art of Masturbation
    by Preston Harriman.
    

     
    

24. *
       Russian slang for “semen.”
    

     
    

25. *
       Russian slang for “testicles.”
    

     
    

26. *
       The Russian equivalent of the English New International Version.
    

     
    

27. *
       Popular Russian brand of vodka.
    

     
    

28. *
       Stage name for Russian singer Vitaliy Vladasovich Grachov.
    

     
    

29. *
       Derogatory term for a girl. Literally means “young cow.”
    

     
    

30. *
       An excerpt from a
    Des Moines Times
    review: “
    Nu, Pogodi!
    (Russian:
    Ну, погоди!
    [
    Well, Just You Wait!
    ]) is a Soviet/Russian animated series produced by Soyuzmultfilm. The series was created in 1969 and became a popular cartoon of the Soviet Union. The latest episode was produced in 2006. The original film language is Russian, but very little speech is used (usually interjections or at most several sentences per episode).”
    

     
    

31. *
       A popular Russian dessert made from soft dough and raw eggs, molded into short delicate sticks that look like vermicelli or marbles, which are then deep-fried and placed in a pile before hot honey is poured over them, and then left to harden.
    

     
    

32. *
       Translates as
    Poor Nastya,
    a popular Russian telenovela based on nineteenth-century imperial life.
    

     
    

33. *
       “Lesbians at dusk.”
    

     
    

34. †
       The Russian translation of the Dr. Seuss book
    Horton Hatches the Egg
    .
    

     
    

35. *
       The English translation for the Russian agency otherwise known as the KGB.
    

     
    

36. *
       Literally translated as “Pancake!” but the connotation is “Shit!”
    

     
    

37. *
       Russian slang for a common thief.
    

     
    

38. *
       A much more prestigious position in Russian criminal parlance, equivalent to a mob boss.
    

     
    

39. *
       In Ivan's original writing, he attempted to phonetically spell the English lyrics associated with this song, which ultimately made the lyrics indecipherable. We replaced his well-meant attempt with the actual song lyrics after deciding that it would be true to the intention of the passage.
    

     
    

40. *
       What the fuck?
    

     
    

41. †
       Cunt.
    

     
    

42. ‡
       This is fucked up.
    

     
    

43. *
       Belarusian for “The day I fell in love.”
    

     
    

44. *
       “Your come, please?”
    

     
    

45. *
       Two popular Slavic nut-and-syrup-based desserts.
    

     
    

46. *
       “Good-Bye, Yellow Brick Road.” Presumably, the 1973 song by Elton John.
    

     
    

47. *
       My love.
    

     
    

48. *
       Roughly a thousand U.S. dollars.
    

     
    

49. *
       Translated from Russian as “Twice.”
    

     
    

50. *
       Translated from Russian as “The Clerk.”