Chapter Five

Leon Vasiliev

By the next day my head was spinning, I had not been able to sleep all night because of how eerie it was that the woman in the two photographs that I had on my desk looked just like the young Grand Duchess Anastasia in the photograph in “The Russian Bible” that Mr. Poloski and shown me yesterday.  Yet, what frustrated me was that I wasn’t able to find anything else about my family.  It all seemed to stop with the name Vasiliev.  Maybe it’s best if I just give up hope to ever finding out more about my family’s history, I thought to myself.  Even if Nunna recognized the photographs, mostly likely she wouldn’t tell me anything, since he had forbidden me to research our family. 

As soon as the bell rung for lunch, I took a deep breath, preparing myself to deliver the news to Mr. Poloski, that I was a failure in his class, and wasn’t able to write anything about my Russian side of the family.  What would he say? What would the other classmates say? Oh God, now I really wouldn’t beat Eric at becoming Valediction, I thought as I started to walk up towards Mr. Poloski’s desk.

“Hey Lisa, you comin’ to lunch?” Eric asked as he headed towards the door.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a little bit; I need to talk to Mr. Poloski about my project.” I said with a grim face.

“Oh, okay, well do you want me wait for you?”

“No I’ll be fine, thanks, tell Mandy I said hey.” I replied, as Eric walked out of the classroom.

“Mr. Poloski? I was wondering if I could talk to you about my project for your class.” I said nervously, knowing I’ve never had to tell a teacher I couldn’t do the assignment.

“Sure, what’s your question?” He said as he started to take his personal collection of Russian History books.

“Well, you see, I just can’t find anything about my family.  I’m not going to be able to write that part of my project.” I said as I looked down at my shoes, not bearing to see the look of disappointment on his face.  

“Ah, I see, well, I figured you were going to have a hard time ever since we couldn’t find your great grandparents name last week, so that’s why I thought I would help you do some research, and actually I was going to ask if you could stay a few moments after class anyways so I could show you this….” He quickly explained as he opened “The Russian Bible” and began to flip through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

“Please pull over a chair, and take a look at this.  I found this last night actually.” He said as he pushed the book over towards me.

I kept scanning the sentences until I came across the name Leon Vasiliev.  I froze, and had to re-read the section to myself:

Leon Vasiliev, became a Bolshevik rebel soldier in the early Spring of nineteen eighteen.  The Vasiliev family was one of the main secret supporters in the Russian Revolution against the Imperial family, by providing financially and with artillery for the Bolshevik Communist Army Commander, Yakov Yurovsky.  Upon promotion, Leon became one of the royal chamber guards in the late spring of nineteen eighteen during the imprisonment of the Imperial Romanov family, and was assigned to kill the young Grand Duchess Anastasia.  On the eve of the Romanov execution, many believe that Vasiliev fled from his act of service and became a traitor in the Communist Army, while others believe that he was captured and killed by Romanov supporters who came to rescue some of the Imperial family members.  No evidence has ever been found.  Leon Alexei Vasiliev, the father of the Bolshevik solider, later announced there would be a significant reward for the capture or the return of his only son.

“His only son?” I asked out loud.  Was there really only one Vasiliev? If that was true then was he really a traitor?  Was he captured? So many questions were flooding my mind.

“Ah, yes, I also had to reread that statement over and over again last night, Lisa.  If this is true, then this is incredible.” Mr. Poloski said with a huge smile as he leaned back in his chair, taking his glasses off to rub his eyes for a brief moment before placing them back on his middle aged face.

“No, I mean there has to be other Vasiliev, I’m not the great granddaughter of a traitor or a captive,” I said with shock.

Mr. Poloski kept looking between the book and me, and I began to feel like a lab rat under observation, what was going through Mr. Poloski’s mind? Then he said with seriousness in his voice as he lead toward me, pointing at the words on the page, “Lisa, you have to understand, I’ve researched this countless times, and this is true; if your great grandfather’s name really is Vasiliev, then you are his descendant, and that Lisa, is incredible.”

“So, what…what does all this mean?” I said as I stuttered over my words.

“Well, besides that you’re living proof that whether the truth is that he was in fact a traitor or if he was captured, what it comes down to is that he wasn’t killed, he was able to live out a life, to have a family with your great grandmother.  I will be completely honest with you Lisa, when you finish writing your paper, I would love to keep it and show some historians that would love to have this information.”

“Um…well…” I stuttered. My brain was going into overload.  First the eerie look alike photographs of my great grandmamma and the Imperial Princess, now this news?

Bringggggggg Brinnggggggg The lunch period bell rang loudly. 

“Is lunch period over already?” Mr. Poloski asked in a surprised tone as he looked down at his wrist watch. 

“Well, thanks for the information Mr. Poloski, I guess this will help me be able research more for the assignment.” I said quickly as I stood up and started headed towards the door. 

“No problem at all, I’ll continue to help you do some research, this is the second of the most fascinating history discoveries I’ve ever encountered.” He said. 

His comment echoed in my mind, “One of the most fascinating history discoveries?” What was the first? I couldn’t help but to wonder in my mind.

“Mr. Poloski, there’s no need; I’ll just ask my great grandmamma if she knows of anything.” 

“By all means go ahead, I’m very curious also what she has to say.”  He said as he placed the book mark back into “The Russian Bible” and then started to put the books back into his desk drawer.

“Thanks again Mr. Poloski.” I said as I tried to quickly exit the classroom, I had to get away; I needed to clear my head.  My brain was seriously going to overload.

“No, thank you Lisa, trust me, this is just as exciting to me.” Mr. Poloski said as he stood up to begin writing the next class assignment on the board.

As I continued throughout my day I just couldn’t get Mr. Poloski’s words out of my head or the name Leon Vasiliev. Now I really had to have a little chit-chat with Nunna. I had to know the truth.  This was becoming much more important than just information for a history assignment. Even my mother noticed how distracted I was with all of this.

“Lisa, are you even listening to me?” She asked as she stared at me from across the kitchen table. Her words bringing

 me out of my little, distracting world of questions, and old photographs.

“Sorry, I was thinking about my assignment.” I said honestly, while looking down to still a full plate of spaghetti.

“How’s that going? Have you found anything else about your father’s family?”

“No not really, well, have you ever heard of the name Leon Vasiliev?” I asked as I twirled noodles around the fork.

“Well, I can only assume that, that’s Dimitri’s grandfather’s name, but other than that no, who was he?”

“That’s the thing, Mr. Poloski showed me this whole section in one of his books about the name, but I’m not sure if it’s the right Vasiliev.”

“Well, only one way to find out you’ll have to ask your Nunna tomorrow, which reminds me; don’t forget to go see her tomorrow.  I know how much you detest going, but it really does mean a lot to her with our weekly visits, even if she doesn’t show it or verbalize it that much. You finish?” My mom said as she picked up her plate, and my untouched plate. Oh trust me I am not missing tomorrow’s visit, I thought to myself.

Tomorrow’s visit was a guarantee; I had to know the truth about the photographs.  I had to know who Leon Vasiliev was. I had been counting down the hours ever since I got home from school earlier.

“I won’t mom, I may even visit her some over the weekend while your away.” I said honestly.

“Well, if you do, I think that would be great, and I’m sure she’d love that. Now help me finish packing so we can watch Colin Firth play handsome Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.” My mother said as she headed towards her room.

As I got up and started heading towards her room, my eyes quickly glanced at the clock on the stove, okay only twenty-one hours until I could talk to Nunna face to face.  Ugh, tonight was going to be another long, restless night, I thought to myself.

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