Acts of Violet(16)
CAMERON FRANK: And was Varushka already known as Violet when she entered your class?
ELEANOR TOBACK: Not quite. The metamorphosis occurred a few weeks into fourth grade. She loathed the way her classmates pronounced her name and constantly corrected them. You see, you’re supposed to roll the r and hit the first syllable—VA-roosh-ka—but most of the kids called her va-ROOSH-ka and didn’t know how to roll their rs.
One morning, I gave the class an assignment to write and illustrate a short poem. In the afternoon, we hung up everyone’s work on the back wall, and the kids took turns reading their poems aloud. I still remember what Violet wrote, word for word:
Roses are red
Varushka is dead
Violet is me
And now I am free
Such boldness in that child! Such a declaration of autonomy!
From then on, she was Violet. She changed her name in all her schoolbooks and refused to answer to any other. I’m not sure when she changed it legally …
CAMERON FRANK: It was 1993, when she moved to New York City. That’s also when she shortened her last name to Volk.
ELEANOR TOBACK: Ah yes. Her sister, Sasha—who I’m very friendly with—once mentioned that their father went gray at a very young age and was nicknamed “Sery Volk,” which translates to “Gray Wolf.”
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: For those of you wondering, yes, that is why Volk’s most ardent fans call themselves the Wolf Pack.
ELEANOR TOBACK: Perhaps the adopted moniker was a tribute to him. Nevertheless, from that day in class, Varushka ceased to exist.
CAMERON FRANK: It sounds like Violet had a flair for the dramatic even back then.
ELEANOR TOBACK: To an extent … I’d call it a sense of restlessness more than anything.
CAMERON FRANK: Restless in what way?
ELEANOR TOBACK: Well, you could tell there was something about her that was unsatisfied, unresolved, searching. Her moods didn’t oscillate, per se, but this inexplicable cloud of frustration surrounded her. Perhaps that’s why Violet had trouble sitting still. Whenever I looked at her, she’d be drumming her fingers on the desk or tapping her foot or braiding and unbraiding her hair. She wasn’t disruptive the way some of my other pupils were, and she was hardly the only child who fidgeted in class … but there was something excessive about her movements. I wondered if that might be an indicator of something more serious. Back then, you didn’t get a lot of children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, so I presumed it was a nervous condition of sorts. I brought it up at the first parent-teacher conference her mother and father attended.
CAMERON FRANK: How did they react?
ELEANOR TOBACK: Her father did something most unexpected. He produced a quarter from his pocket, handed it to me, and promised Violet would settle down in class if I gave her the coin and let her fiddle with it.
At my bewilderment, he explained that her previous teacher didn’t allow her to have the coin in class, claiming it was a distraction to the other children. You see, she wasn’t merely playing with the coin, she was manipulating it, practicing sleight of hand techniques, and her teacher punished her anytime she was caught.
CAMERON FRANK: Punished her how?
ELEANOR TOBACK: I’m uncomfortable revealing this, but … Anatoly said it was a while before he noticed the marks on his daughter. Mind you, it wasn’t uncommon for certain teachers to employ corporal punishment back then, but apparently the evidence of violence he saw was brutal. That poor girl. She never said a word about it for months. This was the catalyst for the Volkovs to leave Newark.
CAMERON FRANK: How awful. Did he say whether the teacher faced any consequences?
ELEANOR TOBACK: I asked if they had filed a report with the principal or the police, and he said his brother took care of it …
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: Slava Volkov, Violet’s uncle, worked in construction and was also a known card shark. He was rumored to have been involved with the Allegro crime family, which operated along the Jersey Shore since the days of Prohibition, helping them rig high-stakes poker games. And if you’re wondering if he introduced Violet to magic, your assumptions are correct. We’ll get into that later on.
ELEANOR TOBACK: After the parent-teacher conference, I had a private conversation with Violet, and we made a deal. I couldn’t have her distracting the class with coin tricks, but if a quarter would serve as her safety blanket, I’d let her fidget with it so long as she did so in a way that the other children couldn’t see. Her initial reaction was unease, until I swore I’d never hurt her—at worst, I’d take the quarter away if it proved disruptive. She accepted the deal. Perked up quite a bit, too. I think giving it a covert angle made it that much more appealing.
CAMERON FRANK: Makes sense, considering magicians need to be adept at hiding things. What happened after that?
ELEANOR TOBACK: She became a different person. More focused and attentive. No more squirming, no more tapping—I couldn’t believe a coin could cause such a transformation. And she was so skillful at keeping the quarter out of sight. It was only at recess that she showed off her tricks.
CAMERON FRANK: Could you see her emerging talent as a magician back then?
ELEANOR TOBACK: Oh, yes. She could make a quarter dance around her fingers as if it had a life of its own, make it vanish and reappear in myriad ways, have it jump up into her hand as if defying gravity … It was quite remarkable.