Read Online Cold Blood by Alex Shaw - Free Book Online Page B

the view.”
    Arnaud nodded and looked out of the window at the passing forests bordering the Borispil-Kyiv highway. Victor pressed a button on the radio and Queen’s greatest hits filled the car. Arnaud let Freddie Mercury sing for a few bars then leaned forward. “How long have you been here then?”
    Snow swivelled in his seat. “This is the start of my third year at Podilsky.”
    “Do you like it?”
    “Yeah I do. The staff are friendly and we tend to socialise outside of school too. Beats teaching in the UK.”
    Arnaud clicked his teeth. “I hope so.”
    “That bad eh?”
    “I just finished my NQT year at Horley Comprehensive, or to give it the new ‘super’ name, Horley Community College. Ever been to Horley?”
    Snow shook his head, “I’ve passed through.”
    “Best thing to do, it is a toilet. The kids are half crazed from breathing in the aviation fuel from Gatwick Airport. Where did you train then?”
    “Leeds, and I did my NQT year in Barnsley.”
    “Like it?”
    “Probably better than Horley.”
    Victor said something in Russian to Snow who smiled and replied in the same language.
    “What did he say?”
    “He said that it was his dream at school to visit London so now when he hears English it makes him happy.”
    “I’d better not speak French then it may over excite him.”
    “That’s right; you’re bilingual. Dad or Mum?”
    “Mum. And you speak Ukrainian?”
    “I speak some Russian, I learnt it at school.”
    “Private school?”
    “I was an embassy brat. My dad was at the British Embassy in Moscow in the 80s then Poland, then East Germany.”
    “Was he the ambassador?”
    “Nothing so glamorous. He was the cultural attaché. He arranged exchanges with the Bolshoi Ballet, etc.”
    “Oh. See many women in leotards?”
    Snow laughed, “Yeah but I was too young to appreciate them!”
    There was a pause as Arnaud stared at a Mercedes with blacked out windows shoot past. Victor waved his fist and mumbled “ Jigeet !”
    Arnaud looked at Snow blankly. “It means something like ‘road hog and menace’ in Russian.”
    “I thought they spoke Ukrainian here?”
    “They speak a mixture. They were forced to learn Russian when it was still the Soviet Union. ‘Rusification’, it was called. Since independence the official national language has been Ukrainian but everyone can speak and uses Russian. More so in Kyiv and in the east of the country but the further west you go the more and more Ukrainian you hear spoken.”
    “Sounds a bit like Wales.”
    “Similar.”
    Victor piped up again and Snow nodded. “If you look out of the right you’ll see Misha the bear on the grass verge. Look there, see it?
    Arnaud looked and saw an eight foot high cartoon style bear made of painted concrete. “What is it?”
    “He was the emblem for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.”
    “Oh I see. That was a bit before my time.”
    “When were you born?”
    “1981.”
    “Jesus.” Snow frowned playfully, “I’ve got shirts older than you!”
    They passed a large sign that welcomed them to Kyiv. The city was expanding fast as more and more high-rise tower blocks were built in the suburbs. The new builds looked like luxury hotels compared to the old Lego box Soviet architecture. Arnaud stared at the road side billboards and squinted until he realised that he couldn’t read the words because they were in Cyrillic and not because he needed glasses. They passed a two storey shopping centre and then a McDonald’s.
    “That lot’s only been here for the past five years,” commented Snow. “They had to make do with proper food before that.”
    “How do you say ‘Big Mac’ in Russian?” Arnaud’s mind drifted to his favourite film Pulp Fiction .
    “Big Mac,” replied Snow. “They don’t bother translating the words. I think Ronald McDonald is rather keen on brand awareness.”
    Suddenly the tower blocks dropped away and they were at the river Dnipro. They crossed the bridge. The side they had just