Thirteen Months to Christmas by Alison Leonard

Author:Alison Leonard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, Thirteen Months to Christmas, Alison Leonard, Matador, short stories
ISBN: 9781848768338
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

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‘See! Jiří is walking to meet us,’ said Ludmilla. ‘He is a Slovak, but you won’t mind. He will bring kofola, and a special Slovak chocolate cake.’

There was no time to ask what kofola was. Within seconds Hugh was shaking hands with Jiří. Jiří was tall and lean, with a smile filling his face and eyes that held yours just a little longer than was necessary.

‘Dobry den,’ said Hugh.

‘Dobry dyen,’ replied Jiří, saying it the Slovak way. ‘I am afraid that I speak no English.’

‘He jokes,’ said Ludmilla, linking arms with both of them. ‘He speaks six languages.’

‘Six? Where are we going?’

‘I think perhaps a country river. We may wish to paddle.’

They stood beside Jiří’s battered Skoda. ‘Ludmilla,’ Hugh said assertively. ‘I insist we return at the right time. This presentation is essential to our firm’s credibility in Czechoslovakia. I will not have it put at risk.’

Ludmilla took his hand. ‘It will not be risk. I give my promise. It is necessary that you and Jiří become friends.’

Jiří got into the driving seat. Ludmilla opened the other door and pulled the seat forward for Hugh to climb in the back. She settled herself in the front – no seat belts in an old Skoda. Jiří loosed the handbrake, slid the car down the slope of Wenceslas Square, murmured soothing words to it and tried the engine. It fired, and they set off.

It was so hot that the spray lorries were out. Hugh glanced behind to catch a glimpse of the Castle and St Vitus Cathedral up on the hill, but his view was blocked by a hoarding announcing, I AM A BILLBOARD. I SELL YOUR PRODUCTS. There was nothing for it but to relax. Vanessa had accused him, ‘All aboard without an anchor. That’s you, Hugh.’ She was right. He didn’t know where he was going, he just got carried along. This time he was being carried along in a Skoda.

They were out of Prague by quarter to twelve, in full countryside by twelve. Cheerful red-roofed villages went by, crops of burgeoning rye and verges dotted with flowers.

‘What is your profession, Jiří?’ he asked conversationally.

‘I was a scientist,’ Jiří replied. ‘Now I do Biznis. I find apartments, and people who need apartments.’ Enterprise, thought Hugh. You’re doing well.

The wind blew through the open car windows as from an electric heater. He felt his eyelids grow heavy. With a struggle he tapped Ludmilla on the shoulder. ‘We must allow an hour to get back. More, if we go much further. We’ll need a wash and brush-up at the Ambassador before we come on.’

‘Certainly,’ replied Ludmilla. ‘Very soon we will picnic.’

He must have dozed, because the next thing he knew the Skoda was shuddering to a halt. Jiří parked beside a sward of green. Below them, water flowed over a weir on a gentle river. Behind stood a small market town whose stuccoed houses were in various stages of disrepair and repair. Families of all shapes and sizes were spreading out their lunches or their wet towels and swimming costumes on the grass.

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