THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

We locked ourselves in empty classrooms and danced slow dances to The Scorpions and Sting from a cassette player we brought.  And we kissed, together and in turn, lips smelling of mint chewing gum, necks coated in their first tan.  We kissed as you can only kiss in March, when the lilac is in bloom, and in April, when the cherry trees burst into drunken blossom, and in May, when the acacia throw their petals beneath the feet of passers-by on the dusty pavements.

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Eternal spring… I asked after Aynet too.  She and her brother had barely climbed into their car in a rush to escape the bombing when a shell fell straight on the vehicle.  There was nothing to bury.  Pieces of flesh mixed with ripped, mangled steel.

Sadulaev/Chechen