Chapter XV from my novel Friction.

FRICTION

XV

The priest made the appropriate hand motions and mumblings before the truck then went around to the passenger side and climbed in with the trucks rumbling forward then across the border in a strong white line of rattling obstinate defiance critical humanitarian aid the Russians say thinly veiled invasion the Ukrainians say half empty fully empty partially full cargo trucks knocking down the main road to Luhansk then turning off and heading north via country road into the village of Uralo-Kavkaz to avoid Ukrainian troops coming some 80 years after the Holodomor which is still widely a secret the genocide of millions unmentioned in the West coming into Ukraine this time instead of hauling people wasted out to Siberia and other desolate locales leaving them to scavenge fruitlessly for food and evaporate into the frozen air the trucks now a ruse to provide cover for pro-Russian separatists who were on the point of being overrun by Ukrainian forces the white Russian trucks a dare as it were to the Ukrainian government to continue military action against the rebels and thereby risk striking these mobile offerings of humanitarian aid

Bullshit Angelika pronounces Putin will say anything to advance his imperialistic aims or to keep the rest of the world from stopping him more accurately he’s mimicking Stalin and the world sits by and watches forgets and watches