Snow Blind by Richard Blanchard Read Free Book Online

stitches because he has VCR imprinted on his head and apparently his dick got caught in his zip as he tried to run off. She has stopped taking our calls, but we think she has finished with him. Anyway we are going for a piss up.” She takes me right to the heart of the matter. The first block of rows is called and the other hens shuffle towards the exit.
    Chris and Juliet stand up to follow them but can only walk two paces.
    â€œHow are your children Chris?” Juliet tries to tempt Chris into his first words in her company.
    â€œGreat, all five of them.”
    â€œWow, you must have wanted a lot of kids,” Juliet says jovially.
    Chris looks puzzled as if there was some family planning involved.
    â€œYou got any?” he hoped.
    â€œYes, Ethan, he’s sixteen. I am so proud of him. He should be going into sixth form in September to…” Juliet tails off as she realises the detail means nothing to him and Chris has stopped listening to what he perceives as middle-class babble.
    â€œYou must be proud of your brother getting married at last.” Juliet over emphasises her statement to Chris whilst turning towards me with a collusive smile to acknowledge that this is really her addressing me.
    â€œSuppose.” Chris looks puzzled. In his eyes marrying someone two years after you had a child with them doesn’t seem that admirable.
    From my seated position I detect a faint smell of iron from her, maybe indicating a fading period. Unfortunately from Chris I receive the pungent sweaty aroma of someone who doesn’t change his socks regularly enough.
    â€œWe are now boarding rows fifteen to thirty,” the steward announces.
    Johnny, Max, Steve and Robert stand to attention as Chris and Juliet walk forward at last.
    The crowd pushes Johnny and Max into a pair. Johnny is ill at ease, he knows the many lies that this particular hypocritical Christian has foisted on me over the years.
    â€œLook what I have got.” Max shows Johnny a bag crammed with pornography. Johnny recoils from the partially open mouths and legs spilling from their front covers.
    â€œWhere are you working now?” Max enquires, knowing the answer.
    â€œJust doing guitar lessons from home.”
    â€œHow can you earn a decent living at that?”
    â€œJust something I can do and feel rewarded for.” Johnny is undaunted by their different values. However Max seems to be threatened by this worthy world, presumably hoping it would stay away from his.
    â€œWhat do you think of the new Killers album?” Johnny thinks he is moving the conversation on by generously inviting dialogue, instead Max is privately seething that he doesn’t have the ability to comment on something he should.
    I stand as the final rows are called. Steve and Robert are another imbalanced pairing.
    â€œSuppose you have been to Chamonix before,” Steve gives the floor to Robert.
    â€œSkied it from top to bottom. I climbed Mont Blanc and then skied off-piste down the Vallée Blanche in one day. It’s the toughest resort I know. Why do you think I wanted to come here?” Robert doesn’t skip a beat in offering his selfish perspective on my weekend.
    â€œSuppose you have a few air miles now.” Steve is trying to make it onto Robert’s social radar by constantly giving Robert the chance to speak.
    â€œI’m a director at BA, I don’t need them. Just what do you do again?” Robert finally asks with clear disdain.
    â€œI work with Dan as part of a creative team. He writes words for my creative visualisation.”
    â€œYou paint pretty pictures then?” Robert dismisses Steve’s work.
    â€œI will be Creative Director before long.”
    â€œOh!” Robert is bored and tries to end his participation in the conversation.
    â€œWhere’s the stag sitting then?” I tell Robert 32C, gained after my request for an aisle seat. He looks even less interested in me than