The Road of Bones by Anne Fine Read Free Book Online

go. He warned us the path will run through rough ground and some of the wheels may get damaged. He says the only important thing is that the Revolution keeps rolling on.’
    I had a vision of lanky blond Nikolai back at Pioneer camp. He hadn’t said one word that could be proved to smack of rebellion; but with one beatific smile he had managed to make it clear exactly what he thought of sending volunteers to battle without boots or guns.
    With poor dead Alyosha in mind, I wanted to speak up as well. But I am not so clever. The smile I tried to summon must have appeared no more than a cold sneer. The only words I managed to spit out were, Ah, yes! Of course! The Revolution! Rolling on towards our Glorious Future!’ And any fool listening would have been able to hear the disbelief in my voice.
    The whistle blew to get us back to work. I scrambled to my feet and was the first to pack my hod with bricks and get to the ladders. All afternoon I worked like a fury, hauling the bricks up to the topfloor at such a rate that I was soon piling them higher than the strip of wall Big Karl was working on.
    At the end of the day he clapped a hand on my shoulder. ‘You’ve lost a friend, Yuri. Still, there’s no need to work for two.’
    It was the first time he’d touched me – or even called me by name. I felt the tears rise. Shyly I glanced up to catch him looking at me in the way my mother looked at my hands – as if to say, How can this be happening to someone before they’ve even had the time to grow into a man?

C HAPTER S IX
    â€˜ALYOSHA?’ MY MOTHER gripped the cloth wrapped across her chest. ‘Little Alyosha?’ She sank onto the stool. ‘Oh, the black grief of it! His poor, poor mother!’
    Grandmother merely shrugged. I turned away. When I looked back, I caught her eyeing my torn boots and guessed she was already wondering if she dared go round and, under the pretence of offering our family’s condolences, beg for the use of Alyosha’s for herself or me.
    But no one dared answer their door now – not even at the saddest times. And Alyosha’s sister would need the boots soon enough. So, clearly shaking off the thought, she muttered only, ‘One poor soul lifted from the road of bones,’ and settled back to scraping the last of the crust out of the bread pan.
    My father was last home. I watched him shiver when he heard. An evil day!’ Each time he passed behind, I felt his hand on my shoulder, as if he needed to assure himself that this boy hunched overthe table, still trying to stem his tears, was at least warm to the touch, not lying cold and still like his poor friend.
    It was a comfort. Next day I felt calmer. The sun shone silver through the breaks in the cloud and I fell into the rhythm of work almost with pleasure. At noon we sat eating our soup as usual and, though no one mentioned Alyosha, I felt that I was being looked at with sympathy by my companions. When I dropped my crust of black bread into the gap between us, Georgio even passed it back instead of snatching it up and stuffing it into his own mouth.
    So I had nothing in mind when, just as dusk was beginning to fall, I heard shouts and a rattling. I reached the top of the highest and shakiest ladder before I dared turn. But once I was safely over the parapet of bricks Karl had been laying, and onto the firm concrete base, I took the chance to peer down.
    The noise was coming from the gates. Two men were shaking the chain, and shouting at the foreman to let them in.
    He’d seen their uniforms. He hurried over faster than he’d run to Alyosha on the ground. He tried to undo the padlock in such haste he twice dropped the key and had to scrabble for it in the little heaps of spilled cement around his boots. The minute thechain ends fell apart, the men stepped into the workyard.
    Just for a moment the three of them stood talking, the sunlight glinting on the silver badges on