(flash story)

Once, I was riding in a crowded subway train, trying to focus my tired eyes on the book, which I was holding in my hands. It was Serhiy Zhadan’s ‘Depeche Mode.’ The plot unfolds around the main character’s memories of his student years, how he and his friends were engaged in reselling vodka, hanging out, drinking and trying to understand the meaning of their existence. The book contained obscene language and all the events were described quite detailed and frankly, which sometimes made it embarrassing to read this book in public transport surrounded by people, but — who would be interested in looking into my book anyway?

The vibration of the phone in my pocket made me tear my eyes away from the text and read the message that had just arrived from my female friend from Poland, with whom we were communicating in English. The girl talked about her day at school and a recent yoga class, so we started texting and sharing our emotions and how we are feeling at the end of the workweek.

When my friend sent me several manicure options, about which she was hesitating, and I began to look at those photos, I felt a push from the right side. Raising my head, I met an old man’s eyes, who entered at the next station after mine and sat down next to me. The look of his gray eyes was warm, a small smile touched his lips, and leaning to my ear, he apologized and asked why I was chatting with someone in English. I told him that this was a girl I met a year ago at the wedding of my mother’s goddaughter. We spent together only two days, but we were in touch for a long time after that through messaging. The old man surprised me by telling his story about how he started learning English, moved to Australia and returned to Ukraine for the alumni meeting. After a few stations of endless conversation, he advised me to continue improving my knowledge, said that he was happy about such small talk and, saying goodbye, hurriedly left the train, disappearing in the flow of people. At that moment an idea flashed in my mind, “A language brings people together…”