«Girls, listen,» he tried to attract attention to himself. «Could you be so kind to turn around, please?» Some looked around and stopped their chatter. «You know, your picturesque tattoos made by modern Gogens, Rafaels and Da Vincis, have nothing to do with our lesson. Believe me, it is much more pleasant to talk to you than to your second faces, so to speak,» he chuckled.
«Andrey Ivanovich, if I translate correctly what youve just said you dont like our tattoos,» one smiled. «But they are both very beautiful and expensive!», she pouted her mouth and rolled her eyes meaningfully.
«Its not really my field,» he replied, «however these masterpieces have less meaning than your look now,» he wanted to put her back into her place but she reacted immediately.
«Excuse me,» her voice was bitter as she could make it, «what do you think we should do then? Should we tattoo a crossword or Pythagoras theorem down there? And who for? For Isaac Newton or Perelman?», she gave a long laugh and the class seemed to support her. «Sorry but you can hardly understand the deep meaning of each tattoo.» The girl flicked their hair and grinned more inanely than before. They might have forgotten they were at school. Seemingly all of them were happily indifferent rather than actively hostile.
«Youre right, I know, but I guess Im just old and cant understand whats «fun about it,» he had to avoid the more difficult part of the conversation. «But, Im happy that you know these artists names. At least thats something.»
«We dont. Weve only just heard of them, so who are these people?», she gave an «I-dont-care shrug of her shoulders, and they all gave a knowing laugh. He felt uneasy. He tried his best to open up the world hes seen and known although it was vain, he knew secretly he could give them more than others.
«No the slightest, girls,» he answered with the same intonation. Naturally, it made no sense to continue with the lesson. «Although a fact may sound interesting to you.» They all stopped talking and he could finally see their faces instead of the backs. He thought that they liked to listen to his stories, which pleased him, but he knew he was wrong in general, so that was a great disappointment. «Around your age, we celebrated a girls birthday at her house Later that evening, we all decided to make a wish, so to speak. And eighteen out of twenty of us, had the same one.
«Which one?» he was immediately asked.
«It may sound a little odd to you,» he made a small, but not deliberate pause as thoughts of past events filled his head. «But we only had one wish, which was «let it be anything but war. Thats all. He could see their expressions fading, but hed predicted that already.
«Maybe this was the only problem during your time,» one boy politely asked as an excuse for their lack of compassion.»
«Perhaps. But what do you wish for?» Allow me to do a short test just a few questions. Ill dictate and you just answer, marking your responses with one, two or three. Okay? The first question «what is your biggest wish?» The second question «Who would you most like to look like?» Thirdly, «how much money do you need to be completely happy for the rest of your life and what do you actually need to be happy?» Lastly, but by no means least, he smiled, what attributes must you have to be successful nowadays. He sat back down at his desk. A deep silence hung in the air and everyone had their heads bent over their answer sheets. He took his thermos and took a long swig. His coffee was cold, but still good, proving it was worth paying extra for Lavazza. Half an hour later, the test was over and the bell rang. All his pupils left the classroom with embarrassed smiles, but not looking directly into his eyes. It was as if theyd got into mischief and were afraid of being punished by their parents. Having looked through the sheets he thoughtfully ran a hand through his hair and opened a drawer.
By the seventh lesson all classes had answered the same questions and he put their replies on the table to sort out.
«Hello can you hear me?», he listened to the voice and couldnt help but smile again. No-one else would greet him like this on the phone.»
«Good afternoon, Anna Ilyinishna,» he said. «How are you? Are you OK?»
«Oh, nice to hear your voice, little Andrew,» she switched to English, «I havent heard from you in ages. Thanks for your concern. Whats up? Why are you calling?»
«Anna Ilyinishna, you are impossible. Cant I call just for a chat?
«No, you cant. So, what do you want?»
«You see, er Im a teacher now.»
«My condolences,» she commented. He simply sighed.
«I started teaching in September and tried to make my pupils interested in English any way I could I did my best to tell them what they could achieve providing they sat and learned for their last two years at school, but to no avail. More importantly, theyre from troubled families, theyre disadvantaged children, so to speak. I asked them what theyd want to hear about Paris, London, Taipei, Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, Beijing, Shanghai, but even this prompted no reaction from them. I said, «Right, boys and girls. How do you think people get to know each other in China, the UK, France or Germany? Silence absolutely no reply at all. So, I decided to give them a short questionnaire. The first question was what they dreamed about, the second, what theyd need to be completely happy in their lives and the third, who theyd like to look like.