Friendship

(Signs of the Times is a work of fiction based on true events. Views expressed are the characters’ own. Viewer discretion is advised.)

Along the banks of the Dnieper River stands a statue. Two massive men, cast in bronze, holding a Soviet-era medal high in the air, together. It has watched over the river, over Kyiv, for 40 years. A titanium arch bisects the sky above their heads.

A granite stele of stoic cossacks watches the watchers. They have granite-fur coats. Granite mustaches. Granite faces that are unchanging with the times. Forever agreeing to align with the Tsar some 400 years ago.

But the granite cossacks aren’t that old. They look just like the massive bronze men, the Soviet comrades. Just not bronze.

Milo comes to the park the day the bronze statue will be torn down. The grinding of the saw on metal buzzes through the trees.

The crowd is tame. Action is being taken. Swiftly. Milo stands on the outskirts and watches. The sparks from the saw fly in every direction, disappearing in a blink of an eye. The operator sits in a sling suspended by a crane.

As the last fascia of bronze is severed, the saw operator looks out at the crowd. He shouts something. He pushes the head with all his might. It falls from its body and lands on the ground with a dull ringing. The crowd cheers.

“A glorious day,” a woman next to Milo says.

“Indeed.”

“You look old enough. Were you around when this thing went up?”

“I was.”

“What was it like?”

“Not like this.”

Milo smiles under the great arch. He has no plans for the rest of the day. Just to watch the Statue of Friendship topple and fall.