Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather Read Free Page B

remaining at the same temperature. If it were to drop, some of the fish might change direction and thereby destroy the entire premise of his dissertation.
    His research came to the attention of the President of the Mathematical Society of Canada, based in Calgary, Alberta, a very cold place.
    ‘Come and see us when you’ve finished with your fish; for us it’ll be a change from thermal mathematics!’
    Through the window, Boris Bogdanov watched as his two young neighbours sat down on the steps outside the door to the building adjacent to Julie’s. One of them was holding
a video camera. Their eyes were glued to the tiny monitor. Boris turned away from the window, put his book down on his untidy desk and with one finger dreamily stroked the wall of the aquarium. He
could tell by touch alone that the water was at the right temperature.
    Because fish change direction in cold weather.

THAT’S WHEN I UNDERSTOOD
     
     
     
    ‘This is great! How do you rewind?’
    ‘Let me do it, you’re gonna break my video camera!’
    ‘
Let me do it . . . You’re gonna break my video camera . . .
’
    ‘I’m not in the mood to mess around.’
    ‘
Not in the mood to mess around . . .
Whatever! Take your video camera.’
    Alex is like his dad, he always gets annoyed for no good reason. I don’t hold it against him. It can’t be easy to live with a single parent. When he was little, Alex used to say his
mum was coming back. Now he never talks about it. It’s a subject you avoid around friends who don’t have a mum. It’s not always easy, because among themselves kids talk about
their parents a lot. The hardest time is Mother’s Day. Then I avoid Alex. I wouldn’t know what to say to him. He’s easy to avoid then because he doesn’t go outside. And no
one knows whether he’s heard from his mother because no one asks him.
    ‘Why didn’t you zoom? You can’t see how the point got big – like
that
!’
    I looked at the gap between his thumb and forefinger. Five centimetres! Only Alex would try and make you believe such a thing. At times like this, there’s no point picking a quarrel with
him. No matter how hard you try to show him he’s wrong, he’ll find an explanation for why he’s right. It makes things really hard at school, especially with the teachers. The
other reason for not picking a fight with Alex is that he is a full head taller than me, even if I’m only one year younger. He knows he can smash my face in, no sweat – I agree with him
there. It’s so obvious who’s strong and who’s weak, you can’t do anything but stay friends. Alex gets in a fight at least once a week, on principle.
    ‘Keeps you fit and it’s good for your reputation!’
    I have to confess I like Alex’s reputation. Since everyone at school knows I’m his best friend, no one bugs me. With him arguments are always reduced to basics.
    ‘First you hit, then you think!’
    But while everyone at school has seen him hit, we have yet to see him think. In the school corridors everyone says he’s crazy. And that he’s proud of it. I know him, though, and
he’s not crazy, he’s not proud – that’s just his armour. Kids are cruel to each other. He just has to be even crueller. Death to anyone who teases him because he
doesn’t have a mum. Sometimes he gets good grades. Well, he would – when he can, he copies from me.
    It was his idea that I should hide behind a car and film him while he was taking the kitten back to his neighbour. It was our third attempt. He was never satisfied with the result.
    ‘Why didn’t you zoom in on her tits?’
    Two days earlier he had told me the angle was wrong. Four days earlier the neighbour came out fully clothed. The hard part was figuring out when she’d be in her bathrobe. She doesn’t
lead a normal life. She never gets up at the same time, and you never see what time she comes home. Summer’s cool because she stays in her bathrobe for ages and she often goes to sunbathe on
her