Pripyat

Reading Martin Cruz Smith--Wolves Eat Dogs--his Chernobyl requiem. Arkady finds himself exiled in the Zone, dosimeter at hand, dodging radiation scarecrows. The 26th of April, 1986--an idiot's experiment gone awry--Reactor Number 4 drops drastically in power, the fuel rods freeze in place, hydrogen gas builds to immense pressure, then explodes, blowing the top off the reactor, taking the core up with it. The call to Moscow--denials that anything is wrong--and word comes back, take some iodine, stay indoors for a day or two... But the May Day celebrations go on as scheduled--children of Kiev on parade--a workers' holiday... Breeze blowing down from the north, thyroid damage immediate, other symptoms take longer...weeks, months, years--a lifetime of regret. Could it have been another way? A black village. Samogon, wormwood...