As White as Snow Read Online Free PDF Page A

figure with a digitally disguised voice. And he had to confirm things with his own eyes.
    The heat was oppressive. Something in the air seemed to threaten thunder, maybe even a full-on storm, but there were no signs of anything like that in the sky.
    Jiři stretched his arms and put on his suit jacket. Over his shoulder, he slung his new black backpack, which contained the thinnest laptop on the market, along with more traditional note-taking materials. He had learned that, with some interviewees, a small notebook and a pen created just the atmosphere of credibility and trust he needed. Tapping away at a keyboard put too much distance between him and his subjects. You had to know how to appear genuinely present in just the right way. You couldn’t push or seem too eager.Knowing how to listen patiently was crucial. You had to ask the right questions and be interested, but not intrusive.
    Many of the same rules applied to doing a good interview as to hitting on a woman.
    Jiři found himself humming. The tune was from Carly Rae Jepsen’s irritatingly catchy new song.
    Maybe at the end of the day he’d go sit at a street café and relax, letting an ice-cold beer spill down his throat while he watched the giggling tourist girls and explored what he could get them to say using different interview techniques. Jiři promised himself he could do that if he made significant progress on his story today.

Rules bring safety. Rules create a home. Rules make a family work. Without rules, we would be adrift, at the mercy of our desires, beings drawn to darkness and chaos.
    That is why we need rules. Rules are our guardian angels.
    The most important rule is this: The family is sacred. Family business is sacred. Family business belongs to no one outside the family. We do not talk about family business. Silence is our rule. If someone tries to ask about internal family business, we do not answer in any way.
    For this we all know: He who breaks this most important rule and sins against the Holy Family shall not go unpunished. We shall silence anyone who talks too much. We shall smother all words that attempt to sully the holy whiteness.
    If one speaks, we are all in danger.
    The will of the one may never outweigh the will of the family.

Lumikki kept thinking she’d get used to this sight, that it wouldn’t take her breath away every time, but she was wrong. Prague always looked enchanting from above. Of course, everything looks more beautiful from up high, when your gaze has room to scan the landscape far off into the horizon. Lumikki dreamed that someday she could live in an apartment with windows overlooking a city. What city, she couldn’t yet say. During these days in Prague, she had begun increasingly to feel that the city wouldn’t necessarily be in Finland. Central Europe was a much more attractive option. You could smell the history in the streets here in a different way. The pace of life was more relaxed, and it was easier to melt into the crowd and hide.
    For Lumikki, Vyšehrad Fort was one of Prague’s most beautiful places. She was kind of glad that Lenka had suggestedmeeting here. The hill didn’t draw gaggles of tourists the same way the center of the city or Prague Castle did. There was no traffic noise. It was peaceful, tranquil, and green.
    Lumikki sat down on a wooden bench warmed by the sun and filled her lungs and her senses. She closed her eyes. As far as she was concerned, time could stop right now. She could just be here, in the middle of this summer, not wanting to go anywhere or yearning for anyone, as long as she kept her thoughts in check. The hours could glide past. The day could turn to afternoon and the afternoon could turn to evening. Lumikki could just drift off to sleep and then reawaken to continue gazing at this scenery, which never grew old and always offered new details to find.
    Lumikki sensed Lenka’s arrival before the rasping of her feet on the gravel path was even audible. She smelled the