فصل هشتم

CHAPTER eight

The helicopter came down near the town. ‘Look,’ Terry said to Harry. ‘A lot of people are waiting for us. We’re famous!’

Harry smiled but said nothing. Doctors took Terry to hospital. Rachel pushed through the people and came up to Harry. ‘Are you OK?’ she said.

‘Yeah, I’m OK,’ he said.

Paul Dreyfus drove up in his car. ‘I must go and talk to Paul,’ Harry said to Rachel.

‘How’s Terry?’ Paul asked.

‘He’ll be OK,’ Harry said. ‘But listen, Paul. We have a problem. That volcano’s getting ready to explode.’

Dreyfus stopped smiling. ‘I know it was hard for you up there, Harry,’ he said, ‘but you mustn’t get excited. Not a lot happened.’

‘Not a lot happened?’ said Harry. ‘Paul, I was there. That was a big earthquake.’

‘But the mountain didn’t explode,’ Paul said. ‘Terry was unlucky, that’s all. Those rocks were weak.’

‘No, Paul, listen,’ Harry said. ‘I think the lava is moving up nearer to the ground. The ground is too warm up there.’

‘No, you listen, Harry,’ said Paul angrily. ‘You lost Marianne. Now you’re always afraid. Well, I’m sorry about Marianne, but I don’t want people in Dante’s Peak to be afraid because you lost her.’

The two men started to fight, but Greg pulled Harry away. ‘Careful, Harry,’ he said.

Dreyfus walked away. ‘Two more days,’ he told them. ‘We’ll stay only two more days. There’s nothing more for us to do here.’

Three days later, they were ready to leave. In the evening, Harry went to Stein’s Bar. Terry was back from the hospital. He was in the bar with Nancy, Greg and Stan. Harry met Rachel there, and they went to a quiet table in a comer with their drinks.

‘Perhaps you’ll come down to Portland one day, and we’ll meet again,’ he said.

‘I usually have a lot of things to do,’ said Rachel.

‘Don’t you take holidays?’ he asked.

‘Holidays? Oh, yes, I remember holidays. You have holidays when you don’t have two children and a cafe, and aren’t mayor of a town.’

Paul Dreyfus came over to their table. ‘Can I sit down?’ he said.

‘Yes,’ they answered.

‘Before we leave,’ Paul said to Rachel, ‘I want to say thank you, Mayor Wando. You’ll be happy to see us go.’

‘Yes,’ said Harry. He looked at Elliot Blair and Les Worrell. They sat together at a table. ‘Our visit here was bad for business, I think.’

Worrell and Blair came over too. Les said, ‘I told Mr Blair, “Look, the volcano people are leaving. There can’t be any danger here.” Am I right?’

Elliot Blair said, ‘Yeah. I want to put eighteen million dollars into Dante’s Peak, not Pompeii.’

Paul laughed. ‘No, there’s no danger.’ Then he turned to Harry. ‘You’re a scientist, Harry. Can you say that it’s dangerous here?’

Dreyfus waited. Blair and Worrell looked at Harry. Then Harry said, No, I can’t.’

Dreyfus smiled. ‘Come over to the bar,’ he said to Blair and Worrell. ‘I’ll buy you two a drink.’

A minute later Rachel said, ‘It’s getting late. I must go home to the children.’

‘I’ll walk with you,’ Harry said. They got up and left.

The lake near Ruth’s home was quiet and dark. But under the ground a lot of acid flowed into it. Fish died. First one fish, then ten, twenty, a hundred.