فصل نهم

CHAPTER nine

It was a beautiful night. Rachel and Harry walked down the street through the centre of town.

‘What time are you going tomorrow?’ she asked.

‘Six o’clock in the morning,’ he said.

‘I’m sorry you’re leaving,’ she said.

‘It’s OK,’ he said. ‘Our equipment is here. We can sit in Portland and answer the question: “What’s happening in Dante’s Peak?” No problem.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘But I’m sorry you have to go.’

Harry turned to Rachel, and she turned to him. He put his arms round her. Then a car drove down the street. The driver slowed the car near them. ‘Good evening, Rachel,’ a woman said. Then she drove away.

‘Jeannie Lane,’ Rachel said. ‘She’ll talk about this for the next two weeks.’

They walked to her house. When they were there she said, ‘Do you want to come in for coffee or something?’

‘Yes,’ he said.

Inside, she fell into his arms, but suddenly Lauren called from her bedroom. ‘Mommy, is that you? I’m thirsty.’

‘I’ll bring you a glass of water,’ Rachel said.

She went into the kitchen. ‘Oh, look,’ she called. ‘The water is coming out all brown.’

Harry ran into the kitchen. He looked at the water. ‘Where does the town’s water come from?’ he asked.

‘About eight kilometres away, up the mountain,’ said Rachel.

‘We have to go there, now,’ Harry said. ‘Get the children.’

They drove fast up the mountain road. The sleepy children were in the back of the car. ‘Here we are,’ said Rachel, and stopped the car.

Harry got out. He and Rachel went over to the water. It was all brown. Harry walked round. ‘There’s gas all round here,’ he said.

They drove quickly back to town. It was midnight. Harry hit the door of Paul’s hotel room. When he opened the door, Harry went inside.

‘What’s happening?’ said Paul.

‘Look,’ said Harry. He turned on the water in Paul’s bathroom. An hour later, all the scientists were back in their office hard at work.

‘The earthquakes are stronger now,’ Harry said early the next morning.’2/3 or 2/4 every time.’

‘There’s a lot of gas too,’ Stan said.

‘This mountain is ready to explode,’ said Nancy.

Paul Dreyfus put down the phone. ‘More police are coming,’ he said. ‘They’ll be here by midnight.’

Stan called over to Harry, ‘How much time do you think we’ve got?’

‘I don’t know,’ Harry said. He looked at Dreyfus.

Dreyfus said, ‘Ask Mayor Wando to tell the people of the town to be ready to leave.’

At six in the evening, Rachel, Harry and the two children were in the cafe. Rachel was on the phone. ‘Ruth,’ she said for the fifth time, ‘you must come down to the town now. It’s dangerous. We’re going to leave. You must come with us.’

‘I’m not leaving,’ Ruth said. She looked out of the window at the trees and the lake. ‘This is my home.’ She put down the phone.

Rachel went to the school. The townspeople waited there for her.

‘You must leave your homes,’ she said. ‘Some of you will find it hard, but you must.’

Elliot Blair got up and left the room. Les Worrell watched him go. He could do nothing.

‘Must we wait, Rachel?’ a young woman asked. ‘Can we leave now?’

‘Yes,’ Rachel said. ‘Leave now.’

Ten or twelve other people stood up and left the room.

Harry Dalton got up to speak. ‘We’re asking you to be ready to leave,’ he said, ‘because we don’t want to see anything bad happen. But we don’t want you to be afraid.’

But then the school building moved. People jumped up out of their chairs. Somebody screamed. Everybody ran for the doors.

Out on the street they looked up at the mountain. The volcano threw ash and smoke and gases up into the sky. People ran through the town. Children screamed for their mothers and fathers.

At Rachel’s house Graham saw the mountain through the window. ‘Lauren’ he called. ‘Let’s go! We’re leaving now!’

At the hotel Dreyfus looked at the equipment. ‘The lava is starting to move,’ he said.

‘Don’t look at the equipment,’ Nancy said. ‘Look out of the window.’

The smoke from the peak was dark. It was lava ash. ‘Dante’s Peak is going to be more dangerous than Mount St Helen’s,’ Paul said. ‘And the explosion will come soon.’