Lillian released her grip.
Relieved to see his dad, Jack hurried across and stood next to him. Lillian shook her head in disgust. “You outsiders are all the same. All you do is bring misfortune.”
Bruce grimaced. “What are you talking about? Surely you people aren’t going to listen to this madwoman.”
Graham puffed out his chest. “You can’t come here and tell us not to listen to one of our own.” The crowd made grunts of agreement.
“Everybody needs to just calm down,” Duncan said as he stood up and placed himself between the two factions. “This is no way to treat newcomers. It’s bad enough we’ve lost business to the new resort down the coast without trying to run people out of town.”
“Yes, they were newcomers too,” Lillian said, grinning maniacally as she sprung on Duncan’s argument. “They put most of you out of business. Came from the city with their big plans, and now look what it’s done to us.”
“You can’t blame everything on outsiders,” Duncan said. “Where would we have been for all those years if people hadn’t come here on holiday?”
Lillian cackled. “Yes, they built us up all right, just so they could knock us down.”
“Can someone tell me what this is about? I’m sure we can straighten it out.” Bruce said.
Jack shook his head. “They’re trying to blame us for the lack of fish and for the recent incidents.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Look, look, he’s calling us crazy,” Lillian shouted.
Bruce shook his head. “That’s not what I said. You’re trying to twist my words around.”
“Will everyone just calm down,” Duncan said. His permanently red cheeks looked overly flushed.
“How can we calm down, Duncan?” a large man wearing a hat and sporting a well-worn suit shouted. “As if it’s not bad enough these people have left us with nothing, now we can’t even make a living. Do you know how much money I earned last year? Less than twelve thousand pounds. It’s not right. A man should be able to support his family.”
“Aye, John’s right,” Zander said. “We don’t need outsiders coming here disrupting our way of life.”
“What way of life?” Bruce said. “By the looks of it, you need all the outsiders you can get to bring money back into the village.”
“We’ll manage,” Zander replied.
Bruce grabbed Jack’s arm. “Come on, we’re going.”
Not wanting to argue, Jack followed his dad out of the bar. Shazam was sitting outside. Her tail started wagging when she saw Jack and Bruce.
“Some good you were,” Jack said, scratching the dog’s head.
As they walked away, Jack glanced back, worried they might be followed. When he didn’t see anyone, he relaxed a little.
“So much for a peaceful life in the country,” Bruce said.
Jack could see his dad clenching his jaw. “I told you it was a mistake moving here. Remember Tenerife?”
Bruce didn’t reply, but Jack could see by his expression that he was inclined to agree.
When his dad did eventually speak, he said, “So how come you’re all wet? And where did you get those cuts? Did that madwoman do it?”
“I tripped and fell in the sea.”
Bruce visibly blanched. He stopped walking and grabbed Jack by both arms. Jack grimaced.
“Take it easy,” Jack said.
“You’ve been in the sea? Promise me you won’t go in again.”
“Hey, chill. It’s no big deal.
“Jack, promise me.” He squeezed tighter.
“Jesus, don’t blow a fuse. Okay, I promise.”
Bruce let out a breath then released Jack. “I’m sorry, but there’s something going on out there.” He pointed to the sea, lips pursed.
“I know. The shark, remember.”
“Yes… the shark.” He had a faraway, wistful look about him before he turned and started walking again.
Jack fell in step beside him. He gazed out to sea as he walked. Wished he was anywhere rather than here, even back in Tenerife.
Chapter 17
The night swept in across the sea. Jack sat in the living room, looking out the window. He had changed out of the wet clothes when he arrived home, quickly transferring the cannabis to his new jeans in case his dad found it.
The reflection of the full moon rippled on the surface of the sea like mercury. Lights flickered on the horizon from a passing ship.
Jack could see his dad’s reflection in the glass. “So did you get to see that woman at the hospital?”
Bruce looked up from his newspaper. He licked his lips, then nodded.
“Well?”
“Yes, she’s okay.”
“So what happened to her?”
“She had an accident, that’s all.”
Something in the way his dad spoke made Jack think he wasn’t telling him the truth, or at least not the whole story. When he turned around to look at him, his dad had buried his nose back in the newspaper.
“So what are we going to do about living here, you know, with what happened earlier?”
Bruce looked up again. “They’ll get over it. They’re just looking for a scapegoat, and unfortunately, as newcomers, we’re it.”
“So what are you saying, that we just accept it? That madwoman grabbed me and marched me into the bar for Christ’s sake.”
“A lot of these people have lost their livelihoods. They’re upset. Give them time. Eventually they’ll accept us.”
Jack wasn’t convinced. “I’m going out,” he said.
“It’s dark, and after what happened today, I think you’d better stay in.”
“No way.”
“Jack, I’m not asking you. This isn’t open for debate. You’re staying in.”
Rather than argue, Jack stood up, said, “It’s not fair,” and stormed out of the room, banging the door behind him for good effect. He made sure his dad heard him thunder up the stairs and into his bedroom. Once inside, he fashioned a pile of clothes into a vaguely human shape on the bed and threw the covers over it. Then he went across to the window, opened it, and slipped outside onto the porch roof, shutting the window behind him. He’d known the porch would come in handy, which was why he’d chosen the bedroom at the front. From there it was a simple exercise to drop the eight feet to the ground, hanging by his arms onto the edge of the tiles to lessen the height.
A quick glance back at the house, then he ran down onto the road and started walking towards the village.
Lights blazed in many of the houses, but drawn curtains diminished their radiance. If it hadn’t been for the full moon, he would have had difficulty navigating a path. In the distance, lights illuminated the harbour, and Jack saw Zander’s boat bobbing gently against the quay. He wondered whether Zander would notice any of his cannabis was missing. Not that it mattered if he did. He wouldn’t know who had taken it.
In need of a quiet place to roll his joint, Jack skipped over the harbour wall and settled down on the ground as he prepared his cigarette before lighting it.
The first hit tickled the back of his throat, and he held the smoke in his lungs for as long as possible before exhaling. Through the resultant pale cloud, he viewed the sea, chuckling to himself when he remembered how scared he had been when someone pushed him in earlier. The whole situation now seemed ridiculous. Of course a shark wasn’t going to get him. There probably wasn’t even one out there, just the result of someone’s overactive imagination. But now that he thought about it, and far from making people stay away, stories of a man-eating shark would probably help the local economy. There were probably lots of people who would pay to see the killer from the deep.
Jack took another hit. He wondered whether someone local had made the whole thing up to make a little money. The thought made him giggle and he snorted and coughed out a cloud of smoke. Not as backward as they appeared, the villagers were the real sharks.