Finally, they stopped at the top of a hill, out of breath. Below them shone the lights of the campsite.
“Everything is quiet,” said Raf.
“Yes, we got here in time!”
They saw the receptionist dozing at his desk, scratching his ear from time to time.
“We may have another five, ten minutes. Listen! Can you see that cliff? On the right, a short distance from the campsite?”
Raf nodded. The cliff looked like a slide pointing the wrong way. It slowly ascended from the flat part of the island towards the sea and then stopped suddenly.
“He can’t go past there along the sea. It’s all sharp rocks sticking out of the sea around there. He’ll have to turn towards the island and cross the cliff on its middle part. That’s where we’ll wait for him.”
“The plan” said Raf.
“Don’t expect too much. I’ll go and stand at the top of the cliff and I’ll whistle old tunes quietly. When the thing crosses the cliff it’ll see me and come to me to ask my name. I’ll try to distract him while you run from behind that last tree there before the clearing and stick this in his back.”
He pulled out the knife and let the blade catch the moonlight.
Raf swallowed thickly. The plan! The plan! How proud and redeeming that word sounded! As if to save them it would be enough just having a plan, without actually carrying it out.
“I”
” shall do that, is what you say to yourself. Repeat that while you’re waiting, repeat and repeat! And then do it!"
“But”
“DO IT! If you don’t, I’ll die first, then you, then the whole of the campsite, the village in the morning, everybody on the ferry at midday, the mainland in the afternoon and in the end, the whole world. Who the hell would shoot at a polite child, who walks the streets asking people their names and then thanks them. And leaves death behind. It isn’t a child, it isn’t alive, it is a walking virus! Just think that and you’ll do it!”
Raf pictured the girl from the ferry instead of a crowd of people. He was talking to her uncle while she was waiting in the village. Maybe she was even asleep? He imagined her in bed, a sheet pulled up to her neck, her right hand lying on top of it. Next to her stood the child looking at her. She opened her eyes and he asked her her name.
Raf trembled.
“I’ll do it,” he said.
“Good. My only worry is this. The thing has special abilities for sensing things. And when you come near him he may catch your thoughts. Look at his back, concentrate on something banal, run towards him and stab him with all your strength. Wait, I’ve got an even better idea!”
He got up and started looking at the trees. He cut off the longest and straightest branch he could find, hewed it roughly, cut off most of the top and made a five inch incision in the middle. He pushed the knife handle into the gap, took off his shoes, pulled out the shoe laces and wrapped them around the wood above the knife handle.
“Here, a spear. It’ll give you a distance of two metres between you and it. Maybe those two metres mean nothing, maybe everything!”
He gave Raf the spear and Raf grasped it with both hands. The bark scratched his palms and the sap on the cuts to the wood felt cold.
He looked at Aco’s bare feet. Aco smiled:
“Don’t worry. If you do your job properly I’ll gladly walk to the village barefoot. If not, I won’t need them anymore. I may be running around with an axe in my hands or I’ll go and kiss the one in the woods. Or whatever else the loss of my name would make me do. I certainly won’t be worrying about my shoes.”
He looked at Raf and put his hand out:
“It was a pleasure,” he said, “whatever the outcome.”
Raf felt a big lump in his throat.
They shook hands.
“What about”
Aco looked up. The child couldn’t be seen anywhere.
“What about?”
“If I go and stand on the cliff? You’ve got more experience, more training, you”
“Yes, I’ve killed more people then you can imagine. But it’s more dangerous up there. Just look at the distance you’d have to run and judging by your figure you’re no sprinter. I may have to tell him my name. Whereas you just run and run. When the spear stops, you’re done.”
“What if he really does ask your name?”
“Are you worried you’ll have another madman to cope with?” He looked towards the sea, “don’t worry. Have you ever seen a cook around here prepare a fish before cooking it? She cuts it open and puts it on a rock for the waves to rinse out all the entrails and blood. If needs be, the sea down there can wash my sins away.”
“But”
“No buts. This is a private thing I’ve been putting off for fifty years. I’m going up there and that’s it. In addition”
He smiled cheekily. How inappropriate such a smile seemed to Raf on the wrinkled face, at least forty years too late. Is it possible that the brain sometimes forgets what sort of body it’s in?
” if we swapped roles and we failed and I was on my own, I’d die of fear.”
“And I”
“And you’ll do everything to the best of your abilities and how it should be done!”
“You think so?”
“Yes, I believe in you.”
Aco turned and stepped out of the trees. He would go and leave Raf on his own. On his own, with Aco’s trust.
“You’re lying,” Raf half shouted after Aco, who looked back and smiled.
“Even if that was true I wouldn’t say so now.”
He nodded and walked in the direction of the cliff. Raf looked after him, knowing that the talking was over. It was time for action now.
7
The pensioners lined up in front of the monument. Luka examined the squad: Adriano had put weight on and could no longer do up his jacket (he had tried to stitch it together but a centimetre-wide strip of his white T-shirt could be seen between the stitches) and to top it all he had hung ammunition belts around his neck like those guys shown on the telly, for which he received a severe reprimand. Miro did not hold himself straight enough and Bruno was perfect as usual, apart from still being out of breath after having gone to Luka’s house to look for the girl. He could not find her and Luka got worried. Could she have done something as stupid as going ahead towards the villa on her own instead of waiting for them? Luka and Aco had been through a lot together and the last thing Luka wanted was to be accused of not having looked after Aco’s niece properly. He felt guilty about having left her waiting in front of his door for so long whilst he was gathering his clothing and weapons. When he had finally got ready and stepped out of the house she was nowhere to be seen. He had sent Bruno to look for her and they had lost another ten minutes. Now it really was time to go.
He stood in the middle of the squad, turned towards the men and shouted:
“M4A3E8?”
“Ready!” shouted Bruno.
“M2?”
“Ready!” said Miro.
Luka nodded. Good.
“M 1919A4?”
Silence. He looked towards Adriano, who stared ahead with his lips tightly shut. Miro leant towards him and whispered: “M 1919A4?”
Miro had to repeat it in a much louder voice before Adriano replied with a shout:
“READY!”
Good, Luka was pleased. Maybe he should make an up-beat speech before they started their rescue mission?
Alfonz was becoming sadder and sadder.
Raf stood under a thick branch, keeping the spear close to him and watched Aco at the top of the cliff. Aco had his right side turned towards him and did not throw even one glance at Raf’s hiding place, his attention being constantly divided between two points: the part of the beach where the thing should first appear and the distant light of a fishing boat on the horizon.