BooksBarbecue
Back Limelight
Chapters (49)
  1. Cover
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Also by Graham Hurley
  4. LIMELIGHT
  5. Copyright
  6. Dedication
  7. Epigraph
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. TEN
  18. ELEVEN
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. AFTERWARDS

‘Really?’ I’m trying to imagine this proposition. The rest of the world might have gone up in flames, and everything is poisoned for ever, but I ask Sylvester whether it’s worth sharing the rest of my life with a bunch of grumpy moles.

‘Good question. Excellent question. Terrifying prospect. But that’s not the point. Believe me, this thing has taken off. You won’t believe how many people are buying in. The silos are everywhere. There’s a rash of them, all over the Midwest. Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, you name it. You’re buying insurance, you’re buying survival; an investment like this lets you sleep at night. Two million pounds to get to old age? If you’re rich enough, you think it’s a steal.’

‘And you’re part of this? You’re selling these apartments?’

‘I have been, yes, but it’s like anything. The proposition sells itself and that means that half the bloody world has piled in. Competition’s a fine thing but just sometimes life is too short. You know what I’m saying here?’

I shake my head. I’m afraid I don’t.

‘It’s the marketplace, Mum.’ This from Malo. ‘Too many fingers, not enough pies.’

‘Think gold rush, Enora. It’s California, 1849 all over again, and you can’t move on the riverbank for all those prospectors sieving away. There isn’t enough gold to go round. Something has to give.’

‘An alternative, Mum. You need to dream up some other way of staying alive. And Sylvester’s found it.’

I take the pair of them out for an early supper. Sylvester makes a couple of phone calls to reschedule meetings he says he’d planned for this evening, and the three of us are sitting down to Lebanese mezze before the restaurant has a chance to fill up. This is my favourite local eatery, the one I mentioned to try and tempt Christianne up to town, and the woman who runs it offers us a bottle of Prosecco on the house. A little to my surprise, Sylvester opts for Perrier, as does Malo. To watch my son turn down free alcohol is a pleasure I’ve never had before, but by now I sense he’s keen to impress this man who’s just stepped into our lives. So far, we’ve skirted the small print of exactly what Sylvester might have in mind for the Twilight Fund, but now Malo is keen to press him for details.