Chapters (39)
- Cover
- Title
- Author’s Note
- Glossary
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Acknowledgments
Two months later, Geoffrey and Michelle told their friends she was expecting their first child: Clare.
Wishing they’d get a move on and leave him in peace, Derek closed his eyes and tried to block out the chatter of his friends outside the cabin as they prepared to leave. Did they really have to agree on every aspect of their endeavour? Why didn’t Bruce take the lead and get the women moving? Democracy seldom worked in groups. Someone had to take control.
Then at last, he heard Helen’s voice above the others: “Right. Let’s go. See you soon, I hope, Geoffrey.”
“I’ll be a second.” It was Diane.
Derek heard footsteps in the cabin. He didn’t open his eyes. He’d said his goodbyes. They came closer. He sensed a body near his. It crouched and for a moment he thought whoever it was, was going to touch him. He almost flinched. Then he heard the sound of his bag being pulled from beneath his bed. He opened his eyes.
“Damn. You’re awake,” said Diane, squatting alongside him.
“What do you want?”
“Your flask.”
“What?”
She unzipped the bag and looked inside it. “Well, I’m damned if I’m going to leave you here with Geoffrey, Bev’s ample supply of drugs and your whiskey after last night’s performance.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, non-plussed.
Diane stood up, slipping her hand into the pack and rifling around. “Where is it?” she asked.
“I have no idea. I finished it last night.”
“I don’t believe it. It’s a big flask and there was plenty left when we stopped talking.”
He shrugged. “I continued drinking. It was the only way to dull the pain. Or perhaps I spilled some. I don’t know. It’s gone. Look in the lapa.”
She dropped the bag on the floor. “Sure. I’ll look. My God, Derek, if you say anything along the lines of what you told me last night to anyone ever again, I can assure you that you will lose every friend you have in this world.”
“If it’s not true, why does it upset you so much?”
Diane glared at him. “You really are the most selfish arsehole I’ve ever met,” she said, turning and leaving the cabin.
Derek closed his eyes and stroked the flask, which he’d tucked beneath his space blanket.
Thirteen
Thirteen
For a moment, as she recovered consciousness and her vision cleared, Clare thought she’d fallen again. When the view of the boulder and the proteas fell into place, she realised she hadn’t moved. The clouds seemed closer, as if they’d drawn together to peer down at her. She recognised a tiny pink erica struggling to survive in a narrow cleft in the rock. A succession of raucous cries made her look up. A small bird swept by, closely pursued by a pair of crows.