Chapter 18

A day later, Henry called. “Have you seen the paper?” he began.

“Don’t get a paper. What’s up?”

“Apparently signals were misunderstood.”

“Can you be a bit clearer?”

“It wasn’t the Pacific Ring that was involved. It was the Aegean: Santorini, Milos and Methana are all erupting!”

“I don’t know where that is. The Aegean is part of the Mediterranean, right?”

“Exactly. And Stromboli and Etna are smoking.”

“That’s Italy, right?”

“Right! Beneath the Mediterranean Sea, the dense rock at the extreme north of the African plate has virtually all sunk under the Eurasian plate on which Europe sits. Those pressures make the Greek and Italian volcanoes erupt.”

“Well, I guess your family’s safe for now.”

“They can get a bit higher if the sea level rises.”

“What about Patrick and Rachel?”

“Why don’t they visit Tessa’s folks? That would be a lot higher.”

“And you might drive north from Adelaide.”

“Can you get in touch with Tessa’s folks?”

“I’ll let her do it. It’s be a half-hour of so.”

“No problem. This is quite scary.”

“No fooling?”

Sam told Tessa, who called Iga Warta, telling her mother to await ‘family’ from Sydney and Adelaide.

“Were you warned?” she asked.

“No. I don’t know how things work, but I don’t think Vulcan, Hephaestus and Pele are the same. And it’s hard to see them as aspects of the same thing. But Etna is Vulcan’s forge. Ovid has the story of how Vulcan trapped his wife Venus with her lover, Mars.”

“Right. Each time Venus entertained Mars, Etna erupts. Vulcan’s anger.”

“Exactly. A more violent cuckold than Leopold Bloom.”

“Who?”

“Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses. He knows his wife Molly is in bed with Blazes Boylan, but he loves her nonetheless.”

“Are you going to – uh – entertain one of the others soon?”

“I think Amy in a day or so. Do you know anything about her?”

“She’s a bit older. But not yet 35. She’s a Djaru, from Hall’s Creek and a direct descendant of one of the survivors of the 1922 massacres. Her husband got drunk and was killed in a knife fight.” [Aboriginal people in Halls Creek are predominantly Djaru and Kija peoples. Many residents celebrate both Djaru and Kija heritage.]

“Neat summary. I trust folks will say more about me.”

“You’re a decade younger and have done more. An eagle soars.”

In the afternoon, Sam drove into Kununurra to get some newspapers. He got the West Australian, the Melbourne Age and the SMH. The Melbourne and Sydney papers were from yesterday, the Perth news was from this morning. He tossed them on the left seat and drove back. Actually, the coverage was slim. He’d get the ABC on his laptop. If necessary, he’d look at the BBC world service. There were incredible shots of the fires of hell online. Both video and stills. There had been a few killed in both Greece and Italy, including a daredevil photographer. And there was something Henry hadn’t mentioned and Sam hadn’t thought of.

There had been several earthquakes in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. Sides of mountains had collapsed and kilometers of rock, snow and glaciers had rumbled down slopes. In Arunchal Pradesh, the Brahmaputra’s headwaters were swelling. Downstream the flooding would be terrible. After the Padma joined and then the Meghna the flood would be beyond belief. Sam looked at the map north and east of Kolkata. He mentioned it to Jos.

“We have better news than Noah did. Better maps. But the floods come anyway.”

Sam located Zeke. “I’m going to take a ute to Home Timber,” he said. “I need someone to help load. I’ll get some wood and several tubs of nails. Need other stuff?”

“Get some roofin’ felt an’ a tub of galvanized tacks.”