Solomon's Keepers Read Online Free PDF Page B

hanging on a frame but, mesmerised by the light, he put his foot in a rabbit hole.
    ‘Shit! Fuck!’ Close up, he could see it was speckled on the far side and bright white in the centre from a suspended light. The air was filled with flurries of insects like dark snowflakes.
    ‘What the…’
    ‘Moss,’ says a female voice behind him, strong and husky at the edges.
    ‘Moss?’ he turns around. Still nothing. The light, a sort of strip light, is blinding him. All he can see is a huge purple and yellow oval and deep shadow. He feels dizzy.
    ‘No, MOTHS. They are attracted to the light. Are you all right?’
    At that point he falls over.
    ‘What are you doing here? Ho! What happened to you? You look a complete mess.’ A foreign-sounding voice, Spanish maybe, fussing and gabbling. He sits up and puts his foot straight. The grass feels rough and spiky under his palms and the world is on tumble dry.
    ‘I’m in a race.’ he says, looking at his watch with a corroborative diligence. ‘Then I saw all this and…’
    ‘Oh, a race!’ She’s squatting by him, young but mummy-fussing and holding out her hands, hesitant about pulling him up, which bits to grab. ‘I thought we were right out of the way here. What kind of race? ’
    ‘Well, most of it was drinking…up there, now there’s a running part…over there. For me, that is. The others went in the jeep.’
    ‘That doesn’t sound very fair. And what’s that on your face? Have you cut yourself? Here, let me see.’ He can feel her hands on his shoulders, turning him.
    ‘I think they drew some…’
    Then she’s laughing this lovely hearty laugh. Her face dark amidst long hair with teeth flashing in what must be ultraviolet light. Then a torch beam dazzles everything out.
    ‘Ooh, it’s very rude what they’ve written. Don’t go home like that.’
    He’d put her around his own age, maybe a year or two more. He puts his hand up to feel it, as though it were in Braille.
    Up close she smells warm and sweet. She spells it out. ‘It says A–R–S–E…’ She thinks about rubbing it off but then backs off into darkness again.
    ‘Huh? No, it’s a…’
    ‘How much have you drunk? You’re all over the place!’
    ‘I’ll be alright. Just need to work it off a bit.’ He looks at his watch again. The luminous blobs orbit and settle. It has only been fifteen minutes.
    ‘Who are these others that left you to get home in this state? Friends of yours?’ He can still hear a smile in that.
    ‘Yeah, I must look like…especially with all this…but don’t worry. That’s a footpath…there. I know the…’ He’s sitting up straight now. ‘Actually, I’m in Her Majesty’s…armed forces. Soldier. This, would you believe, is a nickname for our unit. All about pride, don’t you think? We sort of…when things get too tricky, for the regulars, er…they call us in. When we’re sober though. Sorry if that sounds a bit up myself. Every now and then you have to let off steam though, don’t you? Live up to the cliché, I suppose. Anyway, now I see that everything is okay, except me, and obviously this…thing…is not a threat to national security…could have been…so I’ll leave you in peace.’ His arms are waving a bit and that might have been a hiccup but there is no other significant movement.
    ‘Uh huh. Good. Well, shut up. The rest of my team is over there. So behave. Now, do you want something to sober up? I have some coffee which is disgusting but quite strong if you would like some.’
    ‘Yeah, great, disgusting coffee would be great, why not? Stupid idea anyway, that race.’
    Her shadow passes behind the light sheet and she calls over her shoulder while she rummages in some bags and comes back to sit in front of him.
    ‘It’s not important that you win, is it? Nothing terrible happens?’
    ‘Nah – pride, a few quid; I’ve probably blown those already.’ She sits down cross-legged and tugs her ankles together in front of her, denim knees