Chapter 18
‘It’s fine, I mean this sort of thing must happen all the time,’ I said, trying to sound calm.
Diana threw me a look which contradicted this.
‘If Casper was alive, I would never have lived this down,’ she cried.
I didn’t voice the opinion that it was a good job he wasn’t, because that would have been unhelpful. And when Joe and Luke found out what had happened, neither would I.
‘There must be an official, or a policeman or something? So we can ask for help,’ I said.
Trying to be proactive I went and looked around the reception building, only managing to find a collection of full trash bins behind the cafe and a broken chair. A large man in a food-stained white apron came out with a bag of rubbish and jammed it into one of the containers, barely glancing in my direction before going back inside and slamming the door behind him.
When I got back to my companions they were sitting on a bench looking dejected, while the last few stragglers from the ruins walked away.
‘Right, we need to get some help,’ I said, ‘perhaps there is a tourist information place around here. Or a taxi firm to take us back to the boat.’
For a moment the three of us looked at each other.
‘I don’t think I can walk very far,’ Evelyn said, ‘sorry. Now I’ve sat down it’s going to take me a while to get going again. Jill, you’ve got a mobile.’
I pulled it out and switched it on again.
‘Who shall I ring?’
‘The ship. There’s bound to be someone there,’ Diana said, ‘we can explain what’s happened. They will know we haven’t come back on board and that something’s up.’
‘Anyone know the number?’
We all spent the next few minutes rummaging around in our handbags and backpacks for some useful scrap of paper that might have a contact phone number on it.
‘I only have the number for Radio Wonderful, on this email from Fiona the Fixer,’ I said at last, looking up from my phone.
‘Well perhaps we could ring them?’ Evelyn said.
‘Good idea.’
I dialled the number and waited for it to connect.
After a very long time it was answered.
‘Hello, Radio Wonderful. Here and happy and ready to make your day,’ someone said.
They didn’t sound any of those things. Just very young and bored.
‘It’s Jill Parker, I won the cruise competition. And I’d like to speak to Fiona please.’
‘Which Fiona? There are five,’ was the reply.
‘Fiona the Fixer. She works with Steve Groove,’ I felt my heart rate slow a little, it was going to be okay.
‘She’s gone. Try tomorrow morning. She’s in at six, although sometimes she’s late so maybe leave it till six thirty. But then she’s usually very busy with the show, so probably best to leave it until about eleven when Steve goes off the air. Thanks for your call and have a Radio Wonderful day.’
‘But we are stuck in Pompeii, we’ve?—’
I realised whoever it was had rung off. Honestly, young people have no idea of phone etiquette.
The thought of waiting until eleven o’clock tomorrow was horrible.
I rang back three times and got only the busy tone and then my battery died.
‘Any luck?’ Evelyn said.
‘No,’ I replied, wondering what to do next. ‘Can anyone speak Italian well enough to get us out of this?’
Diana looked blank.
‘Douglas would have been ideal, he was very good with languages. He was quite fluent in Italian, French and American but then he’s not here. I just used to do what most British people did back in the day, speak slowly and loudly. Isn’t that awful? Golly he would have laughed to see me in this situation.’
Even she didn’t sound as though there was any humour in our predicament.
‘There are lots of restaurants and cafes in the rest of the town,’ Diana said, ‘perhaps we could find one and ask about a taxi there?’
‘A taxi to where?’ I said, ‘I can’t remember where the ship is going next. Only that it leaves the port at five o’clock.’
‘Messina in Sicily,’ Evelyn said, ‘next to the bottom of the boot that is Italy. It’s not that far as the crow flies, the ship was supposed to be arriving there tomorrow morning. Or it might have been this evening. I can’t remember. Anyway, I know there was a day in port.’
I imagined all the other passengers safely back on the ship, sitting in the bars and restaurants, looking forward to the show that evening, which was headlining Max Maestro, the Argentine ventriloquist, and felt slightly hysterical for a moment.
We walked slowly toward the exit, all of us feeling very deflated.
‘Ah, there you are, I was wondering when you would appear,’ said a voice.
And there, unfurling his height from a stone bench the other side of the gates was Rapha?l. He gave us a broad grin and I don’t think any of us had ever been so pleased to see a friendly face.
Diana, rather surprisingly, ran towards him, and hugged him.
‘What are you doing here?’ she said. ‘We missed the coach. We don’t know how we are going to get back to the ship.’
‘Malheureusement – unfortunately you have missed the ship,’ he said cheerfully, looking at his watch. ‘I knew you weren’t on the coach and a couple of us went looking for you, but in the end the driver said he had to go, alors, I left a message for the captain to tell him what had happened. And I knew eventually you would appear. Are you alright?’
‘I feel such an idiot,’ Diana said.
‘And my feet hurt,’ Evelyn added. ‘I’ve twisted my ankle. Women always twist their ankles in films, don’t they? When they are running away from the aliens. It’s such a cliché, I feel very foolish.’
‘Viens, come with me,’ he said kindly, offering her a supportive arm, ‘we will find a solution.’
I was torn then between extreme relief that help was at hand and we weren’t going to face huddling up on a park bench somewhere, and mild irritation that we needed a man to help us out. But then would Evelyn using her tactic of speaking slowly and loudly and my very limited knowledge of Italian been up to sorting out this dilemma? I didn’t think so. I resolved that when I got back home, I would do a language course.
He tucked Evelyn’s handbag under his arm and she limped along quite happily at his side.
‘I have a friend locally, she used to be an entertainer on the ship; I have already rung her to explain the situation. I know she will help.’
‘I do hope you won’t get into trouble because of us,’ Evelyn said, sounding very worried. ‘They won’t keelhaul you for desertion or something?’
‘Reste calme – relax madame, they know what has happened. I am on a mission de sauvetage – a rescue mission.’
Diana rolled her eyes at me. ‘I can just imagine what they are saying: three silly old women getting lost.’
I hugged her. ‘It’s an adventure. We will laugh about this later.’
‘Will we?’ she said, looking doubtful. ‘I’m not sure we will.’
After about ten minutes we went into a small wine bar, which even in our distressed state looked very enticing, the amber fairy lights around the window gleaming out into the evening. Rapha?l settled us at a table and brought us three small glasses of cognac.
‘For the shock,’ he said sympathetically.
Evelyn cheered up immediately. ‘Bottoms up!’
‘Well, this won’t touch the sides,’ I said, knocking it back and wincing as the liquid burned its fiery way down to my empty stomach.
He returned with an oval platter filled with crispy, triangular turnovers.
‘The chef has sent you some panzerotti. Little ham pastries. On the house. I have explained your situation and he was sure you must be hungry. It’s the Italian response to most dramas. Now I will call my friend Genova and tell her we are safe and sound.’
I felt quite tearful at that moment, that people could be so kind to strangers.
We sat there in the warm evening, while other people came in to have a quick drink or a snack, probably on their way home from work, and I think we all began to relax again. Then we had a second round of cognac bought for us by a sympathetic, kindly man in work overalls who was sitting at the bar with some lager and a hefty pizza.
I wondered what would have happened back home in this situation and hoped that we would have been just as willing to help out some unhappy travellers.
Rapha?l returned. ‘Genova will arrive very soon, and she will drive us to Messina. She says it should only take a few hours. We will be there in good time, rest assured.’
‘But the ship won’t arrive until the morning. Where do we go all night, while we wait?’ Diana said, sounding very upset.
‘Yes, we may have a long wait for the ship to arrive, but I will find somewhere for us and then everything will be resolved,’ Rapha?l said reassuringly.
‘Thank you,’ Diana said, sounding rather tearful. ‘I was so worried.’
Rapha?l patted her hand and I think Evelyn and I both noticed that he left it covering hers for a few seconds and Diana didn’t pull away. I felt unreasonably pleased by this and from the look on Evelyn’s face, so was she.