by Kolton Lee
With the engine still running, H nipped out of the taxi, walked swiftly to Alice’s front door and posted the parcel through the letterbox, squeezing it through.
He climbed back into the taxi.
‘Where now, guv’nor?’ The taxi driver asked, impassive.
‘Heathrow.’ The driver nodded and the taxi pulled out.
‘Going away are you?’
‘Yep.’
‘Where you off to then, anywhere nice?’
‘Montserrat.’
The driver cast H a quizzical look via the rear view mirror. ‘Isn’t that where the volcano happened?’
‘Yeah …’
‘Terrible that was. Saw a documentary about that on the telly. How are they coping over there, then?’
‘It’s tough but … life goes on. It’s tough over here, isn’t it?’
‘You’re right there, sunshine, you’re right there.’
H thought about his brother’s house in Virgin Island, in the northern part of Montserrat, far from the exclusion zone around the volcano. The house was set near a cliff face and had broad views of the sea. On a clear day you could see over to St Kitts. Suddenly, H couldn’t wait to be there.
It came to him who Gavin’s killer was - Wha Gwan. Blue’s friend. H shook his head in amazement, the complexities of the universe far greater than he could possibly fathom. He would sort himself out in Montserrat and then he would come back, a different H. Maybe he would meet up again with Ade. And maybe Wha Gwan - who knew?
H pulled another cigarette from his packet and pulled out his lighter, his talisman. He lit the cigarette and was about to push the Zippo back into his pocket. Only he didn’t. He looked at it. This moment was another one of those moments, like the one when he’d almost died in the ring. It was a turning point. Only this time, finally, he was in control. He opened the window and tossed the lighter out. From the speeding taxi, H watched it sail backwards in the dark, hit the asphalt, and bounce forwards.
THE END
Copyright
Arcadia Books Ltd
139 Highlever Road
London W10 6PH
www.arcadiabooks.co.uk
First published in 2007 by Maia Press
This Ebook edition published by Arcadia Books 2013
Copyright © Kolton Lee 2007
Kolton Lee has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publishers.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–1–910050–1–63
Arcadia Books supports English PEN www.englishpen.org and The Book Trade Charity http://booktradecharity.wordpress.com
Arcadia Books distributors are as follows:
in the UK and elsewhere in Europe:
Macmillan Distribution Ltd
Brunel Road
Houndmills
Basingstoke
Hants RG21 6XS
in the USA and Canada:
Dufour Editions
PO Box 7
Chester Springs
PA 19425
in Australia/New Zealand:
NewSouth Books
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
