by Amy Cross
***
“Never, in all the years that I have lived here, have there been rats on Thaxos!”
Ephram was in a dark mood as he used a mop to clean blood from the floor. The chicken's corpse had been tossed out in the night, but its blood had soaked into the cracks between the tiles.
“It is well known,” he continued, “that Thaxos has been free of rats for hundreds of years. Back in the seventeenth century, every rat was exterminated in an attempt to get rid of the Black Death, and since then every arriving ship has been checked and double-checked to ensure that there is no chance of a single rat getting loose. It is a point of pride that Thaxos is the only island in the area that has no rats!” He slammed the mop's wet head against the floor in a final act of defiance. “And now they are here! This is all Edgar Le Compte's fault.”
At the mention of Edgar's name, Kate looked up from her cup of coffee, which she had been nursing while sitting on a stool over by the window.
“The man comes to Thaxos with his big boat,” Ephram continued, “unloading all his fancy furniture and God knows what else, and does anyone think to take precautions? No. So along with everything else, he brings rats to the island, and now we see the consequences. I tell you here and now, unless drastic action is taken immediately, those rats will breed, and then the next generation will breed, and so on until the entire island is overrun and the only thing left for the rest of us to do is to to jump into the sea!”
“You can't be certain that it was Edgar Le Compte's fault,” Kate pointed out, even though she knew she was on a hiding to nothing.
“Of course it is,” Ephram muttered as he stared down at the faint blood stain that was still visible between the tiles. “First rats, then what else? If we are not careful, he will be bringing cars to the island.”
“He's got a car here,” Kate replied, before realizing that perhaps it would be unwise to fan the flames of Ephram's anger.
“What car?” the old man snapped.
“Oh, just one...”
“One?!?”
“I went for a walk yesterday and I saw some men putting up a...” She paused. “Well, they were doing some work on his land, and they had an old van. I guess it must have been in one of the large crates that came off Edgar's boat yesterday, but it looked pretty old and I don't think he's going to use it anyone apart from on his own land.”
“Unbelievable,” Ephram muttered, sounding deflated. “And totally unacceptable. There have never been cars on Thaxos. Why does he think he can come here and change everything?”
“You didn't seem to mind yesterday,” Kate pointed out.
“That was before the rats!” Ephram replied, his eyes alive with indignation. “If there is one thing I have always been thankful for, it's the fact that there are no rats on Thaxos. I was one of the few people around here who was willing to give Edgar Le Compte and his family a second chance, but in less than twenty-four hours he has brought vermin and cars to the island. What next, eh? What else will he bring here to interrupt our way of life?” He sighed. “If that man ever comes to my store, I will have no hesitation in telling him what I think!”
“Oh, he dropped by last night,” Kate replied, before instantly wincing as she realized that yet again she might have said too much.
Ephram stared at her.
“I came back late,” she continued, “and he was out there in the courtyard. I suppose he wanted to pick up a few things, but you were closed. He said he might come back this morning.”
“You talked to him?” Ephram asked.
“Briefly. Just a few words, really. He seemed...” She paused, searching for the right word. “Nice,” she added eventually, with a faint smile. “Honestly.”
“Nice?” Ephram replied, evidently unimpressed. “Well, that is a word I have never heard used about any member of the Le Compte family before. Even my mother, who was in love with Edgar Le Compte's grandfather, never said he was nice.”
“They were in love?” Kate asked, her curiosity piqued.
“I didn't say that. I said she was in love with him. He, no. I doubt he could have loved anyone, although he courted her for a while before marrying some woman from the mainland. Broke my grandmother's heart, so I'm told. My grandfather, God rest his soul, told me on his deathbed that he believed she'd settled for him as second-best, and that her feelings for that Le Compte man had never completely gone away. Yet another reason we should all be glad that the family left.” Picking up the bucket of bloody water, Ephram carried it out the front door and poured it into a drain, as one of his remaining chickens wandered inside.
“I should go and explore,” Kate muttered, watching the chicken.
“What's that?” Ephram asked as he came back inside.
“I should go and explore,” Kate said again, getting off the stool even though she was exhausted after her tortured night's sleep. Checking her watch, she saw that it was almost 8am, which meant that she no longer had any excuses. “I was thinking of going to the north of the island to check out the old stones I read about back in university. I've always wanted to see them up close.”
“Most tourists just want to flop out on the beach,” Ephram replied, with a faint smile. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have unloaded on you, it's just that I can't say these things to my grandmother. The less she knows about the Le Comptes returning, the better. It would just upset her. I might not be able to stop that fool bringing rats and cars to the island, but the one thing I can do is give my grandmother some peace of mind.”
Kate opened her mouth to tell him that the old woman had been watching Edgar out the window last night, but at the last moment she thought better of it. She figured she'd dropped enough bombshells for one morning.