‘Sorry, OK, here comes another one. Ease by to the right, that’s it, now swing in a bit steeper than normal – not too steeply – OK, OK, that’s it, we’re nearly out of ’em. God, that was close. Last one – under it – bank to port. Port! Turn left. That’s it. Super cool, babe … sorry, sorry, Chloe. Super cool. Now level off again and just keep your sights on that dark patch at the end there. That’s it.’ Jordy consulted his map again, then stared at the topography below. ‘Yep, head directly for that spot.’
Once they had reached this ‘spot’ they found a sort of twilight area which led into almost total blackness.
‘I think we’re nearly home,’ he said with relief. ‘Are you tired, Clo?’
‘Exhausted,’ confessed Chloe, who had now been guiding the hang-glider for nearly four hours. ‘My arms are dropping off.’
‘Well, we’ve got the most dangerous bit of all coming up, but don’t tell Nelson.’
Chloe said, ‘Landing?’
‘Correct. Now this is what I want you to do …’
He gave her clear and unequivocal instructions. They would not be easy to follow in themselves but she could not fault him for clarity. It was now up to her not only to land the hang-glider, but hopefully for the pair of them to come out of it with only one broken arm between them.
Jordy then proceeded to go through the landing instructions again, talking her down as they did it, until they were almost on the ground. Then Chloe, misjudging it, for it is easy to have the illusion that the floor is reachable with one’s feet when in fact it’s still quite a drop below, she relaxed. The glider dipped suddenly and sharply and the pair of them hit the floor with an unexpected thump.
Fortunately Chloe managed to keep her feet. She ran along the boards at a stumbling pace, her legs getting mixed with those of Jordy. Finally both of them fell over and went sliding along, the wing of the glider on top of them. They ended up in a heap against an old sofa, which if it had not been there would have seen them smash into a solid pillar of oak. Tangled string, torn fabric and twisted aluminium spars kept them prisoners for a short while, until they managed to unravel themselves. Neither was hurt. Not even Nelson had been banged, since Jordy had slid along on his back. Nelson extracted himself from his hammock and made a dignified three-legged exit into the darkness where they were all eventually going.
‘Wow,’ said Jordy, undoing the final knot to a cord around his neck, ‘that was really something! You did good, girl. You did good.’
Chloe was staring at him.
‘Oh, what?’ he cried. ‘What have I said wrong now?’
‘Nothing. Show me your arm. Your broken arm.’
Jordy looked down at himself and saw that he’d taken his bad arm out of its sling and was using it just like the healthy one. In fact, both arms were all right. The injury had disappeared without leaving any mark that he could see. Somehow, now that they were in their own attic space all was well.
‘My watch! The hands are going the right way round again!’
He showed Chloe the watch. It was indeed back to normal.
‘Let’s go down now,’ he said, taking out his torch and stepping into the blackness of their own attic. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Chloe hung back.
‘What is it?’ asked Jordy. ‘Is it Alex?’
‘We may never see him again,’ replied Chloe, sorrow filling every artery and bone in her body. ‘Will we ever see him again, Jordy?’
Jordy replied in a flat voice, ‘I don’t know.’ Then he lifted his tone. ‘But what I do know is, he’ll be all right. He’s a dark horse, isn’t he, your brother? He’s got some guts, I’ll give him that. Follow your dream. Well, he’s following his all right. I never thought he had it in him. Oh, I know – we both want him back, but it’s got to be his decision. I bet he’ll get bored of being a bortrekker and we’ll see him back again soon.’
‘I’m not so sure,’ Chloe said. ‘He’s very stubborn.’
‘Are you up there? What are you doing in the attic?’
Dipa’s voice floated up to them through the open trap-door.
‘We’re coming down!’ cried Chloe, eager to see her mother. ‘Won’t be long.’
They heard Dipa say something to Ben. She sounded annoyed.