Amberville - By Tim Davys Page 0,70

what was really going on? Some. Perhaps a few. But not many.

It took a while before the bottle was empty. To judge by the rooster’s heaving, flapping, and more and more frantic body, the liquid that was running down his throat was foul-tasting. But despite the fact that the rooster kicked in every direction and desperately tried to wriggle out of the hyena’s grasp, he had no chance. The scene even looked ridiculous, because the rooster’s exertions didn’t seem to concern the much stronger hyena whatsoever.

It took perhaps half a minute before the bottle was empty. An endless time. When there were only a few gulps left, which the rooster apparently couldn’t get down, the hyena threw the bottle onto the ground and from the inside of his jacket conjured forth a lighter.

It was then that the animals understood.

And in the following moment, when they saw the yellow-red flame of the lighter, someone started to scream. A scream that immediately became polyphonic. During the seconds that followed, as the hyena mercilessly brought the lighter toward the rooster’s beak, almost all of them screamed. Some fled headlong from the place.

The hyena had filled the rooster to the brim with alcohol. When the flame of the lighter came in contact with the alcohol, the rooster’s beak flared up and in the following moment a kind of inner explosion was heard, but by then all of them had turned their gaze from the just-ignited animal, and only the stench of burning insides told of the rooster’s agony.

When the Queen of the Garbage Dump heard talk of what had happened later that afternoon, she immediately had Hyena Bataille called to her and asked if he might consider becoming one of the Cleaners.

Bataille accepted immediately, and it wasn’t long before he was one of the Garbage Dump’s foremen.

CHAPTER 18

That’s enough now.”

Snake Marek slithered up a drainpipe and over to the lid of one of several trash barrels that stood outside the entryway to Yiala’s Arch. In this way he was almost level with Eric Bear, and they stared angrily at each other. Twilight had fallen a few hours earlier, Tom-Tom and Sam had gone in the car in advance, and there was no longer any time to lose. They had tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, then the Chauffeurs would pick up Dove and Teddy. The last thing Eric Bear had a desire to do was to stand jawing in this narrow, green alley that stank of urine.

He said so, too.

“We don’t have time to shoot the shit now. I’ll listen to your objections on the way there.”

“We’re not going there. And absolutely not at this time of day.”

“Like I said, we’ll talk about this in the car.”

“The reason that you wanted me to be part of this was?” asked Snake, his gaze not wavering a bit. “Do you remember why you thought it was important that I should take part?”

Eric considered his reply. There were a number of sarcastic remarks that appeared enticing, but he wouldn’t gain anything by arguing. The original reason was that he assumed he needed Snake’s brain, his analytic ability. But the memory of Snake’s talents appeared to be embellished. What had Snake Marek actually contributed, apart from this constant complaining?

“Do you recall?” nagged Snake. “You forced me along because I understand things that you don’t get. This is one of those things.”

Eric threw out his paws. He didn’t know what he should say; he lacked arguments.

“We have no choice,” he said.

“We can choose to let things be,” said Snake. “And we ought to choose to let things be.”

It was of course possible to let Snake stay at home, but at the same time Eric sensed that this was exactly what the sly reptile was after. And he wasn’t going to get off that easy. No one liked making their way to the Garbage Dump in the middle of the night; not Eric, either. But if they were going, all four of them were going. It was an irrational decision, but for Eric this was not negotiable.

“Now we’re going,” said Eric firmly. “I’ve heard what you’re saying, and now I hope you’ll hear what I’m saying.”

“This is idiocy,” said Snake.

“There are no alternatives.”

“And if the camel was lying?”

“Neither you nor I believe that,” said Eric.

Sam Gazelle had been exhilarated when he came home late in the afternoon. Snake was down at Springergaast buying cigarettes, Tom-Tom and Eric sat reading the evening papers and had just put on a pot of