The Last Christmas On Earth

EPISODE V-4

Curiously that night Helen had managed to get an almost decent sleep in spite of all her worries. When she woke up she felt more refreshed and could think clearly about her decision to drop everything and go away. She had understood that leaving that way would not help her to forget or to feel better, leaving would just leave her with a sense of unfinished and defeated for the rest of her life. In the end, convinced that staying a few more days would not change anything, she decided to postpone her departure to help James solving his problems. So she called Mc January and gave him an appointment in the town center. The place set for the meeting was a small square with stone pavement and decorated with a large trapezoidal flower bed, embellished by three statues in pure steel in a futuristic style. It was completed by some filiform palm trees, surrounded by hawthorn hedges alternating with solid cast-iron benches. The buildings around the square housed a cinema, Mike's Country Hole, Town Hall offices and a church, as well as a pharmacy adjacent to Dr. Parker's doctor's office. The streets were deserted and the shops closed, because all the inhabitants had gone to the bay for the Festival, and Helen thought that it was really good because she didn't want to be seen in his company. The only sound that could be heard was the melodious chirping of wrens and sparrows that had nested on the birches that marked the main road. Even in the churchyard, there was no one: the preacher had rented a stand at the Festival and called it "To Peter, lobsters from God". Luke was waiting for Helen sitting on a bench, she noticed that he had abandoned his gloomy way of dressing in favor of Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian style blouse.

Helen thought probably that drastic change was Sally's credit. "That man must be a magnet for attracting problems," she thought.

"Any news?" She asked sitting beside him.

"I wanted to ask you the same," he replied, continuing to fiddle with his Rubik cube.

"I didn't ask you to see you just for a laugh," she immediately said, annoyed by his reply.

"That's the problem," he said then, showing a disenchanted smile. "You don't want to understand that I'm not playing at all. I was paid very well to do this job and after a lot of time spent wandering around the USA like an i***t, my instinct tells me that I am one step closer to solving the mystery. But the closer I get, the more I think about it, and the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that I will not like its solution."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, those photos talk clear: it's obvious that we're not dealing with normal people."

"Don't be silly, we've done a mountain of researches and nothing came from it. It must necessarily be simple similarities, you know that we all have some doubles in the world."

"Don't treat me like an i***t, do you know how many of those photos I have? I have dozens, even more than eighty years old, in all the images those two are always portrayed in the company of politically or economically important people. And they always look like equal to now, they don't show a year more. And do you know why I chose not to show them to your friend?"

She shook her head.

"Because he is as crazy as a horse, probably after seeing them he would have taken his revolver and shot me, you, the two of them and finally himself. I have powerful "friendships" too, they tried to help me but they couldn't find a single clue, an idea to follow. Facts talk clear, nothing more. I believe that this is just one of those stories from which it would be better to stay as far away as possible »he concluded.

"So what are you going to do?"

"If I didn't have so much fear of the possible consequences, I would have already made that phone call, I would have collected the check and at this time I would already be very far."

"And then?"

"I don't know, and I'm not concerned about then."

"I don't believe you, it's not possible that you are so uncaring."

Luke shook his head, this time Helen's obstinacy managed to get him a genuine smile.

"Do you know what surprises me? Who comes to me talking about "possible" and "impossible" is really you, you that have been living for days in the midst of things that are theoretically impossible, but that happens every day, "he concluded, getting up.

"Where are you going now?"

"Do you mind if we take a walk? It is a beautiful sunny day and the breeze is cool, there is not a living soul around us, you can even smell the sea from here. It seems to be the masters of the country," he said putting away the cube, and Helen's mouth twisted at his smug attack of romance. Without answering she rose from the bench and followed him, disgusted by all that honey.

"So, what about all the strange facts that have happened here recently? Rumor has it that things have happened here that escape any logic, or am I wrong?"

"I don't know, I only know that suddenly everything seemed to have gone mad. And then, out of the blue ... hey, the one who should ask questions is me!"

"It would only be a waste of breath, I don't know a single comma more than what I've already told you," he replied. "What's going on?" He then asked, turning to Helen, who had stopped, staying behind.

"Be quiet. Can you hear this hiss?"

"Of course I can, I'm not deaf ... I think it is coming from you."

"From me?" She said doubtfully rummaging in her pockets, took out the small metal box and looked at it in bewilderment. It had been in her pocket since James had returned it to her, declaring that his friend had not understood anything and she had forgotten to put it away because there was no longer a case where to put it. At that point, Harry's watch came back to her mind and she pulled it out, examining it and finding out that the hands were stopped at the exact same time the two guys had died in the woods and their car had stopped working.

"Why are you enchanted? What's with that watch?"

"It's nothing," she replied, putting it away.

"And that thing? Why is it hissing like that?"

"I do not know."

"Then why don't you turn it off?" It's as annoying as ultrasound, it goes straight to the brain."

"I can't turn it off because I don't know how the hell you do it. Keep it up, do it yourself if you can," she snapped, shoving the little box in his hand, then sat back on the nearest bench and looked at the square with her arms folded, frustrated. Luke tried unsuccessfully to open that object to find the switch, so he was about to give it back to Helen when in turning on himself he realized that for a moment the hiss had grown in intensity. Intrigued, he turned back on himself more slowly and discovered that by pointing it in a certain direction the hiss became more acute. Then he began to walk curious, pointing the box to the right and then to the left, like a diviner with his wand, trying to catch the signal.

"Give me back that device, it's not a toy!" Helen ordered, holding out her hand, but he ignored her.

She reached him in leaps, meanwhile Luke had stopped in front of a door and now the little box was emitting a very intense and unpleasant hiss.

"How did you manage to turn up the volume?"

"I didn't do anything, it was this contraption that guided me here. It acts as a detector but I don't understand what he can indicate ... who lives here?"

"Nobody, this is Dr. Parker's Medical Office," Helen told him.

"And of Eve too," Luke pointed out.

"It's not a secret," she replied, shrugging, then saw his eyes lighting up.

"Whatever you just thought take it out of your head!" She warned him just as the hiss increased further, reaching the humanly bearable limit, and emitting three consecutive whistles and finally went out. The two looked at each other perplexed.

"Shall we take a look inside?" Proposed Luke.

"Forget it, I just told you. And give me that damn thing back."

Luke handed it to her, she put it away and started walking back to the bench.

"What are you doing there? Wake up!" She then urged seeing him still. He reclined his head slightly and pointed to the door.

"I told you, that's not gonna happen," said Helen, returning to pick him up with the intention of dragging him away.

"Think, beyond that door there might be a solution to all the mysteries and our problems," Luke tempted her, peering at her seriously, and she rippled her forehead.

"Or at least a few clues, a trail to follow," he urged, determined to take advantage of her indecision.

"Damn you, Luke Mc January!" She suddenly snarled, taking a set of passe par tout keys from her pocket.

A lot of people had eagerly awaited it, everyone for the most disparate reasons, and even though the Lobster's Festival had finally begun with a delay of four months. Many people were at work as early as 5 a.m. because at 9 on that hot December day, everyone wanted to be ready, from the carnies to the merchants, from the fishermen to the cooks, from the sellers of balloons to those of cotton candy. It was only 8 a.m. and there was already a small crowd on the quays waiting for the ribbon to be cut, also because that edition had been thought big by the Organizing Committee. The program was intense, the inauguration included a beach fashion show followed by a reggae concert and a majorette parade, and from then on the water races, the foot race, the water race, the hit parade of the floats with the most beautiful papier-mâché lobster, the election of Miss Lobster and many other joyful appointments would take place in the following 5 days, so that the 20 miles that ran along the coast from Ash Point to Camden would have become a real bedlam, where it was impossible even to run a single mile in a straight line. Tourists would have ended up at the center of a mad swarming of sounds and colors, overwhelmed by the penetrating and sweetish smell of shellfish cooked and seasoned in every way imaginable. There would have been wine and beer in rivers, shows and concerts, cries of laughter and swearing, some children would have been lost and some drunk people would have fought while the others all around would have danced indifferently. And unfortunately all this, thought James as he was proceeding along the main quay next to Benelli, should have been under the watchful eyes of the police personnel, that is, under his control. On the pier, embellished for that event with balloons and colorful flags, an expanse of stalls selling souvenirs and Tshirts, costume jewelry and made in China knick-knacks, necklaces and puppets had been set up, and God knew what else. As usual, Benelli had proved to be far too talkative and in the first five minutes he had already tried a couple of approaches, but realizing that it was not the right moment, he was forced against his will to keep quiet. In James opinion he looked infinitely unpleasant because of his stupid jokes and he didn't want to listen to his taunts, and when he had consulted the bulletin board the day before to see his shift he was very angry with Helen because she had given him as co-worker despite knowing perfectly how much he hated work together with him. He decided not to think about it anymore and paused to scrutinize the jagged profile of the bay, full of coves that hid fabulous beaches, accessible only by boat. The luxuriant vegetation, that offered home and shelter to petrels and cormorants, reached the top of the cliff, framing it with a bright green color, with many different shades. After admiring the stacks, James turned to look at the bright horizon and the blue expanse of the sea, with the waves sparkling in the distance. He felt the warmth of the sun, which at that time of the morning still warmed nicely without burning, and breathed in the smell of the sea, wondering how it could be enough, despite all its problems, to make him feel good. He judged it was a veritable miracle of nature and impossible to understand: close your eyes, listen and smell, let the negative thoughts flow away and accept the sound of the sea within you. Nothing simpler, nothing healthier. When he returned to reality he said he was discouraged that soon he would end up wandering desperately in search of a small piece of shadow, so it was better if he hurried to complete the ritual tour of the stalls as soon as possible and to check that licenses and fire extinguishers were in order. Later, he would calmly look for a quiet place sheltered from the sun, and from there he would observe the human tide struggling in that crucible with the intent of recreation. A lot of people were already crowded at the head of the pier waiting for the fishing boats that were returning from the first day of fishing; starting from that moment every day at the same time there would have been the usual race, with lots of judges and photographers, to establish who had caught the biggest lobster. James assigned Benelli one side of the pier and he took the other one, that way he would keep him away and they would finish the job faster.