Turbulence by Giles Foden Page B

of ivories and other colonial monstrosities, carved from stone and wood, and shelf after shelf of old books covered with dust.
    â€˜I love the chaos of this place,’ said Pyke. ‘There is always something else for the eye to settle upon. You two get us a pew.’
    We shouldered our way through. The locals of the Cowal were talking loudly in soft Scottish accents, emitting vast clouds of smoke from distended cheeks as they spoke. Thesailors, murmuring in low tones, were bent over their pints of heavy, staring at the contents – which resembled molasses or motor oil – with consternation.
    Pyke, Brecher and I sat down to drink more of the same. I noticed a wooden tailor’s dummy standing in a corner of the room, unclothed except for a Kitchener-era helmet and – a recent addition in honour of the town’s guests – a Stars and Stripes flag over its shoulders. There was also an unusual ebony cabinet with two serpents painted on its doors, their heads facing each other and their bodies joining and separating at intervals in the design.
    â€˜The caduceus,’ said Pyke, seeing me study the conjoined serpents through the smoke. ‘A symbol of the opposing forces of the universe. The endless dance of life. It’s why the best solution to any problem is always to be found in the most extreme form of the contradiction that constitutes the problem.’
    He drew a figure 8 with his finger in some foam which had spilled on the table. The number disappeared before it had been written.
    â€˜Eight. Or infinity. The snake that chases its tail. Probably the most important number in the universe, eight. Don’t you think so, Julius?’
    â€˜I think the universe is pretty oblivious to what we think important or not,’ came the reply.
    The discussion continued, as pub discussions do, in desultory fashion. Describing his research, Brecher mentioned the passage of rhesus antibodies from mother to baby in the blood. Individuals either have or do not have the rhesus protein on the surface of their red blood cells.
    â€˜There may be danger to the fetus when the mother is rhesus negative and the father is rhesus positive,’ he said. ‘The first pregnancy might run smoothly, but it becomes problematic with each subsequent one, as maternal antibodies attack therhesus-positive child. Sadly, these mothers may never carry a child to term. They tend to miscarry earlier and earlier.’
    â€˜Rhesus was king of Thrace,’ Pyke said gravely, with beer on his moustache. ‘Came to a bad end by not staying on the qui vive .’
    At some point or other in the winding course of the conversation I quizzed Pyke about a subject – for I was innocent of it then – which had been puzzling me since we were down on the quay. I felt it was only fair, since I had filled them in on Ryman.
    â€˜Tell me about Habbakuk,’ I said. ‘You mentioned it before.’
    â€˜Habakkuk,’ said Pyke, ‘– with a b and three ks – is the name of a prophet in the Old Testament.’
    â€˜A magus,’ said Brecher.
    â€˜A wonder worker,’ said Pyke, slurring.‘“For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.”’ They both laughed, as if in recognition of some private joke.
    â€˜On the other hand,’ said Brecher, ‘Habbakuk – with two bs and two ks – isn’t.’
    They both laughed again.
    Cross at being shut out like this, feeling as if I was being pulled down by some Lev-like creature into a swirling sea of alcohol, I abruptly made my excuses and left. The wind had got up and the sign outside the pub was creaking as it swung to and fro. I stumbled down to the quay and rode steadily back to Kilmun on the motorbike, grateful for the freshening air on my face.
    On the way I passed a lorry carrying timber down from the hills. There were steel chutes like the one by Mackellar’s field