Read Online The Blasphemer: A Novel by Nigel Farndale - Free Book Online Page B

and signalled the flight attendant for another beer. Daniel stared blankly ahead, amorphous anxiety mounting. How, he thought, had he got himself into this situation? Light aircraft are not safe. Light aircraft are not safe. Light aircraft are not safe. He should have followed his instincts and taken the boat from Ecuador, as he had on his last pilgrimage to the Galápagos Islands.
    Greg stood up again and used a Handycam to film the other passengers. When Daniel saw he was being filmed he gave a weak smile and distracted himself by reaching into the seat pocket for the safety instructions card. It was in Spanish. He put it back unread, remembered the map, unfolded half of it and laid it out on his knees to see if the sandbanks they had flown over were marked. He followed the line of their flight with his finger, but he could not see them.
    The flight attendant brought Nancy another can of beer and said: ‘The captain asked me to remind you to collect your CD when we land.’
    Nancy chewed her lower lip, turned to Daniel and blinked her long, black eyelashes twice. Daniel’s left eyebrow was forming a quizzical arch. ‘That was your Hall and Oates album?’
    ‘Bought it at the airport.’
    Daniel was laughing. ‘That’s funny. Now that is funny. I like that. How the hell did you remember I hated Hall and Oates?’
    Nancy shrugged. ‘Just did.’
    There was a second jolt. Daniel stopped laughing and folded the map away, breathing slowly and unobtrusively through his mouth. He began clenching and unclenching his fists, concentrating on breathing, on not hyperventilating, on keeping the plane in the air. The trouble was, as well he knew, once your heart rate goes up and you start sweating and struggling for breath, you begin to panic more. You start feeding your own anxiety. Why did no one else notice the bumps?
    ‘How long before we land?’ Nancy said. Thinking Daniel was pretending to ignore her, she repeated her question. ‘Dan? How long before we land?’
    More shuddering, lasting longer this time. Greg returned to his seat and buckled up. Daniel yawned. His fingers were tingling and a release of adrenalin was giving him butterflies. Blood flowing away from the stomach, he thought edgily – the fight or flight mechanism. He now felt his ears pop. We must be beginning our descent, he thought. He swallowed hard and tapped his watch: 9.00am. There was a gentle bump followed by a harder one, more of a lurch. Another yawn. Daniel couldn’t stop yawning – his nervousness had gone up a gear and his brain was trying to get more oxygen. There was a film of sweat on his forehead. The FASTEN SAFETY BELTS sign came on, accompanied by a ping . Greg checked his seat belt. Daniel checked Nancy’s belt and gently raked the backs of his fingers across a small, exposed part of her abdomen, over the stretch marks she had once compared to sidewinder trails in the desert. He swallowed again and checked the buckle on his own belt. He raised his blind and, without looking down, wiped the window with his sleeve, making a squeaking noise. Condensation was building up. The air outside was a clear, cornflower blue. ‘Do you know why the sky is blue?’ he asked Nancy, trying to take his mind off the turbulence, trying to control the tone of his voice, trying not to give himself away.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Go on then.’
    ‘Because if it was green you wouldn’t know where the sky ended and the land began.’
    Daniel cracked his knuckles. The back of his neck was feeling prickly. He rubbed it, trying to stifle another yawn. ‘It’s because light arriving from the sun hits the molecules in the air and is scattered in all directions.’ He knew he was talking too crisply, too quickly; trying to disguise his tension.
    Nancy continued her own train of thought. ‘Of course, where the blue of the sky meets the blue of the sea, there you have a problem …’
    ‘The amount of scattering depends on the frequency,’ Daniel added. ‘Blue light