Lanark_ a life in 4 books - Alasdair Gray [198]
Many more vehicles had joined the queue and drivers were standing on the road between them, for the backs of the trucks gave shelter from the sound. A young policeman with a torch was speaking to a group and Lanark gripped Rima’s sleeve and drew her over to listen. He was saying, “A tanker hit an Algolagnics transporter at the Unthank intersection. I’ve never seen anything like it—nerve circuits spread across all the lanes like bloody burst footballs and screaming enough to crumble the road surface. The council’s been alerted but God knows how long they’ll take to deal with a mess like that. Days—weeks, perhaps. If you’re going to Imber you’ll need to go round by New Cumbernauld. If you’re for Unthank, well, forget it.”
Someone asked him about the drivers.
“How should I know? If they’re lucky they were killed on impact. Without protective clothes you can’t get within sixty metres of the place.”
The policeman left the group and Lanark touched his shoulder saying, “Can I speak to you?”
He flashed his torch on their faces and said sharply, “What’s that on your brows?”
“A thumb print.”
“Well, how can I help you, sir? Be quick, we’re busy at the moment.”
“This lady and I are travelling to Unthank—”
“Out of the question sir. The road’s impassable.”
“But we’re walking. We needn’t keep to the road.”
“Walking!”
The policeman rubbed his chin. At length he said, “There’s the old pedestrian subway. It hasn’t been used for years, but as far as I know it isn’t officially derelict. I mean, it isn’t boarded up.”
He led them across the grass to a dark shape on the cutting wall. It was a square entrance, eight feet high and half hidden by a heavy swag of ivy. The policeman flashed his torch into it. A floor, under a drift of withered leaves, sloped down into blackness. Rima said firmly, “I’m not going in there.”
Lanark said, “Do you know how long it is?”
“Can’t say, sir. Wait a minute….”
The policeman probed the wall near the entrance with his torch beam and revealed a faded inscription:
EDESTRIAN UNDER ASS UNTHAN 00 ETRES
The policeman said, “A subway with an entrance like this can’t be very long. A pity the lights are broken.”
“Could you possibly lend me your torch? We mislaid ours and Rima—this lady—is pregnant, as you see.”
“I’m sorry sir. No.”
Rima said, “It’s no use discussing it. I refuse to go in there.” The policeman said, “Then you’ll have to hitch a lift back to New Cumbernauld.”
He turned and walked away. Lanark said patiently, “Now listen, we must be sensible. If we use this tunnel we’ll reach Unthank in fifteen minutes, perhaps less. It’s unlit but there’s a handrail on the wall so we can’t lose our way. New Cumbernauld may be hours from here, and I want to get you into hospital as quickly as possible.”
“I hate the dark, I hate hospitals and I’m not going!”
“There’s nothing wrong with darkness. I’ve met several dreadful things in my life, and every one was in sunshine or a well-lit room.”
“Yet you pretend to want sunshine!”
“I do, but not because I’m afraid of the opposite.”
“How wise you are. How strong. How noble. How useless.” Bickering fiercely they had moved into the tunnel mouth to escape the blast of the din outside. Lanark abruptly paused, pointed into the dark and whispered, “Look, the end!”
Their eyes had grown used to the black and now they could see, in the greatest depth of it, a tiny, pale, glimmering square. Rima suddenly gripped the handrail and walked down the slope. He hurried after her and silently took her arm, afraid a wrong word would overturn her courage.
The roaring behind them sank into silence and the withered leaves stopped whispering under their feet. The ground levelled out. The air grew cold, then freezing. Lanark had kept his eyes fixed on the glimmering little square. He said, “Rima, have you let go the handrail?”
“Of course not.”
“That’s funny. When we entered the tunnel the light