Gerald Durrell - The Corfu Trilogy

Leslie disappeared into the house to change, and Theodore and I resumed our conversation. Mother appeared and seated herself on the wall, Dodo at her feet. Her gracious-hostess act was somewhat marred by the fact that she kept breaking off her conversation to grimace fiercely and brandish a large stick at the panting group of dogs gathered in the front garden. Occasionally an irritable, snarling fight would flare up among Dodo’s boyfriends, and whenever this occurred the entire family would turn round and bellow ‘Shut up’ in menacing tones. This had the effect of making the more nervous of our guests spill their drinks. After every such interruption Mother would smile round brightly and endeavour to steer the conversation back to normal. She had just succeeded in doing this for the third time when all talk was abruptly frozen again by a bellow from inside the house. It sounded like the sort of cry the minotaur would have produced if suffering from toothache.

‘Whatever’s the matter with Leslie?’ asked Mother.

She was not left long in doubt, for he appeared on the veranda clad in nothing but a small towel.

‘Gerry,’ he roared, his face a deep red with rage. ‘Where’s that boy?’

‘Now, now , dear,’ said Mother soothingly, ‘whatever’s the matter?’

‘Snakes,’ snarled Leslie, making a wild gesture with his hands to indicate extreme length, and then hastily clutching at his slipping towel, ‘snakes, that’s what’s the matter.’

The effect on the guests was interesting. The ones that knew us were following the whole scene with avid interest; the uninitiated wondered if perhaps Leslie was a little touched, and were not sure whether to ignore the whole incident and go on talking, or to leap on him before he attacked someone.

‘What are you talking about, dear?’

‘That bloody boy’s filled the sodding bath full of bleeding snakes ,’ said Leslie, making things quite clear.

‘Language, dear, language!’ said Mother automatically, adding absently, ‘I do wish you’d put some clothes on; you’ll catch a chill like that.’

‘Damn great things like hosepipes … It’s a wonder I wasn’t bitten.’

‘Never mind, dear, it’s really my fault. I told him to put them there,’ Mother apologized, and then added, feeling that the guests needed some explanation, ‘they were suffering from sunstroke, poor things.’

‘Really, Mother!’ exclaimed Larry, ‘I think that’s carrying things too far.’

‘Now don’t you start, dear,’ said Mother firmly; ‘it was Leslie who was bathing with the snakes.’

‘I don’t know why Larry always has to interfere,’ Margo remarked bitterly.

‘Interfere? I’m not interfering. When Mother conspires with Gerry in filling the bath with snakes I think it’s my duty to complain.’

‘Oh, shut up,’ said Leslie. ‘What I want to know is, when’s he going to remove the bloody things?’

‘I think you’re making a lot of fuss about nothing,’ said Margo.

‘If it has become necessary for us to perform our ablutions in a nest of hamadryads I shall be forced to move,’ Larry warned.

‘Am I going to get a bath or not?’ asked Leslie throatily.

‘Why can’t you take them out yourself ?’

‘Only Saint Francis of Assisi would feel really at home here…’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake be quiet!’

‘I’ve got just as much right to air my views—’

‘I want a bath , that’s all. Surely it is not too much to ask—’

‘Now, now, dears, don’t quarrel,’ said Mother. ‘Gerry, you’d better go and take the snakes out of the bath. Put them in the basin or somewhere for the moment.’

‘No! They’ve got to go right outside!’

‘All right, dear; don’t shout.’

Eventually I borrowed a saucepan from the kitchen and put my water-snakes in that. They had, to my delight, recovered completely, and hissed vigorously when I removed them from the bath. On returning to the veranda I was in time to hear Larry holding forth at length to the assembled guests.

‘I assure you the house is a death-trap. Every conceivable nook and cranny is stuffed with malignant faunæ waiting to pounce. How I have escaped being maimed for life is beyond me. A simple, innocuous action like lighting a cigarette is fraught with danger. Even the sanctity of my bedroom is not respected. First, I was attacked by a scorpion, a hideous beast that dripped venom and babies all over the place. Then my room was torn asunder by magpies. Now we have snakes in the bath and huge flocks of albatrosses flapping round the house, making noises like defective plumbing.’

‘Larry, dear, you do exaggerate ,’ said Mother, smiling vaguely at the guests.

‘My dear Mother, if anything I am understating the case. What about the night Quasimodo decided to sleep in my room?’

‘That wasn’t very dreadful, dear.’

‘Well,’ said Larry with dignity, ‘it may give you pleasure to be woken at half-past three in the morning by a pigeon who seems intent on pushing his rectum into your eye…’

‘Yes, well, we’ve talked quite enough about animals,’ said Mother hurriedly. ‘I think lunch is ready, so shall we all sit down?’

‘Well, anyway,’ said Larry as we moved down the veranda to the table, ‘that boy’s a menace… he’s got beasts in his belfry.’

The guests were shown their places, there was a loud scraping as chairs were drawn out, and then everyone sat down and smiled at each other. The next moment two of the guests uttered yells of agony and soared out of their seats, like rockets.

‘Oh, dear, now what’s happened?’ asked Mother in agitation.

‘It’s probably scorpions again,’ said Larry, vacating his seat hurriedly.

‘Something bit me… bit me in the leg!’

‘There you are!’ exclaimed Larry, looking round triumphantly. ‘ Exactly what I said! You’ll probably find a brace of bears there.’

The only one not frozen with horror at the thought of some hidden menace lurking round his feet was Theodore, and he gravely bent down, lifted the cloth, and poked his head under the table.

‘Ah-ha!’ he said interestedly, his voice muffled.

‘What is it?’ asked Mother.

Theodore reappeared from under the cloth. ‘It seems to be some sort of a… er… some sort of a bird . A large black-and-white one.’

‘It’s that albatross!’ said Larry excitedly.

‘No, no,’ corrected Theodore; ‘it’s some species of gull , I think.’

‘Don’t move… keep quite still, unless you want your legs taken off at the knee!’ Larry informed the company.

As a statement calculated to quell alarm it left a lot to be desired. Everybody rose in a body and vacated the table.

From beneath the cloth Alecko gave a long, menacing yarp – whether in dismay at losing his victims or protest at the noise, it was difficult to say.

‘Gerry, catch that bird up immediately!’ commanded Larry from a safe distance.

‘Yes, dear,’ Mother agreed. ‘You’d better put him back in his cage. He can’t stay under there.’

I gently lifted the edge of the cloth, and Alecko, squatting regally under the table, surveyed me with angry yellow eyes. I stretched out a hand towards him, and he lifted his wings and clicked his beak savagely. He was obviously in no mood to be trifled with. I got a napkin and started to try to manœuvre it towards his beak.

‘Do you require any assistance, my dear boy?’ inquired Kralefsky, obviously feeling that his reputation as an ornithologist required him to make some sort of offer.

To his obvious relief I refused his help. I explained that Alecko was in a bad mood and would take a little while to catch.