‘What in Equestria are you thinking, that I’d believe such rubbish.’
‘I’m not making it up,’ said Ale down the receiver with growing frustation. ‘The whole road, we think it must be hollow underneath or caving in or something. It’ll be too dangerous for the cars –’
‘And what makes you think you can reach that conclusion?’
‘We all just saw Hull practically disappear into it!’ Ale said, his voice rising higher still.
‘And you got him out?’
‘Yes.’
‘And he’s fine?’
‘Yes –’
‘Then you’re to do nothing until I take this to head office.’
‘But could the road not be at risk of collapsing?’
‘No. It’s a Company shopper park. It’s well-maintained and kept that way.’
‘But it’s not just me who’s saying this!’ Ale abandoned his subservience to Gat under the image of a genuine disaster by which ponies could potentially lose their lives. But Gat, as always, didn’t want to hear anything until he’d seen it with his own eyes. Which Ale immediately suggested. ‘Could you not just come in and take a look at the road? Or send somepony to have a look?’
‘If head office thinks it’s necessary. They’ll have to investigate it anyway, but it’ll be in the Company’s own time.’
‘But don’t you think –’
‘I’ve already told you what I think. Now get on with your work. The pony who was to fill the pothole, he’ll take a look at the road for me. Cone the hole and the others and tell the shopper manager to warn the staff about them. I’ll get back to all of you about it when I hear more. Goodbye.’
And that was that.
‘So what did he say?’ asked Lime, who had stayed in the shopper park despite not working, as Ale emerged from and locked the trolley hut.
‘Cone the holes and warn the staff,’ muttered Ale. ‘That’s it. He says he’ll get back to us about it once he hears back from head office.’
‘At least he took you seriously.’
‘He didn’t, and I didn’t tell him Hull thought he was grabbed, and I didn’t tell him that the pothole had moved.’
And Ale knew why. Because it would have sounded stupid and ridiculous coming from his mouth, and he knew Gat would have taken him even less seriously if he’d brought it up. It was bothering him now. While freeing Hull, these had been secondary issues. Now Ale, bereft of such a distraction, kept coming back to thinking about them and how surreal it all seemed. He could tell from Hull’s subsequent silence that he was thinking along similar lines. The thoughtfulness of the after-event. Elm had gone back into the store to carry on working, but perhaps she was thinking about it too. Hull was pottering around the bays, gathering up short lines of trolleys and pushing them quietly without a strap. Lime was hanging around, waiting to see the upshot of it all. At least he seemed open to discuss the situation, as he usually was. And Ale found he wanted to, which was a surprise.
‘Odd that he said he was grabbed,’ said Lime ponderously, frowning hard.
‘You’re thinking something’s down there?’ Ale asked. He hadn’t meant to say it so directly, but he did. He expected Lime to smirk, but Lime seemed to be on the same wavelength.
‘But what? What could be there?’
‘I don’t know. But Equestria will be Equestria and all that,’ Ale added, hoping it sounded less schizotypal than a straightforward suggestion that monsters of old, imaginary or otherwise, were alive and active today. Not that he thought they were. But all sorts of odd, wild explanations crept towards the front of the mind when an odd happening needed explaining.
Lime nodded. ‘I’ve heard that kind of story. About old beings and such. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of anything under a road.’
‘It could just be some sort of animal,’ said Ale, preferring the simpler explanation since he didn’t want Lime to think he was the type to believe in myths and monsters, albeit the current atmosphere allowed for that kind of thinking.
‘Maybe,’ said Lime. He seemed about ready to leave. He was pushing himself backwards and forwards on the spot, holding a trolley in the spare rows. ‘Oi, Hull!’ he yelled quite suddenly across the shopper park, with his typical disregard for what ponies would think. ‘Hull!’
Hull saw Lime beckon him over so left behind the trolley he was picking out and walked up to the trolley hut. Ale was pleased to see his leg really did look alright. Maybe it had been as simple as the road caving in after all, which was hardly reassuring, and Ale hardly wanted to resume work with that thought in his mind.
‘Are you sure you felt something pull you?’ Lime asked him plainly. Hull didn’t show any sign of considering it.
‘Yes,’ he answered flatly. ‘No doubt.’
‘You couldn’t have just tripped? You couldn’t have just fallen in?’
‘No,’ said Hull, shaking his head. ‘I know what I felt, and it’s bothering me, to be honest.’
‘It’s bothering me,’ Ale found he’d muttered.
Lime leaned against the spare row and said, ‘And you can add my name to that list.’