Maybe We Will

Clara spoke for the two of them when she exclaimed “I wish that we could stay here forever. We are newly retired now, and we could do it if we wanted to.” Frank replied by saying “We have wanted to go to Iceland for years, and now we are here, and it is more beautiful than I had even imagined it would be. And it seems that everyone we meet speaks English. We hadn’t anticipated that. Then there is the yogurt – Icelandic skyr. The skyr is the limit. And then, of course, there are the elves and their houses. There are no elves in Canada that I know of.”

Early in their time in Iceland, they had met and listened to a woman who claimed to be an ‘elf whisperer’. She had told them that the ‘Elf Royal Family’ had lived at the base of a cliff, and that they should go there. Clara and Frank had been staying at a hotel in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, but now they were headed west for the harbor town of Grindivik (they had learned that -vik meant ‘bay’), which was not far from where the alleged home of the ‘Elf Royal Family’ had lived. They just had to see that for themselves.

 Right now they were in a beautiful area with mountains, fields with black soil that was once lava, and where they could see the roving herds of horses, cows and sheep grazing. They had taken many pictures.

Both coming from farming families, they had stopped to get their pictures taken alongside the relatively small Icelandic horses (they had been originally bred from ponies brought to the island by early settlers). Their fields ran up to a gate by the road. Two of the animals were very friendly, making the couple wish that they had brought some hay or horse treats to feed their new friends.

And Then Things Began to Change

           And then things began to change. It started when the couple suddenly saw high rising, bursts of fire in three directions, coming mainly from the mountains. This made them realize that the volcanos that had been active a few months before, and had eventually stopped were now active again. It was both awe inspiring and terrifying. Clara and Frank knew that they had to get out of the area as quickly as they could before they became volcano victims.

They ran to where they had parked their rental car, just around the corner of a mountain not too far away. But they were quick to see that lava was just about to engulf the car, so it would shortly become a death trap for them. Frank, who expressed his warped sense of humour even in the very worst of situations, which this certainly was, exclaimed “I guess we should have got volcanic insurance for the car, Clara”. Neither of them laughed or even smiled.

They both decided to head for the highway, which they hoped would lead them to safety, even though their escape would be much slower now that they had no car in which to drive away from the threat that was coming ever nearer. Maybe they could hitchhike to Grindivik, or some other place of safety, if such existed in this part of Iceland  The highway was a short run away from where they had been, and they approached where they had encountered the horses. They soon saw that the animals were in danger, as the lava was flowing rapidly towards the other side of their field, and would in a distinctly possible matter of minutes devour the poor helpless animals if nothing was done to help them.

The couple soon decided to open the gate nearby, to give the horses at least some chance to run away from hot, flowing death. Most of the animals ran away quickly. The two that they had befriended stuck around. This gave them an idea. Maybe they could ride these two horses along the highway, leading them in a direction that did not seem to have flames leaping out of the mountains, and creeping across the fields.

But that was not to be. The two horses soon fled to join the rest of their herd down the road which could well mean safety for them, but possibly none for the human couple who could only move more slowly. They then felt that their only option now was for them to walk along the highway, hopefully being able to hitchhike to safety.

They walked and walked with absolutely no success in the hitchhike area, and instead of their getting closer to safety, the lava was getting closer and closer to them. They began to feel that they were doomed to die.

Then they began to hear a strange sound other than that of volcanoes. It came from the sky. They looked up, and much to their surprise and utter joy, they saw a helicopter. They soon became aware that the pilot had seen them, as the rescue plane landed on the highway not very far in front of them. They could not believe their sudden good fortune.

They made their way into helicopter, which then lifted up into the sky. From the vehicle they could clearly see that the lava had been approaching them from three different directions. If the helicopter had come even as short a time as an hour later, they would have been almost literally toast.

           After a relatively short flight, they landed in the small airport in Grindivik, and offered the pilot and his assistant some money which their rescuers refused, saying that they were just doing their job.

Clara and Frank quickly made their way to a local hotel/bar, where they booked a room, after which they sat at the bar and began to drink rather heavily. They entertained others sitting nearby with their story of near woe. Drinks were bought for them as they told of their adventure.

As others left and they stayed, Clara said to Frank, “For a while there I was thinking that “maybe we will”, you know, “stay here forever”, never to be found.” Frank said that he had experienced the same thoughts, but did not want to say anything to that effect, as it would be too depressing for both of them.

“So what shall we do now Frank? Do we still want to pick up stakes and live here for the rest of our lives?” Frank replied, “Only if we can find a place in this town that is very close to the ocean, to the airport and to this bar.”