the portico. Doctor Dimitri shakes hands with a rapidly disappearing smile.
As soon as the boys are gone, he walks through a series of doors, each guarded by an armed security man who nods him through.
He is in a room with a computer panel attached to a battery of tape recorders. He flicks a switch.
'The Consul will see you now.'
A black wooden slate on the desk said 'Mr. Pierson.' The Consul was a thin young man in a gray seersucker suit with an ascetic disdainful Wasp face and very cold gray eyes.
He stood up, shook hands without smiling, and motioned the three boys to chairs. He spoke in a cultivated academic voice from which all traces of warmth had been carefully excised. 'You realize that there is a considerable hospital bill outstanding?'
'We have signed an agreement to pay.'
'The Greek authorities could prevent you from leaving the country.'
The three boys spoke at once:
Audrey: 'It wasn't our fault....'
Jerry: 'We got sick....'
John: 'It was ...'
Audrey: 'A virus ...'
Jerry: 'A new virus.' He smiled seductively at the Consul, who did not smile back.
All together: 'We almost died!' They rolled their eyes back and made a death-rattle sound.
'The police found evidence of drug-taking in your room. You are lucky not to be in jail.'
'We're certainly grateful to you, Mr. Pierson. And lucky to be here—like you say,' said Audrey. He tried to sound impulsive and boyish but it came out all slimy and insinuating.
The others nodded in agreement.
'Don't thank me,' said the Consul dryly. 'It was Doctor Dimitri who put in a word with the police. He is interested in your
'Doctor Dimitri is quite an influential man.'
All together, plaintively: 'We want to go home.'
'I daresay. And who will pay for it?'
'We will—when we can,' said Audrey.
The others nodded in agreement.
'And when will that be? Have you ever thought about working?' asked Mr. Pierson.
'Thought about it,' said Audrey.
'In an abstract sort of way ...' said Jerry.
'Like death and old age ...' said John.
