Chapter 3: The Trouble with Gordon

Virgil generally had a lot of time for his water-obsessed younger brother. Like himself, Gordon was laid-back and enjoyed a joke. Despite only being in his twenties, Gordon had been through some difficult times in his life. His Olympic glory had not come without many years of preparation and training which Gordon had committed himself to despite the fact it meant missing out on some of the high-spirited antics of his teenage peers.

Gordon's hydrofoil accident had also taken its toll and meant several operations and months in hospital. These Gordon had borne stoically and without self-pity which had impressed Virgil immensely.

Gordon was also an expert oceanographer. Virgil had no interest or awareness of the immense world beneath the waves but that did not mean he didn't appreciate Gordon's proficiency in the area. Gordon would try and explain to him some of the mysteries of the deep, keen to pass on his knowledge, and he would do this without arrogance or condescension making Virgil feel enthused at what he was learning rather than embarrassed by his lack of understanding.

Right now, though, Virgil hated Gordon from the depths of his soul. He knew Gordon had been cross when Virgil had beaten him at tennis but he had been the butt of many of Gordon's jokes in the last few months and it had started to wear thin. Gordon had made him look a fool too many times and he was so angry he wanted to hold his stupid brother's head under the water in his precious pool until he stopped struggling. Virgil realised this was not a healthy state of mind to be in and kept walking until he could trust himself to go back to the house and not hurt anyone. Although his raw anger soon dissipated, his annoyance at Gordon did not.

…………………………………………………………

On the whole, Virgil was not big on wasting energy. He seldom bothered to get angry but, when he did, he expressed it with the same force as an explosive volcanic eruption. Usually, though, he got over it pretty quickly and returned to a state of being so laid-back he could fall asleep during dinner. He was also not big on bearing grudges. Being mad at someone over an extended period of time was a definite energy drainer so he rarely bothered with it. Gordon relied on this when he played jokes on Virgil. On this occasion, though, Virgil could not get over his irritation. For the next two days he refused to speak to Gordon. He glowered at him whenever he came close and, if it was necessary to impart some information to Gordon, he made Alan pass on the message.

It was stupid, childish behaviour that everyone, not least Gordon, ignored to start off with. Finally, Scott realised he would have to do something. The bad atmosphere between his two brothers was easy to overlook on the Island but Scott realised that if Virgil carried this feud into a rescue then it could be, quite frankly, dangerous. He decided he had to talk with Virgil and tracked him down sitting on some rocks not far from the Round House.

Scott clambered over the rocks towards him and saw Virgil staring into the distance. Virgil had a sketchbook and pencil in his lap and the crumpled balls of paper around him told of a fruitless morning's drawing.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Scott. Virgil looked over at Scott, his expression explaining nothing of what he was feeling. Then he pointed into the distance.

"Trying to pin down the relationship between that rock, the sea and the sky."

Scott followed his gaze.

"Uh-huh," he replied, trying to sound like he understood what Virgil had just said even though the sum total of his own artistic leanings was doodling during boring vid-conferences. "So…," he continued, "…going to forgive Gordon anytime soon?"

"Doesn't look like it."

"Lighten up, Virgil, it was just a joke."

"A joke he shared with the world."

"He promises me he only emailed it to Rob, no-one else."

"That's more than enough."

"You know Rob, he'll have forgotten it by now," persisted Scott.

"Maybe, but what if he showed it to Amy?"

"Amy? His sister? Gawky kid with a retainer?"

"She grew up," replied Virgil.

Light dawned on Scott's face. "Is she hot?"

"Oh yes." Virgil then fixed Scott with a look and prodded his chest to make his point. "And I saw her first."

Scott held up his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, I was just asking. Is that why you're so upset?"

Virgil looked thoughtful for a moment. "Let's just say it doesn't help. God knows it's hard enough to meet a woman doing this job without Gordon shutting down any avenues of possibility I might be working on."

"I'm sure Gordon had no idea."

"I wouldn't bet on it."

"Look, if this is all just over a woman…."

"It's not! I'm just sick of Gordon's infantile, immature…." Virgil appeared to be struggling for the next insulting word.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You gotta let it go, Virgil."

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

Virgil had just taken a breath to reply angrily to Scott when a sound reached them. The emergency klaxon warning of an impending rescue was blaring out across the Island. Simultaneously their wrist comms started to bleep with the emergency signal. There was no need for words as the two leapt to their feet and scrambled back over the rocks.