Chapter 12: Joe Patroni Clears the Road

Chapter 12: Joe Patroni Clears the Road

Once again Joe Patroni returned to his warm car and telephoned the airport. He reported that the road to the airport was still closed, but that it would be possible to move the heavy vehicle that was blocking it. He was told that the Aereo-Mexican plane was still across the runway, and that everyone was calling for him to come and help them to move it.

He hurried back to the group of people around the crashed goods vehicle. It lay on its side, covered with snow now, like a huge dead animal. Three more breakdown trucks had arrived, as Patroni had requested. Their lights shone on the white snow and made it as bright as day.

Some television cameramen had also arrived, and were behaving as if the accident had been arranged specially for them. Everything would have to wait until they had got some good pictures on film.

When Patroni had gone to phone the airport, he had left the breakdown trucks in the best positions to pull the crashed sixteen-wheeler off the road. Chains were being put around it. When he came back, the chains had gone and the trucks were in a different place. A crowd of people had come to watch the television cameras.

Wet snow had got inside the collar of Patroni’s coat. It was uncomfortable, and it added to his anger. He rushed up to a policeman and demanded; ‘Who took the chains off the sixteen- wheeler? And what fool moved the breakdown trucks? Where they are now, they’re useless!’

‘I know,’ the policeman said, ‘but they’ll look better on television like this.’

Patroni remembered the serious situation that was waiting for him at the airport, and felt ready to break the television cameras. He was strong enough to do it, too. He had a hot, violent temper, but he had learned to control it long ago.

In his youth he had killed a man in a boxing match. Since then he had been careful to control himself. These days he reasoned with people instead of hitting them.

He told the policeman who was in charge of the operation: ‘You’ve just blocked the road for a further 20 minutes, playing the fool with those television cameras. I told you, there’s an emergency at the airport. Now listen to this! I’ve got a phone in my car, and I can tell my chief at the airport what you’re doing. If he passes on the information to your chief you may be in big trouble, my friend.’

For a moment, the policeman looked as if he was going to shout at Patroni. Then he turned to the cameramen and shouted: ‘OK, no more filming! Get those cameras out of the way!’

He had realized that Joe Patroni knew what he was talking about. He let Patroni direct the operation, and soon the breakdown trucks were pulling the heavy goods vehicle off the road. Snowploughs moved in quickly to clear the snow away.

The distant sound of a plane reminded Patroni of what he had to do at the airport. He started to walk back to his car.

‘Thanks a lot!’ the policeman called after him.