The Watchers

Near the coast, Polly found a small building with many antennas on its roof. Inside sat one scientist, surrounded by screens. Jagged lines moved up and down on them, and a map of the island was covered with tiny coloured circles. Each circle was an earthquake, most too small to feel. Polly landed on the desk and tilted her head until her round glasses slid down her beak. The scientist turned the monitor so she could see.

This is how the people here live safely on top of so much fire. Before a volcano erupts, the ground usually shakes for days, with hundreds of small earthquakes as the melted rock pushes up. The scientists watch day and night. When the pattern looks dangerous, they can ask a whole town to leave in good time.

The scientist told Polly an old story. Many years ago, a volcano woke on a small island, and lava moved toward the town's harbour. So the people pumped cold seawater onto the lava, for weeks, until it cooled and stopped. They did not beat the volcano. They made a deal with it.

Before she left, Polly stepped in some ink and walked across the corner of his map. He laughed and pinned the page to the wall. One green parrot, he wrote, who came to read the earthquakes.