He remembered the afternoon it had all started. He had just gone home from church and had
eaten a snack. Just when he was leaving the house to go play cricket with Kenny
from across the street, the entire area had begun rocking gently. Then came the deep rumbling sound. When he had looked up, instead of the huge
top of the
The other boys
came onto the street and stared up to the top of the mountain where the giant
grey cloud of dust was spreading even wider and faster. More dust was swelling
from where the top of the hills was supposed to be.
Then the ash
started falling like snowflakes. Jacob ran back into the house when he realised
that the ash was stinging his eyes. He
washed his eyes with water and it felt a little better. But the ash was coming
into the house too. There was a strong
terrible smell like that of rotten eggs in the entire house and it was even
stronger when he went back outside.
Jacob's parents
were not home then but when they did come home fifteen minutes later, they were very upset by the
event. At first he had thought it was all very exciting. But then he heard how concerned the grown-ups
were and after a couple of weeks they all seemed to realise that the volcano
was getting worse. Some people Jacob had
known all his life began packing up and moving away. They said they were leaving the island until
the Volcano stopped erupting. Kenny was
the first friend to go. He had told
Jacob that his family was going to the neighbouring
After a month
people were told they should move away from the volcano and to the northern end
of the island. That part of the island
was hardly populated since it was dryer and unsuitable for farming.
One Friday night
after yet another eruption, for the first time Jacob saw bright orange liquid
flowing down one side of the mountain. It flowed slowly as if it were
syrup. The very next day his family
moved to the northern part of the island.