Icefall

by Hallowes, Guy

  'We, the men, get to smoke a fancy cigar and have a glass or two of port,' explained a smiling Theo. 'The ladies are expected to enjoy a cup of tea.' He hesitated, 'I've enjoyed our conversation. Dad told me you were the brightest spark on the block tonight. It seems he was right.' He leant over and kissed her on the cheek, much to the amusement of all those present.

  An hour or so later, Mark and Tanya took their leave from their smiling hosts. 'I hope Theo didn't bore you with all his climate change nonsense,' said their host as he also plucked up the courage to kiss Tanya on the cheek.

  Tanya laughed, 'Not at all, it was a fascinating conversation. I have enjoyed the evening immensely, thank you.' Looking at Mark, as they walked the short distance to the car, Tanya said, 'I think it might be better if I drive. It would be dumb to be stopped for being over the limit.'

  Mark handed over the keys without question. 'What was so fascinating about that funny little man you spent the whole night talking to?' asked Mark as they drove home.

  'Our hosts' son Theo. We talked about global warming. It was really interesting. Much food for thought.'

  'Do you fancy him?'

  'Fancy him?' she laughed. 'Don't be daft.' She glanced at him, putting a hand on his leg, squeezing it as they sped along the now almost deserted streets. 'Not for a bloody nanosecond. I enjoyed the conversation though.'

  Mark grunted, saying, 'There are more and more investment opportunities coming our way relating to green energy projects. I have not been able to get my head around any of them yet. Are the threats surrounding global warming real, or is it just a load of bull?'

  'Don't know yet, but as sure as I am sitting here I'm going to find out. He was quite convincing.'

  They lapsed into silence. Mark knew she would do her research and when she knew what she was talking about would discuss it with him.

  Tanya retrieved her laptop from the coffee table. Before she moved it to her own study she glanced at the magnificent view of Sydney Harbour through the large picture window in the lounge. A view she was becoming used to. The beautifully-furnished room flowed unobtrusively into a modern, open-plan kitchen with a marble-topped breakfast bar and top of the range appliances. The passage led to two studies and four bedrooms, an en-suite bathroom off the main bedroom, and two other bathrooms. In the few months since they had owned the house she had started to collect little knick-knacks as decoration. She had hidden at least half of them away in a cupboard, wondering why she had bought them in the first place.

  She hadn't been able to get used to the cost of the new furnishings they had bought and glanced uneasily at some of the pictures on the walls, 'What did that set you back?' she had asked Mark, when he had proudly unwrapped one of the larger pieces.

  'About ten.'

  'Ten grand …?'

  'It'll be worth twice that in a year, the artist is all the rage … ' He had looked at the expression on her face and said no more.

  Before she started work on her summary from her readings about global warming and the consequences of the collapse of the Ross Ice Shelf, Tanya briefly reflected on how her life had transformed itself over the past ten years. And now the potentially devastating threat to all that, if the research she was about to complete turned out to be correct. She noticed with mild irritation the gaggle of yachts racing fruitlessly up and down the harbour in the sunlight.

  Mark made his usual noisy entrance as she finished. Tanya returned to the lounge. 'How long have you been home?' he asked as he kissed her. As always, as the unwritten law in the merchant bank demanded, he was dressed in a regulation, but expensive, suit and tie.

  'I was home early. You remember we talked about global warming after that dinner two or three months ago?'

  'Global warming! I had some more immediate things I thought we could warm up,' he said as he started to undo the buttons on her blouse. Within minutes they were both lying naked on the plush lounge carpet, their clothes scattered. Mark's confident approach to their sex life was in complete contrast to their first sexual encounter.

  Tanya loved it when he came home in such a mood. Inevitably they ended up making love, sometimes in the bedroom, but more often in various parts of the house—the lounge floor, bathroom, even the kitchen. They lay supine for a few minutes.

  'What's for dinner?' asked Mark.

  She giggled. 'Whatever you decide to rustle up. I will open a bottle while you do that and I want you to listen while I tell you about global warming.'

  Tanya carefully collected all the clothes lying about, conscious of what they had cost, hanging up Mark's suit, tidying some items away, and putting others in the laundry basket. Afterwards, she tossed Mark his dressing gown and put on her own.

  'Spag bol okay?' he asked as she handed him a glass of wine.

  She nodded, fetching her laptop and placing it on the kitchen bench, as Mark was busily preparing the meal. 'Here, let me take over. Maybe you should read it for yourself.'

  Mark moved to the other side of the bench. 'I read somewhere that the earth was something like point seven of a degree warmer now than it was at the start of the nineteenth century. That doesn't seem significant to me.'

  Tanya remained silent as she fried up the mince and tossed into the mix, the selection of vegetables Mark had prepared. She popped the spaghetti into the now boiling water.

  Mark started to expostulate, 'This is surely crap.' He jabbed at the computer as if, somehow, it was to blame. 'The sea levels will rise somewhere between seven and seventeen metres, when some piece of ice in the Antarctic, that nobody has ever heard of, collapses into the sea.'

  'Yes, the Ross Ice Shelf. It's about the size of France.'

  Mark continued to read, muttering under his breath.

  Tanya pushed the loaded frying pan towards Mark, once she had placed a small amount of pasta on one plate and a much larger amount on the other. She explained, according to her research, almost all the hottest years in recorded history had been in the last ten or fifteen years. She pointed at the laptop, 'We had the typhoon in Queensland a year or two back and the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria. More recently, there appear to be far more extreme weather events and they seem to be coming closer together. Also, there have been similar incidents in America, Hurricane Katrina for example, and always bushfires every summer.'

  'There have been extreme weather events in the past,' argued Mark as he started to dish up the bolognese sauce onto both plates.

  'Not too much please, I had lunch with a client today,' Tanya said. 'Certainly,' she continued, 'but not all together, which is what's happening now.'

  Mark was looking at her as he started to slurp large mouthfuls of spaghetti into his mouth. 'And all this is caused by global warming?'

  'Didn't you have any lunch today?' Tanya laughed.

  'No, the boss was on about some pet theory of his and went on waffling for hours and then I had two back-to-back meetings.' He went on reading. 'Anyway, you say here,' Mark jabbed at the laptop again, 'that temperatures are forecast to rise by at least five degrees by the end of the century. Is that serious? I have no idea. It doesn't sound too dramatic. After all, the daily maximum temperature in Sydney often varies by more than that. Surely over that length of time we will be able to cope.'

  'Yes, if it's correct, it's very serious. Someone somewhere needs to take drastic action.'

  'How significant is the rise in sea levels?'

  Tanya pulled the laptop towards her on the bench-top and spent a minute tapping a few keys, while Mark continued with his meal. 'I have just logged in to Google Earth where you can see heights above current sea levels in various places. Have a look at Sydney, George Street for example.'

  'Here, let me,' Mark grabbed the mouse and started playing with it. 'Shit, at seventeen metres this place, our precious fucking house, will be prime waterfront. The city would be completely flooded. Holy shemoly, what do you think it all means?'

  'Just take a look at the Kurnell Oil Refinery in Botany Bay.'

 
Mark moved the cursor. 'Gone, completely flooded!'

  'Let's look at a few other cities.'

  'London, buggered despite the flood barriers. New York, buggered. Melbourne, most of the city flooded.' Mark looking amazed and horrified, read on. 'Beijing, Moscow, Delhi, and Tehran will be okay. Still all this is dependent on the Ice Shelf collapsing. Many of the low-lying Pacific Islands will disappear altogether. Bangladesh with its enormous population will be inundated. Fuuuck,' he exclaimed.

  'If what has been forecast actually happens the inland cities will not be flooded. But most of the ports and oil refineries will be, so unless they have a nearby food source it won't help them. There will be critical food shortages within days of the floods,' said Tanya. 'It does seem a helluva jump from what we have now,' Tanya waved vaguely in the direction of the harbour with its twinkling lights and busy streets, 'to almost total destruction.'

  They sat in silence for a few minutes finishing their wine. Tanya packed the few dishes into the dishwasher.

  'How much did that little turd, Theo, help with all this?' asked Mark, while she was busy.

  'He gave me some references at the dinner party, and I talked with him on the phone a couple of times since.' She looked at Mark, wondering why he felt so insecure as far as she was concerned. Most people would have expected her to be the insecure one. She had not looked at another man since she had become involved with him. 'He's asked me to lunch more than once, an invitation I won't be taking up.' She walked around the bench and hugged him.

  The next morning they were woken as usual by the five am alarm. They both leapt out of bed and dressed for their normal nine kilometre run. Mark was big and strong and tried to push the pace. Tanya was very fit and easily kept up with him through the still-deserted streets of their suburb, as the sky was lightening up in the East. They had a shower together, after a hasty breakfast of fruit and muesli. Tanya spent time dressing carefully, making sure, as always, that she looked her very best. She brushed her shining blonde hair.

  'What's the occasion?' asked Mark playfully as he tried to kiss her.

  'Sorry, I am in a bit of a hurry this morning,' she said as she quietly evaded his embrace. 'I have this shithead of a client. He's about to get himself into very big trouble and I need to steer him clear. I must have all the facts at my fingertips before our nine am appointment.'

  'Well, your appearance will certainly distract him,' said Mark.

  'I think he likes me to be well dressed. But he is gay, so hopefully he will be listening to what I have to say rather than gawping at my boobs.'

  'Don't forget to send me your summary of the global warming thing when you get in. I will try to get opinions from other people in the office,' he said as Tanya marched out of the door, clutching her laptop and files.

  They both arrived home at about seven pm. They kissed warmly, hugging each other for a minute. Tanya started to fix dinner. 'Did you show anyone the paper?'

  'Yes. Rooney and Curtin.'

  'Rooney!' Tanya glanced up with an exasperated look on her face. 'His idea of the long term is who he is going to sleep with the weekend after next. He will have dismissed it out of hand, right?'

  'Right, he said it was a load of bull.'

  'You might get a more thoughtful response from Curtin in a few months. He'll have to do all his own research.'

  Mark was always amazed at Tanya's perceptiveness. She seemed to be able to assess people and their reactions after a very short acquaintance. 'Right, he said he would get back to me.'

  'What do you think?'

  'It is compelling, but I can't believe that all this … ' he held her by the arm as they walked over to the window overlooking the beautiful, peaceful harbour, 'will just disappear. If what you say is right, most of the people in the city will probably die, either by drowning or starvation, and much of the city will gradually crumble into the water. This wonderful thriving city and many others like it around the world. I find it very difficult to take in. My immediate instinct is to treat it all as bullshit. What do you think we should do about it?'

  'I really don't know,' said Tanya. 'I would like to know what Curtin thinks and I will put more thought into it myself.'

  Chapter Four

  A Few Days Later

  David Bower was nervous. Over many months now he had been researching some of the wider aspects of the effects of climate change and what, if anything, could be done about it. His conclusions were radical and drastic. David, though graying, was a slim, fit man. Not tall at five foot nine, but giving the impression of intense energy. On this occasion, he had dressed in a neat pair of grey flannel trousers and a jacket. Chloe had persuaded him to dispense with the tie, knowing their children would be wearing jeans and tee shirts when they arrived for dinner. He kept himself fit with regular runs, the occasional session in the gym, and golf. He was well liked by business associates for his forthrightness and honesty and, above all, his calmness under even intense pressure.

  David sat for half an hour on the deck of his large house enjoying the warmth. He stared unseeingly into the bushland opposite. A large gathering of lorikeets were squawking and squabbling over the birdseed David had spread over a small table in the garden. A pair of king parrots looked nervously on from the safety of a nearby melaleuca tree, waiting their turn.

  Not long after their engagement, Chloe had excitedly driven him to this very place, then an empty piece of land. David had tried not to show his enthusiasm by commenting on the steepness of the site. However, he agreed to talk to one of the builders he dealt with regularly once Chloe told him she had already asked an architect to have a look at what could be built there.

  David had been concerned. 'I'll have to work through our finances. I've only had a year with the business, albeit a successful one.' With partners, he had started his own business about the time he had met Chloe.

  'I'll go on working,' Chloe had offered, 'but this place is perfect. It's close to the city. If we do it right, we'll never have to move again.'

  David thought back to that conversation, more than thirty years later. We may indeed have to move if what I have concluded comes to pass. 'I'm sure I'm right, but I wish to hell I wasn't,' he said aloud. He shuddered when thinking of his son Mark and his beautiful wife, obviously intending to take themselves to the very top. They will dismiss the very idea of climate change.

  He emerged from his reverie when Chloe called him from the kitchen, asking him to help set the table. His daughter Patricia and her husband Joe, now in their early thirties, had arrived. Their eight year old daughter Kim was already headstrong unlike their son Jason, who was gentle and thoughtful at five.

  Patricia bustled in. She liked to have them fed and in bed early, giving David an opportunity, if there was time, to read to them and tuck them up. Patricia had steadfastly resisted any thought of returning to work. 'It's more important to bring the children up properly. And I do help with mum's charities,' she added, when challenged by some of her more ambitious friends.

  Joe and Patricia were committed environmentalists. Joe had a well-paid position as an accountant with a large retail operation in Sydney. 'I'm not sure I can see myself bean-counting for this lot for the next thirty or so years,' he had confided in David on a previous occasion. 'I really need something more fulfilling. We do provide a service, but it's not exactly saving humanity.'

  Jonathan, their youngest at eighteen, was still living at home. He bustled in announcing that he was due to go out later to listen to some obscure band in Kings Cross. While he tried to give the appearance of non-conformity, when asked what he was going to do with his life, his stock answer was, 'Maths and Physics at Sydney Uni, the Royal Military College at Duntroon, and a commission in the Australian Army.'

  Gentle Evan, aged twenty-five, was pursuing a career in music. 'Aussie is a bit of a backwater as far as music goes. I have an offer in England which I'll take up as soon as I've got my shit together,' he had told his mother a few days earlier.

  Just as
Chloe was wondering whether her dinner would be spoiled, Mark and Tanya made their high-profile entrance in a fancy sports car David couldn't identify. He had never been fooled by Tanya. He knew she was clever, ambitious, and ruthless. She had always downplayed her role in the law firm, but David was aware she had now been elevated to the partnership, something she hadn't mentioned. She appeared to be casually dressed, but her long blonde hair, beautifully patterned shirt, and the shortest skirt she could get away with, showing off her long legs, made her the standout among those present.

  There were lots of ribald greetings between the siblings, and the children were made a fuss of by all the adults before they were put to bed. Everyone automatically helped serve and clear-up the sumptuous dinner making Chloe's role very easy.

  From Chloe's perspective, she had the perfect life. They lived in a large, five bedroom house, in Sydney's leafy North Shore, which she helped design and had built. It was quiet, overlooking bushland, and was close to the city. She played golf once or twice a week and usually indulged in one bridge afternoon. With her children now grown up, she spent a good deal of time on her charities. David ran a very successful operation and, although she had noticed him being rather secretive of late, she thought that probably had something to do with the business. He shared some of his business issues with her, but to her relief had never bored her with the details. She foresaw this situation continuing for some time to come. The word "retirement" had not passed David's lips, although she was confident they would have sufficient funds to retire on when the time came. Both of them were in good health.

  Some of the family had noticed a screen with a computer and projector on a small table in the lounge. When David asked Joe to help him set it up on the now cleared dining room table, most thought he was going to show them a few slides from a recent trip to India. With coffee or port in hand, the family were relaxing, having indulged in too much good wine over dinner. David noticed that Tanya, although she laughed and talked as much as the others, had barely touched any alcohol. He wondered whether she was pregnant, but then decided that she, alone, had sensed something different in the atmosphere and was on full alert. He glanced at her, but she gave nothing away.