David purchased a small herd of shorthorn cattle, suitable as both dairy and beef stock. He managed to find a family able to tend the stock and they encouraged the purchase of some merino sheep, for both wool and meat. He stocked the dam with trout, encouraging settlers to fish. He asked people to return smaller fish back to the water, rather than taking them for food.
Chloe was still leading her double life, spending at least one morning or afternoon every fortnight with Alan in Manly. David was obsessed with Settlement developments, for which Chloe shared no interest, so instead she thought of Alan. Sharing confidences with him was easy, 'I do not believe in the science at all,' she told him, early on in their relationship. They were lying together, comfortably naked in her bed after athletic and passionate lovemaking. This session had taken them excitingly all over the flat, culminating ecstatically in the bedroom.
'Explain it to me. But don't take too long,' he joked. 'I'll be ready to go again, very soon.' So she did, while holding his growing erection. 'Sounds barmy,' he agreed before they made love again.
While they spent most of their time together in bed, they still shared a love of golf. But then they found a common interest in horses.
'Horses!' exclaimed Alan when Chloe told him about The Settlement's extensive stable. 'I used to be a very good horseman; let's go out to the stables and go for a ride.'
From then on, the stables became a regular meeting place. The owners thought Alan was Chloe's husband and she didn't disabuse them. The second time they went out riding Chloe led them to an isolated glade near a pond on the pretext that they needed to water the horses. She tied the horses up so they could graze. Then, to his surprise and pleasure, undressed Alan so they could make love on the soft grass in the sun.
'What happens if someone comes?' asked Alan languidly in the warmth.
'Only two people come here,' Chloe laughed, 'you and me. Come any time.' She rubbed her ample breasts against his face.
Chloe often spent the night in Sydney, staying with Mark and Tanya on the pretext of seeing more of her grandson Chas. Sometimes, she was able to spend the night with Alan, telling David she was staying with Margaret or Eva, both colleagues involved in various charities. Chloe thought she was in love with Alan, but her family was too precious, so she continued to teach the growing number of Settlement children to ride.
Once, when she and Alan discussed their relationship after they had made love, he said, 'I have four beautiful children. They are all doing well at school, but they still need me there. I could never change that. This time with you means everything to me though. Long may it continue.'
Chloe was relieved, but pretended to be upset, 'So I am just a convenient fuck?'
Hoisting himself up on an elbow, he could see from her expression that she was joking, 'Bitch!' he exclaimed, smiling. 'Well I had better make the most of it then.' He rolled her onto her back.
'It's the same for you, from all you have said. You don't want to change anything,' he said afterwards.
Chloe nodded, 'Tell me if your feelings change, won't you? But I am thrilled to be here with you.'
Their relationship continued for three years. Together they were always easy and lighthearted, with many jokes and wonderful sex. Her usual text, ahead of time, read, "How would you like to find me?"
He always delivered a saucy reply. On that fateful day, it read, "Starkers, sunbathing on the balcony."
Chloe was expecting him before noon and when, for the first time ever, Alan did not arrive she tried him on his mobile. It went to voicemail. When she tried his office number, she was put through to a secretary
'Who is speaking please?' asked a tremulous voice.
'My name is Chloe Bower. I'm a friend of Alan's. It's a personal call.' She had never before called his office. The secretary hesitated, then burst into tears. Chloe waited, apprehensively.
'Alan was killed in a car accident at eleven o'clock this morning.'
Chloe went into complete shock. He had obviously been on his way to see her. With a valiant effort she managed to control herself. There seemed to be nothing that she could usefully say, but she did manage, 'Oh my God, how terrible. Is there anything I can do?'
'No, there is not much you can do,' said the tearful voice. 'I suppose he was on his way to see you.'
'Could you text me the funeral arrangements, please, when they have been fixed?' She gave the secretary her mobile number.
When it all sank in she wept bitter tears. She spent the afternoon in the flat trying to recover her composure and it was a very subdued Chloe who unexpectedly went to stay with Mark and Tanya that evening. She went to bed early feigning a headache, where she cried herself to sleep.
Chloe had never felt so alone in her life. The relationship with Alan had been fun, but it had also created an outlet for her during the misery of the move to the mountains. She would desperately miss her time with Alan and there was absolutely nobody that she could confide in.
After some thought she decided not to attend the funeral, but sent flowers anonymously and spent an hour in the flat at the time of the funeral thinking about Alan and the fun they had enjoyed. She knew she would visit the gravesite when she could find out where it was.
Months later she received an unexpected package from a firm of solicitors. Alan had left her the flat in Manly, completely unencumbered. Chloe wondered what to do as she no longer had any need for it. She called the solicitors to find out who had signed the note.
Having identified herself she said, 'I was surprised to read that Alan left the Manly flat to me.'
'Alan was very explicit in his instructions; he made the change to his will more than a year ago.'
'Oh, it is most unexpected. Can you answer two questions? Firstly, is the family aware of the bequest and secondly, can you tell me if the family has been well provided for?'
'The family had no knowledge of the bequest or indeed of the existence of the property and I can assure you the family is very well provided for.'
Chapter Eight
Floods
David spent many weeks worrying about water storage. He had never seen the stream dry-up, but he wondered what would happen to the dam they had constructed at the upper end of the property when the occasional deluge engulfed the area.
'We are not talking about heavy rain for only a few days,' he told Joe and Fred. 'There have been occasions in the past twenty years when something like five hundred millilitres have fallen in a week. Will the dam hold up? How much water should we release from the dam in advance of the rain? Will the rising water threaten our houses? What should we do with the livestock? And when we blow up the mountain to isolate this place, how big will the pipe have to be to carry the stream when the place floods? It's not much use saving ourselves from the flood caused by the collapse of the Ice Shelf only to be drowned by a flood in The Settlement caused by our own ineptitude.'
When heavy rains were forecast, David galvanised the community in moving all the livestock to higher ground and all their equipment under cover. So far, every threat had been minimal.
It caused grumbling in the community. 'Another overreaction. Next time, I won't participate. The houses are far away from the stream and water has come nowhere near the built up area,' was one reaction.
'It is better to be cautious,' advised David. 'We are still trying to understand the environment we live in. One day there will be a big storm and we will be glad of the preparations we have made.'
Weeks later, forecasters warned of "a major cyclonic event" approaching the Sydney region and Blue Mountains. Such events were infrequent, but often managed to restore levels in Sydney's major water storage facilities.
David circulated his usual warnings to the community. 'I suggest you stay in Sydney until this is over,' he told Mark.
'We should release all the water from the dam,' Joe advised. 'I'll see to it.'
The rain started slowly. David had made certain that all livestock were well out of reach and was doing his
final rounds when Joe ran up. 'I can't open the sluices to release water from the dam. A connection is broken. I will only be able to repair it once the storm is over.'
'It'll have to be done manually,' said David. 'Come on.'
Driving the one conventionally-fuelled vehicle in The Settlement, Joe raced towards the dam. As they drove through the increasingly heavy rain they saw two teenage boys in swimming trunks running towards the stream, carrying a surfboard.
Joe stopped the truck and David ran over to them. 'Go back home. Surfing in the stream now would be very dangerous. The flood from the dam will be huge and you'd both drown. Go home now and I mean now.'
'Dad said it would be okay,' said one of the boys.
'It won't be, please go home,' David entreated.
The boys reluctantly turned around and started off in the direction of their home. Joe drove on.
'Damn,' said David, turning around and peering through the storm. 'Those stupid little fools. They just waited until they thought we were out of sight and now they're on their way back to the stream.'
'We can't wait,' said Joe. 'If I had been able to release the sluices automatically the dam would be almost half empty by now. If we wait any longer the water may start going over the top of the wall. It might even cause it to collapse.'
David briefly considered making sure the boys were safe. He decided he could get the sluices open and then make sure of the safety of the boys.
They parked above the nearly full dam. After an hour, five sluices had been opened using two large wrenches. 'We'll wait to see if that is enough, we may have to open all ten of them,' said Joe.
'I am concerned about those kids. The stupid little shits will drown if we open them all. We will have to rescue them before we open any others.'
'The wall may collapse … '
'So? We can rebuild the bloody wall. You can't replace a drowned child. We know what the silly buggers are up to, it's our responsibility to rescue them. Then we can come back and open more sluices.'
Joe drove carefully towards where he thought the boys might be. 'I must keep the truck well away from the stream … My God, look!'
The stream, usually only two or three metres across, was already almost fifty metres wide and broadening every minute. 'If those boys are in this, they will be in real trouble.'
'Look,' David pointed. 'There, in the middle. Holding onto a sapling. Quick.'
David tied a long length of rope around his middle, making certain it was secure. Joe tied the other end to the tow-hitch in the vehicle. David waded in, oblivious to the danger, losing his footing and then regaining it several times. He was completely out of his depth by the time he reached the boys clinging to their tree. The stream rose ever more quickly and he made a forlorn grab for a branch. Joe saw what was happening and drove the truck dangerously close to the edge of the boiling mass of water, once their peaceful, benign stream.
David managed to grab the tree. He wrapped the rope around both boys as well as himself, signalling to Joe to pull them out of the frigid, rushing water. Joe could see that David was on the verge of collapse. Using low ratio and first gear he managed to get the truck going on its own, very slowly. Leaping out of the cab, he grabbed the rope and pulled himself towards the struggling trio. Reaching them within a few minutes, he pulled David to his feet. With the help of the still, slow-moving truck it took them fifteen minutes to reach safety. Joe pulled the boys into the cab and then helped David.
'Hospital,' said Joe.
'No, no, we must open the rest of the sluices,' insisted David in a weak voice. 'The boys can help.'
Joe drove furiously back to the dam. They all watched helplessly as water started to flow over the top. 'There is nothing we can do now,' said Joe. 'Just wait and see if the dam holds.'
It didn't.
At first they noticed a few lumps of concrete flying off the top of the dam. Suddenly, there was a great crash and an enormous, ever-widening hole appeared, the water gushing down the valley. The dam emptied quickly. All that was left of the wall were two huge jagged edges.
They raced back to the village. By now the stream was nearly one hundred metres across. People were beginning to gather in consternation to see if the water would flood the village.
'We need to get them away from there,' said David.
Joe managed to persuade people there was nothing to be done and that the village would not be flooded. They noticed that some of the stock, despite David's precautions, had wandered too close to the flood and been swept away. Some of the vegetable area had been flooded as well.
David and the boys were all admitted to The Settlement hospital and spent a few days there. 'You all have mild hypothermia and we don't want that to develop into pneumonia,' the resident doctor told them.
A furious row erupted over the incident, with some blaming David and Joe for not opening the sluice gates in time and others blaming the two boys and their family. From his hospital bed, David realised emotions would get in the way of facts so he engaged one of the resident lawyers to conduct an enquiry. It was published as David left hospital, concluding that Joe and David would have been able to open the sluices if it hadn't been for the boys.
Insurance paid for part of the rebuilding of the dam, but all settlers were slugged with a large, very unpopular levy payable over two years. One or two families immediately thought of leaving The Settlement and there was a great deal of grumbling.
David had no inkling what was about to hit him. A week after the flood had struck, he had visits from a half dozen of the people he had considered his most promising settlers.
The first came in, saying, 'Look David, we were having severe doubts about the wisdom of moving here. All our friends think we are stark raving bonkers. The Government is doing nothing about this theory of yours and this flood has frightened all of us. I just don't think we are cut out for this life. It's all work as we don't have the resources to dash off to Sydney every five minutes. When we see the lives of our friends are leading, this place seems ridiculous. We want out. I have been offered my old job back and I am inclined to accept it.'
'What will you do when the Ice Shelf collapses?' asked David.
'Fuck the bloody Ice Shelf! I just don't want to believe that claptrap any more. Your smooth talking conned us into selling up and coming here. It's all bullshit!'
'What do you want to do?' David was quite taken aback by the man's vehemence.
'I just want out. You got us into this mess, you find a solution.'
David phoned Tanya. 'This is a real threat. Three people have come forward with much the same story; one was very aggressive and one admitted he made a mistake. I don't know if there will be others, but even three is a blow. We only have twenty-five families.'
'I will work something out,' she said.
David had always spent time with each settler family to deal with any concerns but, at her request, he left the difficult discussions to Tanya. Over two weekends, Tanya saw the now six disenchanted settlers separately. She always started with a detailed review of the science and the projected consequences. 'This is why you originally decided to join The Settlement. You seemed so enthusiastic. Can I understand why you have changed your mind?'
After lengthy discussions, two of the families changed their minds again and agreed to stay. 'We were genuinely frightened by the ferocity of the flood, but the science is still compelling. We will tough it out and make certain we can cope mentally with any future emergencies.'
'My wife is seriously ill, so we have decided to move back to Sydney and the best treatment. Settling here requires high-energy pioneering types, which is not us at present,' one man said.
'Will you return when she has recovered?' asked Tanya.
'The priority is her recovery. We'll worry about ice shelves collapsing after that.'
'What do you want to do with your investment here?'
'I don't know. Do you have any suggestions?'
'You could keep it and rent it out
to new settlers while their property is being built. You could leave it unoccupied for the time being or you could sell it to a new settler. We can help with the first and last option.'
'You wouldn't consider buying it from us?'
'No, we can't afford that, it merely takes money from funds allocated for general development,' said Tanya firmly. 'Besides, what we need is commitment. Buying your place creates a precedent, so in future people may think they will always have an easy way out if things don't work out.'
'The best is to try to sell it to a new settler and rent it out in the meanwhile.'
The other three leavers collectively tried to intimidate Tanya with excessive demands. They visited her in her small office next to David's, on the upper floor of the community centre. She seated them in comfortable upright chairs. 'Would you like tea or coffee?'
There was an impatient gesture from the spokesman, a large, well-built man named Harold. He ignored her, aggressively waving his arms about. 'We've all had about as much buggering around as we can stand, so let's get on with it. The science is all bullshit. You and your pseudo-sophisticated father-in-law conned us into coming here, giving up our jobs, and our well-ordered lives. We all sold perfectly good properties in Sydney which have since increased in value.'
Tanya said nothing.
'Don't you have anything to say to all that, you tight-arsed bitch?'
To the utter amazement of Harold and his two companions, Tanya laughed. 'Come on Harold, you can do better than that. Why don't you try again?'
Harold stood up, brought his fist down on the desk making his two companions jump, and yelled, 'If you don't sort this out, now, I'll burn the whole fucking place down.'
Tanya coolly picked up the phone, 'Hello, emergency. Police please, urgently.' She gave them the address.
Icefall Page 8
