When we were coming here, we interviewed lots of climbers and when we asked them why they were coming here and climbing you, a lot of them just said it was because you were there. Well, I always thought they were just trying to be funny but now I kind of get it. So, I think the thing I really want to thank you for is for being there. I know that sounds strange ‘cause you never move, but you made me move. If it wasn’t for you being there—well, here—I probably would never have met Philip and Troy. And if it wasn’t for you being here, who knows what would have happened to Satya...He never would have crossed that line.
I think in a way you have helped me cross a line by coming to you. Because I never in my dreams would have thought me...ME! Nancy Olivia Archer would ever-ever-EVER come here to be on you. Not in a kabillion years would anyone have thought of little me on MT. EVEREST. It’s just awesome!!!
You know what’s strange, Miss Mountain? It’s that, as I’m thanking you, I feel like I’m also thanking Mr. Sanchez, too. Without him, my life would never have changed. I wouldn’t be here; I’d still be standing on the other side of that line...When I was in the middle of all that cutting and hating who I was, I never thought there would be a place for me to be in this world. And now look where I am!!! I guess maybe that’s what all those climbers mean when they say they come here and climb you because you’re there...I think you’re that other side of the line for many people. You help them face their fear or challenge themselves to be here...and I guess it’s always about the choice of crossing that line, isn’t it? I’m really happy I was able to cross that line and meet you!
So, not much more to say...Tomorrow we will say goodbye to you but for now, I really want to thank you for being a part of MY life now, Miss Everest!
Love,
Nancy Olivia Archer
41. PRESENT DAY – AT THE HOTEL
“Jenny, come quick, it’s your dad,” Kyle yelled.
Jenny shot up “Daddy...? Where is he, Kyle? Where is he?!”
Kyle was standing in front of the door that led to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
“Here! Come on, quick!”
Jenny helped her mother up and, with pounding hearts, they ran down the hallway towards Kyle.
“Bobby. Oh, please be okay. Please be...” Monique could not say the last word out loud, yet the word “alive” kept repeating itself over and over again.
When they got about halfway down the hall, Kyle opened the door to the Leaning Tower of Pisa slightly. Suddenly, the hallway filled with a loud, majestic piece of orchestrated music. Monique couldn’t stop the thought in her head. John William’s Greatest hits, CD 2, Track 3, Theme from Superman. She knew this music inside out.
Jenny was moving so fast she crashed into Kyle’s arms. The door shut and he fell to his knees.
“I’m sorry, Kyle. Where is he?” Jenny breathlessly said, helping him to his feet.
“Shhh, Jenny, shhh.” Kyle reached up and opened the door again just as Monique reached them.
“He’s in there, Mrs. Sanchez.”
“You saw him? You saw him?” Monique almost begged.
“No, they just said he’s about to talk...in here...That’s what they told me.”
Monique grabbed Kyle’s shoulder to move him aside so she could enter the room. She immediately stopped when she got inside, for the room was now almost in total darkness. As her eyes adjusted, she could see a light coming from the stage. The glow lit up the room slightly and she could see everyone’s eyes staring forward.
Jenny and Kyle followed close behind Monique. The three of them moved a little farther into the room until they could see the screen. The whole back wall flickered with a tidal wave of Roberto Sanchez images. The music was building to a crescendo. The screen was filled with the words “QUEST-I’m-ON” and, with the last crashing beat of sound, the word “QUEST” was left alone and emblazoned on the screen. Slowly the word “QUEST” faded into a picture of Robert celebrating, standing on the highest place on the planet.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa came to life with applause and cheering.
Monique squinted and anxiously surveyed the stage, trying to locate Robert. She could definitely make out the silhouette of Amir sitting at his controls, but where was Robert? Was he up there? How could they have started the presentation without him?
A single circular spotlight snapped on, filling the centre of the stage. The applause stayed strong, anticipating Roberto Sanchez’s entrance into the light.
Two, three, four seconds, the applause stayed strong. Monique’s hands went over her mouth. Five, six, seven seconds. Where on earth is he? Eight, nine, ten and there it was: first the gleaming reflection off the metal wheels of his chair and then her husband.
Monique exhaled as if she had just been holding her breath under water for hours. The overall sudden weakness she felt was soothing and peaceful. She tightly wrapped her arms around herself as if attempting to hold that wave of emotion deep inside her. She didn’t want this feeling to escape. Oh, how it calmed her aching, aching heart! Robert was not dead behind a door with a wheelchair symbol. Robert was found!
“That’s my dad!” Monique heard Jenny say to Kyle.
“I know, Jenny, I know,” Kyle said as he put his arm around her.
But as Robert rolled to the front of the stage, the applause quickly became stuttered and eventually came to an awkward end.
The distinct contrast of the man standing on the top of the world and the man who rolled into the spotlight was not something most in the audience were expecting to see. Monique, Jenny and Kyle then heard some hushed murmured reactions from the table they were standing beside.
“My god, what happened to him?”
“Does he have no legs?”
“Man, that’s sad!”
Monique was about to turn to say something, but then it hit her! The majority of the people in this room had no idea what happened to Robert. Except for the employees of her company who knew of Robert’s accident, the rest of the room was applauding to see the same heroic man who graced the pictures on screen. They were anticipating the man scaling impossible heights to come walking into the light with two legs. The impact of seeing Robert now, in a wheelchair, took a lot of people by surprise and the end of the applause reflected that.
Oh no! What have I done? A panic erupted inside of Monique.
42. SIX MONTHS AGO – MT. EVEREST
One moment. Such fury. Was it in a heartbeat? The blink of an eye? Didn’t matter...however you describe it—it happened fast and without warning.
It was as if the mountain just got incredibly angry and screamed with all its might, “Be quiet! Leave me alone!!!”
And like scared little children, they all obeyed. It was over in seconds. Only seconds. Yet, the mountain’s snowy white temper echoed much longer. Time? Hard to tell. But as the thick white clouds of snow settled, there was only one still figure left standing, encased in snow that went half way up to his chest.
It was Philip. He was still holding the camera on his chest. As everyone else went running, Philip just stood there, incapable of fleeing the tidal wave of snow that descended. Luckily for him, the frozen sheet of white only swallowed him halfway up. On either side of him, the snow was towering over twelve feet high. The dusty clouds of snow had coated him so completely that he resembled a porcelain statute. And with the snow that gathered around the camera just under his chin, he looked like that long-bearded wizard Dumbledore he loved from Harry Potter.
Philip slowly turned his head from side to side. Nothing but white. His snowy beard fell onto the camera as he opened his mouth to speak. “Tro...” His voice was unrecognizable to him. He tried again. “Tro...” but his mouth was shaking so hard that his voice was almost empty of sound. Again, he tried and, although only a meek sound emerged, at least this time the sound made sense.
“Troy?”
Like a lost little child, he spoke, “Troy?” Again. “Troy?”
With the snow up around his chest, he felt like h
e couldn’t get enough air into his body to let himself be heard. It was only when he looked down that he realized he was stuck deep inside the snow. He lunged forward, but his legs would not budge. He tried turning side to side to loosen himself, but nothing happened. He put the camera down on the snow and tried to pull himself up, but again it was useless. He looked again to either side of him, seeing nothing but two walls of snow and suddenly, he started to breathe in quick little pants. The breaths grew quicker and quicker and then suddenly, trying to match the mountain’s roar, he screamed with every fiber in his body.
“TROOOOOOOOY!!!”
The sound seemed to echo for so long. But no one answered. Then Philip looked up into the brilliant blue sky and screamed once more with all his might, “TROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY...”
He waited to let his sound drift off, hoping to hear Troy call back. But no sound came.
“Where are they? Where the hell are they?” he cried to himself. Philip’s face started to twist as he bit his upper lip, trying to hold back his tears of fear. He struggled for more air. Crying was now hindering him from breathing. He started to gasp and gulp for air as if he was drowning.
He flung his big mitts off and, with his bare hands, clutched at the snow around him, trying to dig himself out. Like a wild creature with its leg caught in a snare, he was moving every part of his body, desperately struggling to get free. The more he flailed his arms, the more he struggled for air.
43. PRESENT DAY – AT THE HOTEL
The applause had died out. They waited. One, two, three, four, five seconds, but Robert still hadn’t opened his mouth to speak. “I have to do something,” Monique whispered to herself. “I should run onto the stage and explain what happened to Robert.” He looks so small, she thought, so small sitting in that wheelchair in front of that huge photograph of him on the screen. I just didn’t think we needed to tell people. I...I...I never thought of this. I can’t let this happen to him now.
She briskly stepped around the tables and the people standing near the front of the stage to get to the steps. The moment she got there, she stopped dead in her tracks. Robert spoke. “Ah, umm,” he cleared his throat, “well, hi.”
The spotlight was a bit blinding at first, so he put one hand over his brow to stop the glare and adjust his eyes to the light. He had no idea where to begin. Robert shook his head a little, hoping that might loosen some words from his brain, but it was all blank inside. So, he took in another deep breath and decided to just start talking and hope that the words would fall into the right places and make some sense.
“So ah, well, so...three companies are ah, going to be one now. And ah, that’s great. And I...I...ah...well, I guess...I guess—” He looked back to Amir and spoke to him. “I’m sorry—I don’t know, I’m not sure how to start.” Amir waved his hands for Robert to go on talking. Robert turned back to face the room.
“Okay. Like I said, it’s great to...uh—No, I’m sorry.”
He looked back at Amir again, who now gave him a thumbs-up. Robert bit down on his lower lip and shook his head slightly. After speaking with Aaron Aboga, he felt inspired—inspired with something he hadn’t felt for such a long time: purpose, the simple purpose of being here. The doorman had pried opened a door that, for the last six months, had seemed nailed shut to him. And just minutes ago, he felt that maybe he was ready to do this talk. But to talk, one needed words and no words were coming out of him. It had been so long since his thoughts had formed into any words he wanted to share, so he sat there, biting down on his lip.
Greg took a step, stood beside Monique and whispered, “He’s still pretty nervous, I see.”
Robert turned back to the crowd and rolled forward a little. “Okay...you know what? I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t be here. I’m...well, I’m...” He stopped again. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was completely still. Greg stepped even closer to Monique. “What? What does he mean he’s not supposed to be here? Is this part of his talk?”
Monique didn’t answer her boss, she just watched Robert turn his back to the audience again, but now he rolled himself towards Amir.
“Where’s he going, Monique?” Greg couldn’t hide his concern. The room became restless, everyone murmuring and wondering what was happening. Amir could feel all the eyes in the room turn to him as Robert approached his table. Amir got up and leaned towards Robert.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered.
But since Amir had spoken directly into Robert’s head mike, his question came out loud and clear through the auditorium speakers. In his embarrassment, Amir turned to the room and blurted out, “I’m sorry, ladies and gentleman, we seem to be having some technical difficulties.”
And then he nervously bowed, which caused the audience to laugh. Hearing the laughter only made Amir more nervous, so he bowed again. As Amir was bowing, Robert rolled past the table and closer to the back of the stage. Amir then ran towards Robert, which gave the audience the impression of a playful game—one that had Robert trying to get off the stage and Amir attempting to catch him. The audience laughed a little louder, sensing that maybe this was part of the show.
Robert then stopped directly in front of the screen and looked at the photograph of him standing on the highest peak known to man. As Amir reached him, Monique edged closer to the stairs leading to the stage. She knew this was not a game. Just as she was about to take the first step up the stairs, Amir spoke.
First he smiled, then lifted his arm and pointed at the screen, “Speak about that,” he said to Robert. “Speak about climbing that mountain.” The audience applauded. Yes, hearing him speak about climbing that mountain was exactly what they wanted to hear! Monique froze on the first step, waiting to see if Robert would turn around to speak.
But Robert didn’t hear Amir. His head was tilted up, staring at the screen. There it was: he was now face to face with that mountain again—Mount Everest and him. Robert’s hands came off of the wheels of his chair. He curled them into tight fists. Monique opened her mouth to call her husband’s name, but then Robert slammed his hands back onto the wheels and twirled in one quick motion to face the room.
“I’m sorry.” He spoke without any hint of apology. “You’re probably wondering, hey, where’s the man standing on that mountain? Where the hell is he? Well, let me tell you something. For the past six months, I’ve been wondering exactly the same thing. Where the hell is he?”
The audience didn’t react. The moment felt awkward. It was dreadfully silent. Greg pulled Monique down the step with a worried look. Jenny edged closer into Kyle. Even Lou’s ever-constant smile sank away.
But Robert surprised everyone when he let out a little chuckle. “Ha ha...isn’t that the same question we all ask when something’s changed—or is about to change? Why do we have to do it differently? I’ve been doing it this way for years, why are we changing it now? Or simple little things like, ‘Hey, where’s my favourite chair? I’m not sitting in that!’ Or, ‘No way, I don’t want to move!’ Yeah...well...for me it was, ‘Hey, where are my legs?’ and, ‘What the hell am I going to do now?’”
No one reacted vocally, but there was a distinct interest in Robert’s question stirring within the room.
“And your boss, Mr. Wong, he told me something this morning. He said he was worried about the big change all the employees were going to have to go through. He told me a story about a bucket with sand in it. He was saying that sand on its own is like these millions of individual, tiny stones. And they can just blow away if you don’t have something to keep them together. And then he explained how all of you are the sand and how the three companies have to become this one bucket—that can hold you all together. I think that’s what he was telling me...Anyway, to be honest with you, he just seemed a little scared.”
Greg tugged on Monique’s arm and whispered, “What’s going on, Monique?” She just stared at her husband and shook her head. That, she didn’t know.
“Well, I’d be scared too, wouldn’t you? The guy
’s got a lot of responsibility and if he wasn’t a little scared that this might not work then he wouldn’t be dealing with the challenge realistically, would he? And then, Mr. Wong, he told me that’s why he got me to talk today. So I could help you...I don’t know, maybe stick together better? And tell you about all the challenges I had on those mountains and how I dealt with—”
Robert paused. He took a look over his shoulder. He then lifted his arm and gestured at the smiling image of himself on the screen. He turned back to the crowd. “...How I dealt with all those challenges on the mountain.”
Robert chuckled to himself again, and he felt a raw joy bubbling inside of him as the words tumbled out from his mouth, “Ha...but first, you have to admit...it’s a pretty gutsy call for your boss to make, don’t you think? Having a guy who lost both his legs on that mountain, come here and talk to you about climbing it?”
Kyle hugged Jenny closer at hearing her father speak about losing his legs.
“And you know what? What I said before—it’s true, I didn’t want to be here today. I fought, kicking and screaming...” Robert paused again and couldn’t believe what came out of his mouth next. “Well, I guess it wasn’t much of kicking with these,” he raised one of his stumps to make a kicking motion. The audience exhaled into a laugh.
“But it’s true, I didn’t want to be here. Frankly, after what happened to me, I didn’t want to be anywhere.” Robert raised his arms and, as he asked each of the following questions, he paused slightly, as if he was waiting for an answer to each one: “So what about you? Coming here today—Why are you here? Do you want to be here? Do you need to be here?”
44. SIX MONTHS AGO – MT. EVEREST
“Kong!” A faint voice screamed out somewhere in the distance.
“Kong?”
But Philip was now oblivious to the sound. Every ounce of his energy was being spent desperately attempting to pull himself out of the snow. His body was flailing side to side. The snow was as hard as concrete. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t move his legs at all.
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