by John Coetzee
Knowing how she felt, I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat while holding her against me and stroking her hair until she stopped crying at last and fell asleep with her thumb in her mouth. That night I told my mom that Sipho and I were going for a walk early the next morning and she said okay.
Chapter 5
Sipho and I met at the arranged spot just as the rising sun cast a shimmering pathway over the water. It didn’t take us long to reach the camping place where the generator was running and the dark column of smoke was slowly rising into the air. Together we crouched behind one of the old pomegranate bushes nearby and watched Antonio and Inez working around the smoking chimney that now had three tubes jutting from its side in such a way that they formed a right-angled triangle. One tube stood vertically alongside the chimney, one lay horizontally at the base, and the third tube slanted diagonally, facing the sun.
Antonio and Inez were so busy taking readings from various meters and jotting things down that they weren’t aware of us at all. From time to time Antonio opened a little tap at the base of the structure and let some of the green liquid run into a laboratory flask and took it over to the microscope on the camping table, where he examined the liquid. Inez then took a glass beaker full of green water from a container, climbed to the top of the structure and carefully poured it into an opening at the top of the vertical tube. Then we saw Antonio typing something into a laptop computer on the table next to the microscope.
I’m not quite sure what happened next. Maybe Sipho or I stood on a dry twig or something where we were hiding. Antonio jumped up at once and came towards us. Shading his eyes with his hand, he looked in our direction and called out in a gruff voice. “Who’s there?”
I didn’t know what to say or do. When I glanced at Sipho I could see that he didn’t know either. As a matter of fact, he looked as scared as I felt at that moment.
“I said who’s there?” he said sharply, as he came even closer.
It was as if both Sipho and I were frozen stiff.
“Don’t think I can’t see you there,” the young man said, and from the way he glared at us from under his wild bush of dark brown hair, it was obvious that he was really annoyed. “This is private property, and you’re trespassing here. What do you want?”
Sipho and I stood up at the same time, both feeling very guilty.
“We don’t want anything,” I said in a shaky voice. “We’re just taking a walk around the dam.”
Inez came hurrying along and saw us. “Oh, it’s you!” she exclaimed, looking at Sipho and me in turn. Then she turned to her brother. “It’s all right, Antonio. I know the one fellow. He was here the other day. His name is Rick and he happens to be Bert’s nephew.”
Antonio looked really peeved. “Inez, you know that Bert wouldn’t like other people nosing around here, no matter who they are.”
She looked a bit disappointed. “Well, this is a different matter altogether. These two guys must have already seen a lot by now, and they are probably wondering what we are doing. I really don’t see any harm in telling them about it.”
Antonio looked at us and started to shake his head, but Inez quickly intervened. “When Rick was here the other day, I already told him something about what algae can do. If they promise us that they won’t tell anyone and not come around again, can’t I just let them know the basics, Antonio?”
Antonio though deeply for a few moments, then nodded and picking up his laptop, he went into the caravan.
Inez beckoned to us to follow her and she turned to face us when we reached the structure. “I don’t even know your friend’s name yet, Rick.”
Before I could say anything, my friend chipped in proudly: “I’m Sipho Khumalo. My father is the manager of the power station.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh my goodness! I didn’t realise that. Will you both promise me faithfully you won’t tell anybody at all about what I’m going to show you – not your father, Sipho, nor your uncle, Rick – because what we are doing here is still very much in the experimental stage. Promise me you’ll keep it all to yourselves?”
“Promise,” we both said at the same time.
Inez pointed to the tubular structure standing next to the chimney: “This is what is called a bioreactor. Come closer and tell me what you see in here,” she said, putting her hand on the long, diagonal tube.
Sipho beat me to it. “I see little bubbles going upwards while the green stuff is moving downwards in the tube.”
Her dark brown eyes shone with excitement, while she stroked and patted the tube. “Yes, yes! See, the algae are dancing. Do you know why they are dancing so happily?”
“Um… I think… No, I don’t really know,” I stumbled over my words.
“They’re dancing because they’re getting plenty of food for free, that’s why.” Then her expression suddenly changed. “Hey, why are you guys looking at me like that? Do you think I’m crazy?”
Neither of us knew what to say, so she smiled and continued talking. “This tube coming from the chimney brings fumes that are full of carbon dioxide to the transparent tubes containing the algae. As you may already know, carbon dioxide is the most harmful of the gases that are the main cause of global warming and climate change. But believe it or not, the algae just love it. They happily absorb a great deal of the carbon dioxide and other harmful gases as well, and while this process goes on, the algae keep multiplying like crazy. That is why the little things are so happy – and that is what is also making Antonio and me so happy as well, because it means that our experiment is working.”
After snatching a deep breath, she continued enthusiastically. “Antonio has been growing special single-celled Chlorella algae for this purpose in the containers over there by the old farmhouse. And now that his special laboratory equipment has arrived, the instruments are showing how much of the harmful gases the algae are extracting from the fumes. And let me tell you, Rick, your Uncle Bert Lawson is also ecstatic about the results Antonio has obtained so far.”
The two tall smokestacks of the power station on the other side of the dam, grey fumes billowing, caught my eye, and I said: “So that’s where my uncle and global warming come into the picture! He must be planning to do something about the fumes coming out of those smokestacks over there.”
Inez clapped her hands and slapped me on the back. “Precisely, Rick! And if your Uncle Bert and Antonio can convince the right people that this little experimental bioreactor of ours really works over here, just think of what a full-scale algae bioreactor system could do at a power station such as Ashby’s – and eventually at all the other fume-belching power plants and factories all over the country, and all over in the world as well. The beauty of the process is that the algae can be harvested every day and converted into the most amazing products.”
Sipho, who had been listening quietly, got a few words in at last. “This does sound very interesting, Inez, but unfortunately you’ll find that my father will be a very difficult person to convince.”
She looked at him sharply. “How come, Sipho?”
“He just doesn’t believe in the man-made global warming theory, that’s why. I’ve often heard him arguing with people that there are natural cycles in which different warming and cooling periods occur every few hundreds of years and even over periods of thousands of years, and that we are probably moving into another natural global warming cycle right now.”
“Oh, really! And what is your opinion about it, Sipho?” said Inez, looking slightly amused.
“I don’t really know. I suppose I’ll be needing more evidence about it before I can decide for myself,” he said solemnly.
“Okay,” said Inez. “Just wait until Rick’s uncle and Antonio get going on the subject. They’ll convince your father in no time. But remember, not a word about this to anybody.”
We promised again and just then Antonio came onto the scene, looking at us as if we had already overstayed our welcome by far.
“You’ll have to go
now,” Inez said when she saw that look of his.
“Thanks for showing us, Inez,” I said and Sipho and I quickly made tracks.
On our way back around the dam, we spoke about what we had seen and heard. “Well, at least we know they’re not making drugs,” he commented.
“Yep. Thank goodness for that,” I agreed.
I thought about Uncle Bert again. Now that it appeared that his doings were not so scaly after all, I actually began to feel quite proud of him, even though he had been treating me like a stupid little kid ever since I arrived here in Ashby with my mom and Susie. I turned to Sipho again. “Okay, I suppose one should always hear what the other side has to say. What did you call it? Owdee… something… something.”
“Audi alterem partem. So, what do you think about this ‘global warming’ theory, Rick?”
“I dunno. Mr Singh’s argument at the power station sounded quite convincing the other day, Sipho. But, as you said, maybe we have to have more evidence before we can form an opinion about it.”
We continued in silence for a while. Then a siren suddenly went off and Sipho quickly pointed at the power station. “Hey, look at that!”
I looked that way and to my amazement, I saw huge clouds of steam rising from various pipes on the roof and billowing from the windows of the power station, almost blotting out the sun.
“Oh hell, what’s going on there?” I exclaimed.
For a moment we watched the clouds getting bigger and bigger, and fine droplets of water containing specks of soot started to rain on us.
“Hey, we’d better go and see what’s happening,” said Sipho, looking very worried. As we ran towards the power station, the air around us began to smell like eggshells burning.
We hurried past the switchyard with its high voltage transformers, copper wires and things, and arrived at the main gate, where an anxious-looking security guard stood at attention.
“What happened?” Sipho panted.
“A big explosion, buddy,” said the security guard, grimly pointing to the long grey building.
“Hey, I have to go and find out if my father’s in there,” Sipho cried out frantically, but the security guard quickly held his hands up to prevent us from going any further. “Yes, he is in there, Sipho. But I’m sorry, I can’t let anybody go past this gate.”
“I’ve got to go and find out if my father’s alright!” my friend persisted, doing his best to get past the guard.
“I know my Uncle Bert is also in there,” I quickly added in a panic. “You’ve got to let us go through … please.”
“Sorry,” said the guard, suddenly starting to look very annoyed with us.
But Sipho and I refused to be put off. Quickly acting together, we slipped past the guard before he was able to stop us. Ignoring his shouts, we raced until we came to the main door, but to our dismay we couldn’t get it open, no matter how hard we tried.
“Come, Rick. I know of a small door around the back of the building,” Sipho panted.
We stumbled around to the other side of the building, and Sipho managed to get that little door open. Holding our handkerchiefs in front of our noses, we went inside, and what we saw while we stumbled around in there was terrifying. Dense clouds of steam and fine particles were billowing everywhere, burning our eyes. It sounded as if something huge had burst, and the heat in the building was stifling.
Sipho grabbed my arm. He sounded close to tears. “I’ve got to find my father!” he shouted loudly above a loud hissing sound that seemed to be coming from the side of one of the big boilers.
“Let’s try the offices,” I shouted back.
We made a wide detour around the hissing boiler and eventually reached the narrow steel staircase leading up to the row of offices on the floor above us. On entering the first office we could hear muffled voices coming from the office next door. Then we heard Mr Khumalo’s deep, resonant voice ringing out. “I hope nobody got badly hurt. Where’s the shift engineer?”
“I saw Bert Lawson running out of the building shortly after the explosion, sir,” said one of the men.
Mr Khumalo’s voice sounded full of anger when he spoke again. “Well, go and find him quickly and tell him I want him to come and see me immediately.”
Sipho heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness my father’s okay.”
“But what about my uncle? Maybe he’s got hurt or something. Come, Sipho. Help me look for him,” I said desperately.
Through the vapours and fine particles billowing around, I saw Sipho shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t go with you, Rick. I’m staying right here in case my father needs me.”
“Please, Sipho,” I said, but he just shook his head again.
Desperately I hurried back down the stairs into the clouds of steam. I wanted to get out of the building as quickly as I could, but because I couldn’t see anything in front of me, I didn’t know where I was going and kept bumping into things. Some of the objects I collided with were hot and as I groped around half blind, I had visions of falling into a furnace and being roasted alive. I gasped for breath. My lungs felt as if they were on fire and I realised that I could pass out at any moment. But while I was trying to feel my way around something huge which was making a loud noise, the vapours began to clear slightly in front of me and a moment later I bumped into someone whose face was covered in sweat and grime. I managed to recognise him, though. It was Uncle Bert’s neighbour.
“What the devil are you doing in here, boy?” he shouted at me.
“I’m looking for my Uncle Bert, Mr Powell.”
“And so is everybody else!” he replied heatedly.
“What happened here, Mr Powell?”
“Whatever happened, that uncle of yours is going to be in very serious trouble when we find him,” he said grimly.
I felt my throat tightening. “Mr Powell… Does that mean the explosion might be my uncle’s fault?”
He didn’t answer my question. Holding a hanky in front of his nose, he shouted. “You’d better get out of here as quick as you can before you get hurt, sonny!”
I couldn’t move. I felt as if I was going to vomit.
“Listen, do you want me to throw you out of here?” Mr Powell shouted again.
Holding onto a railing, I beat a hasty retreat, stumbling around blindly again until I managed to find the small door. For a while I stood outside, waiting for my confused brain to clear, and when it did, I realised I just had to find out if my uncle had really caused the explosion. So I decided to keep on searching for him, even if it took me the rest of the day.
Near the switchyard, I saw someone in blue overalls sitting against the security fence with his head in his hands. I ran up to him.
“Uncle Bert?”
The man’s face was covered in a mixture of ash and soot, and he looked up at me through bloodshot eyes. Only then did I see that he wasn’t my uncle, but one of the turbine drivers from the power station.
I spoke again. “Have you seen Bert Lawson anywhere around here?”
He tried to answer my question, but not a word would come out of his mouth. At last he managed to lift his hand weakly and pointed to the closest of the four cooling towers near the power station.
“There?… Are you sure he’s gone there?” I stammered; the man could only nod.
Even before I reached the first massive, curved concrete tower, I could hear the cooled water falling like heavy rain into the large, round dam under it.
“Uncle Bert…” I shouted, but there was no reply. I ran all the way around the cooling tower, shouting a few more times, but it didn’t help at all. There was no sign of him anywhere. Could I have been mistaken? Could the man have pointed to one of the other towers instead?
On my way to the next cooling tower, I chanced to look back and only then did I notice a narrow, rusty flight of stairs leading to a door in the side of the first tower. It was slightly open. I turned back and climbed all the way up to it. Almost immediately after opening the door and g
oing inside, I was soaked with water coming from the sprayers above me. Shielding my eyes, I peered through the dense mist swirling around, and on a narrow bridgelike structure above the sprayers I could see someone in wet blue overalls and a yellow helmet standing in a hunched position while holding onto the railing.
“Uncle Bert…” I yelled, and when my hollow-sounding voice stopped echoing around in the cooling tower, I heard him shouting hoarsely.
“Go away. Get away from here, will you!”
“Please come down from there… Please, Uncle Bert,” I implored him. But when I realised that he had no intention of budging from where he was, I turned back and with an ominous sense of foreboding at the thought of what he might do next, I reluctantly left him standing there on the bridge. I just couldn’t fathom it. What could Uncle Bert have done to cause such a mighty explosion? I wondered again while deciding to go back to the cottage and leaving him to himself in the cooling tower. The security guard looked angrily at me when I came to the gate. I quickly apologised and he let me go through without saying anything.
Even from the gate I could hear Susie bawling in the cottage and, despite my mom’s efforts to calm her down, she looked distraught when I came into the bedroom.
“Rick… Where on earth have you been? I’ve been worried sick.… And just look at you!”
Only then did I realise what I looked like, being thoroughly drenched and covered in grime. “Everything’s okay, Mom,” I lied, mainly for Susie’s sake.
“Where’s Uncle Bert?” she called out while hugging Susie close to her and rocking her backwards and forwards.
“He’s still at the power station. But don’t worry, he’s okay.”
“But what exactly happened? I’ve got to know.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Mom. All I know is that there was some kind of explosion. But nobody got hurt. Everything is under control.”
My mom looked worried. “Please come and talk to Susie and tell her what you know, Rick.”
I knelt beside Susie, took her doll from her and stroked it while trying to imitate her voice. “There was just a bang in the pow-wowa station, Polly. But everything’s okay, see. Nobody got hurt. Tell Susie that, Polly, and she’ll stop crying, okay?”
