Stormworld (5 page)

CHAPTER 10

An Accidental Meeting

“I’ve already named my child,” Peggy said.

In Belinda’s tiny room, she sat on the floor on a thick pillow, with her back supported by a wall. Belinda sat cross-legged in front of her, in the middle of the floor. A chess board was between them, with a game in progress, the third one they had played this evening, the tie-breaker.

“It’s Rose,” Peggy said. She smiled, and touched her stomach as it jumped. “Little Rosie is signaling that she’s pleased to meet you.”

“She has quite a kick. Look at that! How did you get a medical test to determine the sex?”

“Well, I just got back from the deep forest clinic, after waiting in line with the bears, the deer, and a couple of mama raccoons. No, silly. I just know it’s a girl, that’s all. And she’s anxious to get out.”

“We all are,” Belinda said, in a dismal tone. “We’re trapped in here because of people getting into power that had conflicts of interest—oil men for example, seeking to control oil-rich countries.” She stared at the board, then moved a black pawn forward one square. The set had hand-carved wooden pieces and a board of inlaid fossil ivory.

Belinda was always railing against particular political leaders, but Peggy didn’t completely agree with her point of view, which they had been debating during the game.

“It wasn’t all the fault of our leaders,” Peggy said now, responding to a diatribe by Belinda had just made against a series of U.S. presidents, who held power up to the time when the government collapsed and—pursued by angry mobs—went into hiding. “Global warming started long before they started passing the presidency around to each other,” Peggy added. “The American public knew about it back in the 1970s, but we as a people have been in denial, continuing to drive big cars and consume as if there were no limit to the resources of this planet.”

Shaking her head, Belinda said, “The politicians and their corporate cronies didn’t do enough to stop global warming, and mounted disinformation campaigns that were designed to confuse the public. Citing potential damage to the U.S. economy, a succession of American governments refused to enter into agreements with other nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take other environmental-protection actions. What a bunch of hooey. The politicians were using economic reasons as a smokescreen for what they wanted to do, what would line their pockets with greenbacks.”

“You seem to overlook facts that don’t support what you want to believe.”

“Such as?”

“Such as the fact that China, India, and other countries were exempted from any potential agreements. That isn’t right. Why should America join if China—with its huge rate of industrial growth—wasn’t participating?”

“The U.S. should have made itself an example for the world,” Belinda insisted. “A good one, instead of a bad one. I trace all of our problems back to our self-aggrandizing presidents and their cronies. Remember the two Iraq wars, fought for oil interests? And the trillion-dollar mineral deposits in Afghanistan—do you really think that had nothing to do with us sending our forces in there, and keeping them there?”

“I came here to play chess, not to solve all the problems of the world,” Peggy said, feeling increasingly irritated. Peggy’s own father and mother had been lifelong Republicans, working for state and national congressional candidates, so she had heard all the arguments at the dinner table.

“Have it your way,” Belinda said, with a tight smile. “But while you’re thinking of your next move, I’ll just say one more thing. The real war our country should have fought was against industrial and auto emissions. Now we’re fighting a different kind of a war, against Mother Nature … and we can’t defend ourselves against her power.”

Peggy castled her king, a defensive move. “I feel guilty for bringing Rosie into such a bleak world, but I can’t abort her.”

“You Republicans are all alike,” Belinda said. Quickly, she moved her queen across the board diagonally, an attack that paralleled the aggressiveness of her political arguments.

“I remember when snow was a beautiful thing,” Peggy said, ignoring the attempt to draw her into more debate. “I would have liked to have taken Rosie out to build a snowman, like in the old days … seeing her laugh at falling snowflakes and sled down a hill. Then in the spring, with the thawing of ice and snow, I would have shown her how to put seeds into the earth, all the wonder and magic of making young flower shoots come up from the ground.”

“The old days are gone forever.”

“At least we agree on that.”

“I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun,” Belinda said.

Peggy heard two raps at the door, and it swung open. Jimmy Hansik stood there holding two large bottles of wine, one in each hand. Abe Tojiko was right behind him.

“We were rifling through some lockers and there was this dirty lab coat on the bottom of one and it looked bulkier than it should have been and lifting it up, we found these bottles of champagne.”

Belinda took one of them from him, and studied the label. “A reserve Piper Heidsieck,” she said. “Expensive stuff, imported from France. Which locker?” She frowned, looking suddenly suspicious.

“One of them by the front stairway.”

“No name on the locker?” Belinda asked.

“Nope.”

“Hey, Peggy,” Abe said. He kneeled by her, examining the chess board. “Who’s winning?”

“Don’t ask.”

“No name on the lab coat?” Belinda asked.

Jimmy shrugged. “If there was, I sure didn’t see it. Besides, the locker was unlocked.”

Belinda frowned again. “Well, a lot of us never lock our lockers, and no one takes anything.”

“Until now,” Jimmy said. “Think of it this way. Whoever hid this stuff has been holding out on us.”

“He has a point,” Abe said. “The way this world is, who knows how long we have left, and we don’t want good champagne going to waste. Pop one open, Jimmy.”

Jimmy looked with utter glee at the bottle he still held, as if it was a big game trophy. He checked the door of the room, made sure it was closed. Putting the bottle between his knees, he removed the stopper with a loud “pop!” that startled Peggy, a noise that caused her baby to kick.

Foam gushed out of the bottle. “Whoa!” Jimmy said, putting his mouth around the opening. Then, lowering the bottle after the foam subsided, “Good stuff. Maybe I’ll keep this one for myself.”

“Hand it over,” Abe said. He glanced around. “Any glasses or cups in here?”

“No,” Belinda said. “Let’s just pass it around.” She set the unopened bottle on a table. “I suspect we’re going to get into this one, too.”

Abe took a long sip. “Mmmm.” He extended it toward Peggy.

“No thanks,” she said. “I have the baby to think about.”

“Oh, right. Probably not a good idea, because your nutritional status is already compromised.”

Abe handed the bottle over to Belinda, who swigged it like a wino on a park bench.

“You’re all drinking too fast,” Peggy said. “Slow down, or you’ll make yourselves sick.”

“She’s right,” Belinda said. She took a small sip and appeared to savor it, holding it in her mouth for a long time.

As Peggy watched her three friends share the first bottle and open the second, the drinkers began to relax and chat as if they had no troubles in the world. She felt good for them; this was an unexpected luxury, a chance for them to escape from all of the pressures. She began to take part in the banter, laughing with them and beginning to calm down herself, just a little.

“
In vino veritas,
” Peggy said, as she watched them share the second bottle. “In wine there is truth.”

“Don’t get serious on us,” Abe said. He was holding his wine pretty well, but Belinda was becoming quite giddy, and giggling more than talking.

After awhile, Abe said, looking wistfully at one of the wine bottles as he passed it to Belinda. “Maybe we should have shared this with the rest of the staff.”

“A little late for that,” Jimmy said. “Besides, how do we know who owns the stuff? If we’d gone public with it, who knows who would have said what?”

As Belinda drank more, her cheerful mood didn’t hold. She started to express anger toward Jimmy for his behavior, what she called his “attitude of entitlement,” in which he claimed to deserve the breaks, while no one else did. Peggy wasn’t sure what she meant by that or what had set her off. Jimmy continued to drink and ignored her.

“I can’t believe I slept with you,” Belinda finally said. “You self-centered maggot.”

That got his attention, and he hurled the nearly empty first bottle of champagne against a concrete wall, smashing the glass.

“I’m not used to this much alcohol,” Belinda said. She pushed the remaining champagne bottle away when Abe tried to hand it to her. “It’s been so long since I drank like this. I think I just need to be by myself for the rest of the evening.”

“Izzat an apology?” Jimmy asked, slurring his words.

“Not quite, maggot,” she said.

“Well, I don’ wanna be by myself,” Jimmy said. “As a matter of fact …” He reached around and tried to grope her chest, but she gave him a hard cuff on the cheek.

Undaunted, he leaned over and pressed his mouth against her neck in a sloppy kiss.

Again, she pushed him away, “No—” She got up and opened the door, unconsciously brushing her hair back.

Rising to her feet, Peggy said, “This party’s over.” She met Abe’s inquisitive gaze, saw the desire in his eyes. Seeing her look of disapproval, Abe broke his gaze with her.

In apparent disbelief, Jimmy looked at Belinda for a long minute, his eyes trying to focus on her, seemingly unaware of just how much the champagne was affecting him, too. At length, he got up, grabbed the unfinished bottle, and walked to the door, with Peggy and Abe following him into the corridor.

Jimmy tried to take a swig while he was walking, but stumbled and fell against a rack of laboratory glass that had not yet been put away. Flasks, beakers, and Petri dishes cascaded, breaking on the floor.

The champagne bottle went flying out of his hands and smashed into pieces—at Benitar Jackson’s feet.