Drought Read Online Free Page A

– at least we’ll be prepared for it.’
    â€˜I can’t do that, Martin. That really
is
restricted information. If it got into the wrong hands … believe me, it would be disastrous. All hell let loose. Some neighborhoods have much higher and more critical needs than others, and you can imagine the resentment if some were disconnected for a shorter period than others.’
    Martin didn’t know what to say to that. He looked across at Arlene again, but all Arlene could do was shrug. ‘Don’t see what else we can do, Martin. We’re here to keep families together and protect children from harm. Starting a riot isn’t going to help any.’
    Martin lifted his arm a little and Saskia released her grip on his watch strap.
    â€˜It was very good to meet you, Martin,’ she said. ‘Look – take one of my cards. If there’s anything else you need to know, just get in touch. Do you have any further questions for now?
    â€˜No,’ said Martin. ‘I don’t think so. Or – yes, maybe one. Can I ask you what qualifications you have? I mean, what does it take for somebody like you to be appointed to a drought crisis advisory team?’
    Saskia kept on looking at him unblinking and for quite a long time Martin thought that she wasn’t going to answer him, or else she was going to tell him to mind his own business.
    Instead, she said, ‘Good looks, Martin, and a natural flair for diplomacy. And a doctorate in environmental management from UCLA, that helped. And a law degree. And connections in some very high places.’
    â€˜I just wondered, that’s all,’ Martin told her. ‘I find it hard to picture you, when you were an innocent little girl, dreaming of telling everybody in California not to flush their toilets so often.’
    Saskia looked away from him, but as she did so, she said, ‘I was never an innocent little girl, Martin.’
    Martin hesitated. If this had been a cocktail bar, and he had been coming on to her, he could have thought of some smart and provocative response to that. But it was Arlene’s office, and Arlene was listening intently.
    He smiled at Saskia as if to say ‘
touché
’, and then he gave Arlene a salute and turned to leave. On his way out the pale man in the pale lemon shirt bobbed up from his chair and held out his hand.
    â€˜Lem Kunicki,’ he said. His palm was chilly and damp and Martin thought that it was like shaking hands with somebody who had recently died.

FOUR
    P eta put down the phone and went through to the sunlit living room, where Tyler was sprawled on the couch with his laptop, playing
Alien Armageddon IV.
    â€˜Tyler? I was just talking to your dad. He says the water’s going to be staying off for at least two days and we should stock up on as much bottled water as we can lay our hands on.’ Pause. Silence. ‘
Tyler
?’
    Tyler couldn’t hear her, with his headphones in his ears, and he kept on frantically playing.
    â€˜
Yessss
!’ he said, clenching his fist, as he blew up another alien cruiser.
    Peta went up to him and snapped his computer shut, catching his fingers in it. He looked up at her in hurt and astonishment, as if she had just slapped him.
    â€˜
Mom
– what did you do that for?’ he protested, taking out his headphones. ‘I was up to my highest level ever!’
    â€˜I need you to run an errand for me, that’s why.’
    â€˜Oh,
shoot
, Mom, can’t it wait? That was my highest level ever!’
    â€˜Your dad says we should do it as soon as we can.’
    â€˜Oh, I see! My
dad
says! I thought you didn’t even
like
my dad.’
    â€˜Of course I like him. As a matter of fact I love him, but that doesn’t make him any easier to live with. He says our water’s going to stay cut off for at least forty-eight hours and some expert from the water department has told him to stock up on bottled water, as