Holy Water (40 page)

Already with Maya he
’
s neck-deep in the muck of expectations and consequences, already contemplating the extent of the wounds that are sure to come, even though he and Maya have yet to kiss. The difference here is that despite his anxiety and low expectations, he is willing to go through with it anyway.

One magnificent thunderhead rumbles over the peaks before crashing through the valley like an avalanche, rattling windows and sweeping the night away on a sonic wave. He opens his laptop
and turns it on. As the application icons slowly reveal themselves onscreen—the colorful stamp-sized globes and cameras, calendars, gears, and guitars that coordinate so much of his life—he thinks he has never felt more disconnected, more doomed to fail, more convinced that he does not belong in a place than he feels now. Yet when he peeks over the top of the flickering screen and sees Maya, legs kicking in drunken REM at an antagonist of her unconscious, he decides that it doesn
’
t matter.

~ * ~

In New York, Meredith immediately responds to his e-mail, the subject heading of which reads
“
Is Kevlar a Billable Expense?
”

She writes, after updating him on the latest round of layoffs, defaulted loans, and corporate misdemeanors, that she will research what he is proposing and get back to him ASAP with everything she can find about their company
’
s green and sustainable practices, including a full dossier on Happy Mountain Springs and Pat and Audrey.

And this time, rather than ending with her usual sarcastic sign-off, she writes,
“
Sounds interesting and potentially worthwhile, Tuhoe. In fact, this wins my Least Offensive E-mail of the Day Award.
”

~ * ~

At 1:45 a.m. he decides to do something about the telephone lines. Maya
’
s right. He can ask the prince to help, but he decides that it is more prudent to save his royal favors for the greater good of the project, or simply to save his ass. Instead, after digging up the man
’
s royal business card, he e-mails the minister of future commerce and tears into him, threatening him with his own deepening relationship with the prince and the prince
’
s high hopes and unflagging interest in the project. It would be a shame, Henry concludes, to have a simple misunderstanding between well-intentioned colleagues undermine the prince and his grand plan and cause him so much duress at this critical juncture in the nation
’
s history.

If this doesn
’
t work, he tells himself, pushing Send, then I absolutely will speak to the little bastard in person.

~ * ~

Even at two a.m., Madden, not surprisingly, is up and awake. He answers his sat-phone before the second ring.
“
At this hour, whatever you
’
re up to better involve sex, drugs, or immortality.
”

“
Nope. Water.
”
Henry gets directly to the point and asks for Madden
’
s help connecting him and perhaps brokering a deal with the people who distribute the LifeStraw.

“
I can set something up tomorrow,
”
Madden replies.
“
Tonight, if you
’
re really fired up about saving the world.
”

“
Can
’
t. I have a
playdate
with the prince tomorrow.
”

“
Then day after. I
’
ll pick you up.
”

“
Thanks. I owe you.
”

“
Duly noted.
”

~ * ~

As soon as he hangs up, he immerses himself in the work he and Maya had been outlining all day. Part social manifesto, part business plan. Part Maya, part Henry. He goes online and pulls quotes and headlines, statistics, images, and video clips. He researches desalinization plants, reverse filtration membranes, aquifer depletion, and deep-earth river disputes. He investigates UNICEF and the Tap Project and Charity: Water. He becomes fluent in the Walmart effect (in which big-box stores appear in remote third world regions and eliminate the culturally invaluable mom-and-pops), and the impact of upstream waste on downstream village wells in rural India, and the five most deadly waterborne diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms known to man.

He employs the personality archetypes of Joseph Campbell to demonstrate desirable brand attributes.

He quotes from Robert Frost
’
s poem
“
Going for Water
”
:

The well was dry beside the door,

And so we went with pail and can . . .

He uses Ben & Jerry
’
s sustainability programs as a case study.

~ * ~

Through the template magic of Keynote a deck begins to emerge—
“
Happy Mountain Springs: The Purity Flows Through Us All
”
— that makes more strategic and ethical and monetary sense than he ever could have hoped for.

~ * ~

Halfway through the working night, on a whim, he clicks on the icon for his music library. And it
’
s there. Every song and playlist, miraculously restored. He stands, backs away from the computer, and walks to the window. The rain has stopped, and wet dirt lots of the empty neighborhood have taken on a moonlit gloss.

It
’
s a sign.

Of course it
’
s not, you wack job.

It
’
s weather.

It
’
s a miracle.

No, it
’
s a wonky computer.

~ * ~

Back at the kitchen table, he scrolls back and forth through it all, stopping to consider favorites as if looking at photos of loved ones. Having so many songs at your fingertips is amazing, but there are times, like now, when he wishes there were a more tangible aspect to the digital music.

Something to touch, or read, or clean your weed on.

To avoid waking Maya, he puts on his headphones before pushing Shuffle.

Here
’
s what comes up:
“
Smile Like You Mean It
”
by the Killers.

~ * ~

At 5:30 a.m. he finishes his final sentence, clicks Save, and e-mails a copy of the file to Meredith. Then, as a wild-card entry, he sends a copy to Norman, his Percocet-addicted former personal trainer and aspiring viral filmmaker.
“
Read this,
”
he writes.
“
Then make a film about it. Something that would make a group of sociopathic,
egomaniacal corporate
muckety
-mucks want to implement it. Whatever you want, as long as it
’
s three minutes or less.
”

Upstairs in the guest room/home office, he turns on the complimentary laser printer and spits out two sets after it has warmed up. He fans through the pages, stopping twice to read a particularly satisfying paragraph or look at the hard copy of a downloaded image.

It
’
s good. With feedback and input from Meredith and Maya, and encouraging news on the LifeStraw from Madden, it might be good enough for the likes of Giffler and Dworik, Pat and Audrey.

Back downstairs, he places one deck on the table next to Maya
’
s car keys. He stares at her for a moment. Outside, the sun is starting to backlight the mountains, and the rising cream glow enters the room like a ghost through the wall of a dream.

~ * ~

When he wakes up two hours later, Maya is gone.

The deck is gone too.

Next to the laptop is an empty water glass that wasn
’
t there when he went to bed. He touches the space bar and the Recently Added section of his music library appears onscreen. At the head of the section is a track called
“
Water Music.
”
The artist is listed as Maya. It
’
s a pop song, in the
rigsar
genre, a fusion of Indian, Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Galadonian music old and new, featuring a fifteen-string electronic version of the
dranyen
.

Even though he can
’
t understand a word of it and the melody is a little more techno-driven than what he normally prefers, in a strange way he kind of likes it.

~ * ~

Mister Henry

Shug is in the driveway at nine a.m. He
’
s chatting with Madison Ellison, who has picked up her wet plastic-wrapped newspaper and is fussing with the dried-up buds on a rhododendron near her mailbox.

Henry hadn
’
t planned on it, but it occurs to him that Madison Ellison might be worth talking to.

“
I hear you
’
re meeting with the prince today,
”
she says after an exchange of matter-of-fact hellos in this most improbable of locales.

“
I am. In fact, if you have a minute, before Shug and I leave, I
’
d love to run something by you.
”

~ * ~

They walk into her house, leaving Shug fidgeting against the truck in the driveway. At her kitchen counter, he walks her through the deck in broad strokes.

When Henry is done, Madison Ellison, who knows her way around a multimedia presentation, says,
“
Interesting. The sustain-ability card. What exactly do you want from me?
”

Henry shrugs.
“
An opinion. Some advice. Your take on what the prince will make of it.
”

“
Well, you
’
re not a client, but since the prince is and this ultimately could ladder up to his ultimate yet—off the record—almost certainly unattainable goal, I
’
ll tell you what I think. I think it
’
s
ambitious, and though it
’
s a bit rough around the edges, it is well intentioned, well stated, and, most important, well reasoned.
”

“
Say I get approvals on my side and we
’
re able to cut a deal with the LifeStraw people. Do you think it has a chance?
”

She steps back and considers Henry, then the open presentation deck on the countertop.
“
For anything to have a chance with the prince, the first thing you have to do is make it seem as if it is
his
idea. His royal lightning strike of inspiration. Even if you know and he knows deep down that this isn
’
t true, for appearance
’
s sake, you have to serve it up to him just so.
”

“
Okay.
”

“
And what you also have working in your favor is the fact that right now he
’
s desperate. He
’
ll consider any proposition thrown his way if it will somehow trigger some momentum and resurrect interest in this place. To lessen, if not stop, the bleeding. Every day it seems as if another multinational is either scaling back or reneging on its promise to be part of his master plan. Look at this development. Six months ago it was all systems go. Trucks filled with workers and materials were coming in and out of here every ten minutes. Then things started falling apart in the States, then in the banks in Europe, and then here in USAVille. In the Shangri-La Zone. And now they
’
re—no offense to you and me—ghost towns.
”