The Everest Files

by Matt Dickinson

  ‘He’s alive?’

  ‘Yeah, we got an email from Kathmandu this morning,’ he replied, ‘he’s through the worst of it, sitting up and eating like a pig if I know him.’

  Kami laughed out loud at the thought.

  ‘It was fluid on the lung,’ Tenzing continued, matter of fact, ‘You were right to bring him down, it’s been touch and go.’

  ‘When will they let him out?’

  ‘Soon. A few days’ more recovery and that’ll be it. They’ll put him on a flight into Lukla.’

  Lukla! The expedition would be there in five days, Kami knew. If all went well he could be reunited with Jamling before the week was out. It was a wonderful thought.

  The news of Jamling’s successful recovery gave Kami a huge boost.

  Jamling was better! Alive and well. The good news about his mentor seemed to put everything in a new perspective and Kami felt himself re-energised both physically and psychologically as the team continued the journey out of the highlands.

  Over the following two days the expedition finally left the world of rock and ice and re-entered a richer domain of vegetation, flowers and crops.

  For two months they had been living in an environment with an incredibly limited range of smells. Now they delighted in the rich aromas of these lower altitude pastures; in the perfume of edelweiss and oleander, the delicate, loamy scent of earth, and the homely smell of baking chapattis leaking from the kitchens of the yak herders huts.

  ‘Grass! I never thought I’d get off on the smell of grass!’ Sasha said with a ringing peal of laughter, sniffing the ground theatrically at the lunch stop and playing the clown.

  Then it was back on the trail, the sentinel peak of Ama Dablam becoming visible for the first time as they passed through the gated barrier of the Sagarmatha National Park.

  Tenzing called a halt to the trek just after 4 p.m. that day and the camp was erected as usual.

  Kami was kept busy; Lopsang had him peel a mound of potatoes and then he was sent to buy some firewood and eggs. Finally, as darkness fell over the camp, Tenzing asked him to take two jerrycans down to the river to fill up with water. Kami did as he was asked and, by chance, his path back through camp took him past Sasha’s tent.

  As he walked alongside it she called to him.

  ‘Hey, Kami, how’s it going with you?’

  Kami came to the opening of the tent.

  ‘I’m OK,’ he told her.

  ‘Come on in,’ she told him. ‘But take your boots off.’

  Kami unlaced his boots and left them in the foyer. Then he manoeuvred himself into the tent, sitting next to her on the soft surface of a sleeping bag. The tent was filled with a gentle glow and he saw that she had lit a night light and placed it in a glass holder.

  ‘I love candles,’ she told him. ‘They make me calm.’

  Sasha brought out a Thermos flask.

  ‘Would you like some tea?’

  Kami nodded and she filled a plastic mug with the sweet fluid.

  ‘I heard about Jamling,’ she continued, ‘sounds like he’s going to pull through fine.’

  ‘Yes. Really good news,’ Kami replied as he sipped the delicious tea. ‘He’s a great man.’

  ‘I hope it cheered you up. You’ve been looking pretty miserable for a guy that just summitted Everest.’

  Kami felt his guts turn over. It made him nervous to think he could be read so easily.

  ‘Lots of things on my mind,’ he told her.

  ‘Want to share them with me?’ she asked casually. ‘You know you can talk to me as a friend.’

  ‘I don’t know … ’ Kami stammered, ‘Maybe now is not the moment.’

  ‘Why not? I just sense this deep unhappiness in you, Kami, and I really think it would do you good just to talk to someone.’

  Kami took a deep breath. Was this the moment? Was it right that he pour out his problems to this American girl? He felt an overbearing desire to spill out his miseries and fears.

  But before he could start to talk he heard footsteps crunching across the frosted grass and he knew it would be Brennan before he even looked out of the front of the tent.

  ‘Knock knock,’ the boss said. He kneeled in front of the tent and handed Sasha a small box. ‘Returning your headphones.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Kami guessed that Alex had spotted him slipping into Sasha’s tent. Returning the headphones was just a ruse to see what was happening.

  ‘I’ll see you later.’ Kami told Sasha. He slipped on his boots.

  ‘Oh, OK.’

  Kami walked across the field towards the mess tent but Brennan was waiting for him; ‘What’s going on between you and Sasha?’ he snapped.

  Brennan’s headtorch was shining right into Kami’s face but he made no effort to switch it off. Behind that blazing beam Kami could feel the American’s eyes boring into him in the most intrusive way.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Kami managed to stammer. He felt his face flush scarlet.

  ‘I don’t know. You tell me,’ Brennan continued brusquely, ‘Just thought there was an … atmosphere between you two in that tent.’

  ‘No, sir. Not at all.’

  ‘Don’t humour me!’ Brennan hissed, suddenly more openly angry than Kami had seen him, ‘I’ve seen the weird way she looks at you.’

  ‘She’s friendly to me,’ Kami muttered, ‘that’s all.’

  ‘What does she want from you, Kami? That’s what I don’t understand.’

  ‘Nothing, sir. Just talking.’

  Brennan leaned in close to Kami. His words were measured, packing serious punch;

  ‘One thing you have to understand,’ he told Kami slowly, as if talking to an imbecile, ‘anything you tell her will appear on the front page of a newspaper in the United States within twenty-four hours. You might think you can tell her things in confidence but that would be the biggest mistake of your life, Kami. You cannot trust her for a single second.’

  ‘But … ’

  ‘You must not talk to her about what happened on the summit ridge. Not one word. Not even if she swears that it’s just a conversation between two friends. Is that clear?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘I’m disappointed,’ Brennan continued, ‘I thought I could trust her but now I’m not so sure.’

  ‘Don’t say bad things about her!’ Kami hissed. ‘Please! I don’t want to hear this any more.’

  Kami turned and ran blindly out of the camp, heading for the Dudh Kosi river. At the banks he paced back and forth, half wanting to go back and tell Sasha everything, half wanting to run and run through the night until he reached his village and Shreeya’s embrace.

  Confusion and mixed emotions buzzed in his head. He wanted to be loyal to Alex. But at the same time he wanted the truth to come out. He walked up and down the river bank in a daze, hardly caring where he ended up, lost in a miserable world of his own.

  When the bell went for supper Kami decided to skip it.

  The last thing he wanted to do was sit in that claustrophobic tent with its secrets and atmospheres and Brennan’s constant stare.

  It was more than he could bear.

  The retreat continued, down past the village of Pangboche and then onto the steep zigzag trail for the five-hour trek to Khumjung. The pace was slowed by continuous snow, the track churned up into a muddy mush which drained the yaks of all their strength and filled the climbers’ boots with freezing slush.

  Then a message arrived for Kami – the mail runner had returned from his village and had a letter for him.

  He ripped it open with trembling fingers, scarcely daring to read it.

  It was short and absolutely to the point.

  Kami,

  I accept the money and absolve you of the marriage pact.

  Chandra

  K
ami’s heart thumped with joy to read those simple words. The one-line letter represented a whole new life for him and Shreeya.

  He had done it.

  They were free! After all the years of stress, of longing and frustration it had finally happened – the marriage pact was over and the future was theirs to decide.

  A great wave of euphoria ran through him; he wanted to run and jump, to shout the news from the rooftops, to tell each and every one of the Sherpas about this great thing that had happened.

  But he was shy to do it, so instead he ran through the village and made his way to the shrine that sat outside the local monastery.

  He had to sweep snow off the top to begin the devotion but soon he was chanting a series of prayers to just about every god he could think of. The words tumbled out of him, a string of mantras honouring the great powers.

  As the prayers ended, he took the shrine bell from his pocket, intending to ring it to end the puja.

  But, as he held the tiny bell in his hands, a curious feeling of melancholy overwhelmed him and he hesitated to ring it.

  Suddenly his mood crashed; he felt small and lost. He still had not resolved that big question. How to tell Shreeya that he had NOT placed the bell on the summit.

  Would she understand? Probably yes, he decided. But that was not the end of the issue; it was the GODS who had to accept the story and Kami was not at all sure that they would. The whole idea had been to place the bell on the summit to gain the blessing of the gods for their union.

  But, somehow, it had not happened. So nearly, but not quite. And Kami wasn’t at all sure what that meant.

  And what the implications would be for the future.

  Kami never rang the bell. Chastened, he walked slowly back through the village where he found Kurt looking for him.

  ‘Come with me,’ Kurt told him. ‘I’ve got something I want you to hear.’

  Kami instantly feared the worst, that some sort of confrontation was in the offing as he was taken to the Westerners’ mess tent.

  As it happened he was offered a cup of cocoa and Kurt made an announcement. ‘I’ve got an idea. I’m wondering if we should take Kami back to the States with us.’

  The words hung in the air for a beat or two before the table reacted.

  ‘Excellent!’ Sasha clapped her hands in delight. ‘That’s a great idea!’

  ‘What’s your thinking, Kurt?’ Brennan asked him in a cool tone.

  Kurt sipped at his Thermos cup of tea and smiled warmly at Kami.

  ‘He’s an important part of the story.’

  ‘Too right he is!’ Sasha exclaimed.

  ‘I mean the two of you made it to the top together,’ Kurt continued, ‘and I reckon it might be kind of neat if the two of you do some publicity together.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’ Brennan nodded briskly.

  ‘It’ll enrich the story. It’s kind of heartwarming don’t you think? I can just see the two of you on breakfast TV, telling it how it was up there on the summit ridge. The two of you achieving that ultimate dream!’

  ‘That is genius!’ Sasha chimed, ‘the papers will love it, the magazines, everyone. It’s the whole human dimension of the ascent. How the two of you started off hardly knowing each other and ended up as fellow summiteers and best buddies.’

  ‘Survivors of the storm,’ Kurt added with no little satisfaction. ‘The voters will love it!’

  Brennan was staring at his expedition manager with a glassy kind of look. His expression was inscrutable.

  ‘What do you reckon Kami?’ Kurt fired at him.

  Kami studied his hands and wondered if he was hearing right.

  Travel to the USA? Go on television? Talk to rooms full of people? It was a mind-blowing idea, specially coming so quickly after the news about the marriage pact.

  He knew this was an exceptional offer and he did not doubt for a moment that it was genuine. Kami had met other Sherpas who had been invited to the West by their trekking and climbing clients.

  Their lives enriched. Their worlds expanded.

  Then he thought of something;

  ‘I have no passport,’ he told them.

  ‘That’s no problem,’ Kurt dismissed this with a casual wave of his hand, ‘I have people who can fix that. Book you a flight and get you out to the States.’

  Kami felt his heart racing with the possibilities, this was truly a once in a lifetime thing.

  Could he push his luck? Ask them if he could bring Shreeya too? For a sudden blinding instant he saw a whole universe of new worlds opening up for them both.

  Then he locked eyes with Brennan for that split second. And he saw that look and it crushed all hope dead. It was the look he had come to know all too well; the warning flash that told him not to overstep the mark, to move back behind the walls they had erected … around the lie.

  Kami hung his head. Shut his mouth and swallowed the words he had been about to utter.

  ‘Don’t you think it might get a bit … complicated?’ Brennan ventured, ‘I mean there’s the question of a visas and immigration. It might not be as easy as you think to get him in. Homeland security and all that.’

  ‘Get out of here!’ Sasha gave him a withering look. ‘You can sort that in the blink of an eye.’

  ‘I thought you’d be delighted with the idea,’ Kurt said in a hurt tone. ‘You’ve always fought for the ethnic vote. People will love the fact that this Sherpa guy became your friend.’

  ‘It’s OK,’ Kami got to his feet as he understood what he had to do. ‘I cannot go anyway.’

  ‘Can’t go?’ Sasha asked him. ‘Why ever not?’

  ‘My family need me here,’ he told them, ‘there are fields to be ploughed. Potatoes to be harvested. They cannot do without me.’

  Kurt and Sasha began to protest but Kami stood and left the table.

  He quit the lodge and ran down the alley towards the river. A few moments later he heard footsteps behind him, Sasha’s voice calling for him to stop.

  ‘That was weird,’ Sasha said. ‘It was, like, you were all up for it and your eyes were shining and then, then you looked at Alex and that light in your eyes went off. It just died. And I saw it.’

  ‘That’s not it,’ Kami told her urgently, ‘I remembered my duties, that’s all.’

  Sasha put her hand on Kami’s shoulder, spun him gently so he was forced to look her in the face, into those cool green eyes.

  ‘What’s happening, Kami? What’s happening between you and Alex?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Kami tried to break away but she continued to hold his shoulder and he could not escape her gaze.

  ‘There’s this terrible atmosphere building up between the two of you. You can cut it with a knife, Kami. Even Kurt’s starting to pick up on it.’

  ‘Everything is fine.’

  Sasha fixed him with her most sceptical look.

  ‘I don’t think so. Please tell me about it, Kami, you can trust me as a friend.’

  That’s exactly what Brennan told me she would say, Kami thought.

  ‘It’s not so easy,’ he mumbled. ‘Please, I have to go back to the others, I have work to do for Tenzing.’

  Sasha’s expression changed as a new thought suddenly hit her; a new realisation.

  ‘Something happened up there on the mountain didn’t it?’

  Kami hurried away, desperate to escape the encounter. Sasha ran after him.

  ‘Kami, tell me. Please.’

  Kami shook his head and walked away into the village.

  From that point on, during the final two days of the walk out to Lukla, Kami lived with his nerves on a hair trigger of nervous anticipation.

  They made it down to Namche, then continued down the precipitous valley side. Then came the suspension bridge crossings and a night at Dughla before the final triumphant haul up to Lukl
a, where the expedition pulled into the garden of the Khumbu lodge exactly eight weeks and six days after it had left.

  ‘Just to let you know, the boss will be giving out the bonuses at the party tomorrow night,’ Tenzing told the Sherpa team with some relish.

  That news caused a ripple of excitement amongst Lopsang and the others but Kami felt nothing. He had already paid the debt he needed to pay and all he wanted to do was to get out of that place and return to his village and Shreeya.

  But there was still work to do and he could not shirk his responsibilities to Tenzing.

  A determined snowfall began early the next day, feathery flakes settling contentedly on wooden shingle roofs and drifting into the alleyways of Lukla. There were no flights out of the airstrip. The little town felt hushed and closed down.

  Every time Sasha came within sight he tried to make himself scarce but the town was a small one and he couldn’t hide forever. As it was, she tracked him down in the equipment store and asked to speak; ‘I got an email from my editor this morning,’ she told him. ‘Some famous climber contacted him to say he thought the summit picture of Alex was a fake. He said the rock in the background matched a place lower down the ridge.’

  Kami said nothing. This was it. The moment he had feared above all.

  ‘Is that true, Kami? Tell me.’

  Kami watched clouds racing around the jagged profiles of nearby peaks. He had the sense that he was going into freefall, that the ground would surely swallow him up for this unforgiveable breach of confidence.

  Then something snapped inside. He couldn’t hold it any more;

  ‘We never reached the top,’ Kami told her in a rush. ‘You are right. The summit photo was a lie.’

  Sasha’s face went white as she thought this through.

  ‘Oh my god.’

  ‘Yes. I am so sorry for deceiving everyone.’

  Sasha took Kami’s hand and he held her tight. There was a touching connection between them in that moment, as if she was trying to convey to him that she meant him no harm.

  ‘Kami. This is really important. Was it your idea to do that? To fake the picture?’

  The truth. It had to be truth from now on.

  ‘No,’ he told her softly. ‘It was not my idea.’