Surviving Antarctica

by Andrea White

  “Survival is no child’s game,” Steve said.

  Before he had time to say more, lights flashed, and Chad pulled him through the crowd.

  “Mr. Michael will hold a press conference later,” Chad said over his shoulder. “But now he needs to get some food and rest.”

  37

  THE PRESIDENT SAT behind her desk in the Oval Office. She wore a purple suit and purple lipstick. Steve knew that she was seventy years old, but her face looked younger. He had heard that she had paid outrageous fees to grow new skin.

  Now that Steve had had a good night’s rest and was cleaned up, he felt as if he had brand-new skin, too.

  An aide stood with him in the doorway, waiting for the President to acknowledge them.

  Steve had great respect for the President, but he also knew that running a government crippled by deficits was next to impossible. Neither her courage nor her worries showed in her face. She looked like an ordinary middle-aged woman.

  The aide cleared his throat loudly.

  “Ah, Mr. Michael,” the President said when she looked up. “Come in.”

  The aide let go of his arm, and Steve walked into the room.

  “I’m sorry that we didn’t find you sooner, but I’m glad to have the chance for a chat,” the President said.

  Steve nodded. “Madame President.”

  “Please sit down.”

  Steve sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

  The President stared into his eyes. “I’ll come right to the point.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” It seemed incredible to him that the President was giving him even five minutes of her time.

  “To reduce the crime rate and to distract ourselves from the pain of our poverty, we have become a nation of viewers.” She paused. “But not you. On behalf of all of America, I want to thank you for taking action.”

  Steve didn’t know what to say. The President of the United States had just thanked him. He wished that his family were alive and could be with him now.

  “Do you know how much the Secretary spent on Antarctic Historical Survivor?”

  Steve shook his head.

  “Over one hundred million dollars,” the President said. “Outrageous! I’m going to make it my business to see that we never waste so much on so little again.”

  Steve’s anger at the Secretary helped him to overcome his shyness. “What’s going to happen to the Secretary?”

  “I’ve disagreed with the Secretary on many issues for a long time. But you have to understand that there are limits even to a President’s power.” The President’s solemn face broke into a broad grin. “I’m pleased to report, however, that Congress has started an investigation.”

  Steve had read about congressional investigations in the newspapers. Once, various members of Congress had asked a former CEO over 6,000,000 questions, and the same question 250,000 times. But in Steve’s opinion, being bored by Congress was not enough punishment for the Secretary. “What about the corneal implants? The kids didn’t know about those. Didn’t she break the law?”

  “When they applied to be on Historical Survivor, the kids and their parents signed a release.”

  “But how can that be fair?”

  “The implants were legal,” the President said simply.

  Steve felt his face fall. He was happy that the Secretary had lost her job and was under congressional investigation. She was a bad person. But eventually congressional investigations ended, and Steve guessed that the Secretary would talk her way into another job.

  “We are taking some action, however,” the President said, as though she had sensed his disappointment. She paused. “I’ve asked your friend Chad to tell you about the Secretary’s other troubles. While you’ve been unavailable, I’ve met with him.”

  Chad? What had Chad talked to the President about?

  “We’ll talk some more later, but I wanted to ask you if you’d help me greet the kids and their parents.”

  “Sure,” Steve said.

  “They’re landing at the air force base this afternoon, at five o’clock. I’d like you to come with me.”

  So much was happening so fast. “That would be great.”

  “In that case”—the President signaled to one of her aides—“see that Steve gets a Presidential pass.”

  “Thank you,” he said.

  The President of the United States stood up and shook Steve’s hand. “I’ll see you in the helicopter.”

  As Steve was escorted out the front door of the White House, he carefully put his pass in his shirt pocket. He was more excited than he used to be on Christmas mornings. In a short while, he would meet three of the kids!

  Outside the gate, he found Chad and Pearl waiting for him. Pearl didn’t have her broom, and someone had styled her hair. As always, her eyes were downcast.

  “The President mentioned—” Steve began.

  “We have to talk,” Chad interrupted. “I didn’t have time to tell you everything yesterday.”

  “When?” Steve asked.

  “How about right now?” Chad said.

  Steve sat across from Chad and Pearl at a coffee shop around the corner from the White House. He sipped his coffee and waited.

  “When you learned Pearl’s story, you didn’t ask a key question,” Chad said.

  What was Chad talking about?

  “With all the blood and gore of World War I Historical Survivor, how did the Secretary ever witness Pearl’s act of kindness?”

  Chad was right. Steve hadn’t thought about that.

  “Well, it’s simple, really.” Chad stirred his coffee. “I was the head of the day shift then. Pearl was my assistant. The Secretary had these digicameras that she wanted to try out. Pearl was a guinea pig for one of the earliest models.”

  Steve looked at Pearl, stunned.

  “The early models were crude. Incapable of picking up voices. The scenes they relayed were like silent movies.”

  Looking at Pearl across the table, Steve realized that he had never seen her eyes.

  “When that soldier crawled to her, Pearl probably forgot about the implant. All she saw was the suffering of another human being. But unwittingly she broadcast the entire scene to the editing room. The images weren’t as clear as the ones today, but I stood next to the Secretary as she watched the intervention on a monitor: Pearl leaning down to give the soldier a cup of water. The blood on the man’s forehead. His chapped lips moving to say ‘Thank you.’”

  Chad’s voice rose. “And later I saw the Secretary shout at Pearl. Then two beefy goons appeared.

  “I saw them pound Pearl.” Chad’s voice broke. “I waited as they held her in isolation and denied her food, day after day. I knew that I should try to help her. But I was a coward. I am a coward.” He grimaced, and Steve remembered Chad’s scared face in the editing room when he insisted that Steve go home and leave Andrew in the crevasse.

  “I feared that they’d do the same thing to me—so I just waited.” Chad looked over at Pearl, who was staring down at the table. “I know she’s forgiven me for this, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me to live with myself.” He sighed.

  “Of course, after it was too late, I rescued Pearl and took her to a hospital. Her appearance had changed so much that she didn’t need a disguise when I brought her back to work. I just told her to keep her eyes on her broom. Shortly after that, I was transferred to the night shift. That’s why the Secretary has left the night shift alone all these years. She knows that I have something on her, but because I’ve never spoken out, she’s assumed that we had a deal. I guess we did, of sorts.”

  So that was why Chad had been able to get him transferred so easily, Steve thought.

  “I never had the guts to stand up to the Secretary, but to try to make it up to Pearl, the night crew and I engaged in minor acts of sabotage. That is, until you joined us, Steve.”

  No one said anything for a minute, but Steve felt sure that Chad was trying to thank him.

&n
bsp; “So what does this mean?” Steve said.

  “I saved Pearl’s tape,” Chad said. “I have it all. I didn’t think that the day would ever come when I could use it. If I had given it to the police earlier, the Secretary would have talked her way out of the crime. You were a little boy when the Urban Trash Wars were raging, so you may not remember. When the Secretary took over the DOE and started better programming, the wars virtually came to an end. She was a national hero.

  “But now …” Chad smiled. “Thanks to you, we’ve got her. Taking you on was the best decision that I’ve made in twenty years.”

  Steve just nodded, but he felt proud. He had been scared, too, but he had acted anyway.

  Chad patted Pearl’s arm. “You’ve waited a long time, Pearl, but justice is yours.” He faced Steve again. “I’ve discussed Pearl’s case with the President. She gave the tape to the police. They’re already prosecuting the Secretary for assault and battery. After all, the police have an open-and-shut case. It’s all on the Secretary’s own tape.” He paused. “Show him your eye, Pearl.”

  Pearl looked up at Steve. Her gray hair framed a sad face, but her eyes were the clearest blue. It was unmistakable. Right in the middle of her left pupil, a clear glass lens shone.

  Steve had to look away. “Why didn’t you”—he searched for the right word—“remove that awful device?”

  Chad shrugged. “The early models were tricky to implant and difficult to remove. Pearl had suffered so much …” He took a sip of coffee. “Are you going with the President to meet the kids’ plane?”

  Steve nodded.

  “So in just a little while you’ll get to see them?”

  Steve nodded again. He couldn’t wait.

  They grinned at each other across the table.

  “Well, you proved it,” Chad said.

  “Proved what?” Steve stirred his coffee.

  Chad’s face was solemn. “That the time hasn’t passed.”

  Without asking, Steve understood what time Chad was talking about. Steve knew that he had made a difference, and it was the best feeling in the world.

  38

  THE HELICOPTER THAT was carrying Steve and the President was the length of five cars. It whizzed over the crowded city toward the air force base.

  After greeting Steve, the President had begun talking on her cell phone. Steve caught an occasional phrase, such as “free trade” or “religious wars.” Mostly his attention was fixed on the people sitting in traffic below while two Secret Service men, on either side of the President, glared at him.

  Finally the helicopter passed over the barbed-wire fence of the base. The parking lot was packed. Thousands of people were waiting outside the fence to see the kids land.

  The helicopter started its descent.

  The President closed her cell phone and looked at Steve. “Grace and Robert have almost reached the Pole,” she said.

  “They’ll be the first kids to make it to the Pole on their own, won’t they?” Steve said.

  “Yes,” the President said with a heavy sigh. “The world needs brave deeds now more than ever.”

  Abruptly, the propellers stopped.

  A Secret Service woman opened the door.

  “We’ll escort the President to the runway, and then you can follow,” one of the Secret Service men inside the helicopter said to Steve.

  Steve peered out the window at the crowd.

  Security surrounded the President as she walked toward the runway.

  Looking out the window, Steve saw a crowd of demonstrators outside the fenced runway. One little girl, her cheeks streaked with dust, hoisted a sign that said, ALL KIDS DESERVE AN EDUCATION.

  A boy about Steve’s age was carrying two oversized dice stuffed into a trash can. TRASH THE GREAT EDU-DICE TOSS was written in big letters on the side of the can.

  A woman held up a sign with the words GIVE OUR KIDS A FUTURE superimposed over images of the faces of the Antarctic Historical Survivor kids.

  The pilot called back to Steve: “They’ve given me the signal. You can get out now.”

  Steve walked down the stairs onto the tarmac.

  Someone shouted, “That’s Birdie Bowers!”

  Steve heard the name Birdie Bowers called out again and again. It was fitting, almost two centuries after his death, that a brave man’s name had become alive once more.

  Steve passed a special area on the other side of the fence marked PRESS. The reporters seemed to lunge for him.

  “Mr. Michael, can we talk to you?” a voice demanded.

  “My newspaper will pay for an interview!”

  Steve ignored the shouts and kept walking toward the President, who was surrounded by a group of aides. He walked up to her.

  “I’ll greet the kids,” the President said. “Then you may.”

  “Now, if you’ll excuse us,” an aide said to Steve, “we’ll take photos with the kids and the President first, then we’ll get a photo of you together.”

  A different staffer took hold of Steve’s elbow and directed him off to the side: “Stand here.”

  A big plane with the emblem of the U.S. government came into view.

  From the loudspeakers came the strains of “God Bless America.”

  The plane descended and came to a stop twenty yards away. Steve stared at the plane windows, trying in vain to catch a glimpse of one of the contestants. He found it strange that he knew so much about the three of them, and they so little about him.

  A group of men dressed in bright-orange suits rushed a set of stairs to the plane.

  A long drumroll came from the loudspeakers.

  A cleaned-up Billy walked down the steps first. His face looked tense, as though he expected to be booed. But when a kid in the crowd shouted “Hurrah!” he raised a bag of Chocobombs, and the crowd outside the fence roared.

  Billy grinned and kept walking down the flight of stairs.

  Polly wore a short black skirt. She had pulled her hair back in a ponytail. She was just visible at the top of the stairs when the crowd started cheering.

  Polly burst into tears and hid her face with the book she was carrying.

  Behind her, Andrew hobbled down. He had a crutch under one arm. Even at this distance his face looked drawn and white. One foot was swathed in a bright-green bandage, and Steve wondered if the doctors had had to amputate his toes after all. It was only then that Steve realized how close Andrew had come to dying. He felt tears choke his throat.

  Andrew smiled such a sweet smile that Steve wanted to hug him.

  Then Andrew’s dad started down the steps. The sight of the large crowd stopped him.

  A few people booed. From the interviews of Mr. Morton that Steve had seen on EduTV, he hadn’t liked the man, either.

  Two stewards carried Mrs. Pritchard down the stairs in a wheelchair.

  Mr. and Mrs. Kanalski followed. Mr. Kanalski had a big grin on his face. Mrs. Kanalski was crying into her handkerchief.

  Billy reached the bottom of the stairs. He walked over to the President as if he had known her all his life.

  The President shook Billy’s hand and congratulated him.

  Lights flashed, and Billy grinned.

  Steve guessed that Billy’s dad would post the photo on Billy’s website.

  Polly approached the President. She walked hesitantly, as if she were afraid.

  Billy stepped aside and looked around. He spotted Steve standing all alone a few paces away, and a puzzled look crossed his face.

  The crowd, sensing the drama unfolding, began chanting Birdie Bowers’s name.

  Andrew, barely on the ground, stopped. He seemed to be listening to the crowd. He slowly turned and looked at Steve.

  Polly squinted at Steve in the bright sun.

  Andrew turned red, then white. He veered away from the President and started hobbling as fast as he could toward Steve.

  Polly and Billy joined him.

  Why am I standing here like a fool, watching? Steve rushed forward to welcom
e the kids home.

  Endnotes

  Abbreviations refer to the works cited in the Bibliography. Material cited here in italics is a direct quote; information based on works cited is roman.

  vii “We are not going forward like a lot”: HRB 1911; Coldest 290–292

  50 “Scott’s team had to hike seven hundred”: Worst 327

  81–82 “In November 1910,” “the vessel Terra Nova,” “carried an international,” and “Scott kept a detailed”: SLE back cover

  90 “Scott’s ponies had gotten”: Worst 150

  91 “Captain Scott used ponies”: Worst 565; SLE 4–5, 395

  100–01 “the Scott expedition boasted”: SLE xx; Coldest ix, 54; Cherry 335

  101 “the Ross Ice Shelf: Coldest map 2,15; SLE 15

  101 “Scott began his ascent”: Coldest 184

  152 “Five men had continued”: SLE Foreword xiii, xvii, 384, 430

  152 “Captain Scott started writing”: SLE 432

  152–53 “We had fuel to make” and “For God’s sake look”: SLE 432

  157 “But this I know”: Worst 278

  158 “Amongst ourselves we are”: SLE 424

  158 “We are in a very tight”: SLE 425

  158 “Had we lived, I should”: SLE 442

  158 “For God’s sake look”: SLE 432

  198 “As far as the eye”: Worst 143–144

  200 “Killer whales … were cruising”: Coldest 98; Worst 158

  220 “on the Scott expedition, Birdie Bowers”: Coldest 56; SLE 265

  222 “He slept through the night”: SLE 430

  223 “Scott’s men had described”: Worst 247

  237 “The plan was for them to man-haul”: Coldest 128; Worst 367

  238 “… Proceeding Antarctic”: Cherry 75

  239 “Great God! This is an awful”: SLE 396; Coldest 217

  239 “Captain Scott … has taken”: HRB 1912; Coldest 219

  239–40 “We had four courses” and the following five extracts: SLE 378–379

  242 “Very hungry always, our allowance”: Coldest 30; Wilson 1, 221

  250 “Antarctica was one of the largest”: Coldest 178