The Ice Lovers (37 page)
Then October and the journey South, flying via the Ministry of Defence flight to the Falklands or LAN-Chile via Madrid. Then waiting-room days in Stanley, Land Rovers rattling down the streets, a plague of Union Jacks, ever the outpost with its one grocery store and two hotels. These days offer the last chance for a year or more to drink in pubs, to get drunk with strangers. Trips to see the penguin colony at Volunteer Point, group walks to Gypsy Cove, the pilgrimage to the Stanley lighthouse, the same one Nara made with Alexander under the glimmer of southern Atlantic stars. Suddenly there is no âI', there is only âwe'. We ate dinner, we boarded the ship, and they begin to understand the pleasures of not having to face experience alone.
Then the journey to the continent, on the ship or on the Dash-7 or the model which will replace it, when the plane has clocked up its maximum allowed hours, even if it will prove difficult to find a better version than that Antarctic air tractor, the slow, reliable plane grinding through the icy skies.
By December they will be encountering their first icebergs just south of Elephant Island. A cocktail party, birthday drinks, or the Master's birthday perhaps; there will be some occasion while on board. The Navy or the supply vessels will come on side, and the newcomers will experience the fraternity of the Antarctic in all its bonhomie. They will understand that human relationships in the Antarctic are not like anywhere else; a warmth and cameraderie thrums between the firmest strangers or political foes, merely for having encountered each other at the end of the earth.
They may or may not be stopped in ice.
Alexander comes out of the bathroom that night, naked, and she has to hold her breath, to draw all the oxygen she can into her. The suddenness and intensity of their intimacy has shocked them both.
He begins to get dressed. âDon't take this the wrong way, but I don't want to be seen coming out of your cabin in the morning.'
She wonders how he thinks she should take it. She wants to remind him that there is no morning, or evening anymore. They have run out of night and into a three month long day, they will not see the sun set until February.
She says, âThat's very logical of you.' She cannot say, Please don't go.
He comes out of the bathroom naked and she stops breathing. This is all that happens. Night is gone, and suddenly there are many suns and moons in the room with her.
She watches him get dressed. He puts on his father's ring, his father's necklace. He had taken these off, very ceremoniously, in order to make love. He struggles into his dress shoes, a pair of brogues. Dinner on the ship is formal. Every evening they all put on their finest clothes.
There is a bloodstain on the sheet underneath her, as if she were a virgin. It has been some time since a man has made her bleed.
The tungsten light of iceblink floods the cabin. He is standing, fully dressed, before her. She sits on the bunk, a sheet drawn around her, more in self-protection than in propriety.
âWell,' he says, âgoodnight.'
She turns her face to the window and sees the field of pack ice, the seals which loll on its floes, the silver eye of the midnight sun revolving, the darting shadow of a skua. The ship is still and silent then, as the ice fastens all around them.
Short Glossary of Antarctic Terms
| Albedo | the extent to which an object (in the polar regions, ice) reflects light from the sun |
| Avtur | aviation turbine fuel specially treated to withstand low temperatures |
| Blank down | to tie down (usually aircraft) to the ice using ropes and ice screws |
| Col | a pass between two mountain peaks, literally âneck', from the French |
| CTD | in oceanography, an instrument used to measure conductivity, temperature and depth of the water column |
| Field | away from base; being âin the field' means living in a tent; âdeep field' refers to living and working in a very remote area |
| Field assistants | mountaineers charged with helping to look after scientists |
| Frazil ice | cinder-like accumulations of ice on seawater |
| Gash | cleaning and housekeeping duties of the day on Antarctic ships and bases; a Navy term |
| Gator | a utility vehicle designed for off-road and rough terrain used to transport people and goods around Antarctic bases |
| HF/VHF | High Frequency radio |
| Hummock | a mound or hillock of pressure ice |
| Iceblink | a white light seen on the horizon, especially on the underside of low clouds, due to reflection from a field of ice |
| Ice flowers | tufts of frost or rime resembling flowers that form on surface ice around salt crystals |
| Iridium phone | satellite phone |
| Katabatic wind | a wind that carries high density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity; most commonly found in Antarctica and Greenland |
| Manfood | as distinct from dogfood in the days when dogs were used in the Antarctic; the term is still used; wooden boxes that contain ten days' supply of dried and tinned food for two people |
| Melon hut | an oblong-shaped fibreglass hut used for field operations |
| Met | the meteorologist; weather forecasters deployed by the UK Met Office to base in the summer |
| Nunatak | an isolated hill or mountain of bare rock rising above the surrounding ice sheet |
| P-bag | Personal Bag containing a sleeping bag, sleeping mat and sheepskin, for use in the field |
| Pitroom | bunk bed accommodation |
| PNR | Point of No Return - the point at which there is no longer enough fuel for the aircraft to return to its point of origin; PNR means the airplane is committed to land at its destination |
| RIB | Rigid Inflatable Boat |
| Sastrugi | wavelike ridges of hard snow formed on a level surface by the wind |
| Sit Rep | Situation Report, a weekly briefing given by the base commander on base matters |
1. What might the two women narrators, Nara and Helen, have in common? How does Helen identify with Nara?
2. How would you describe each character's relationship with the Antarctic? What might they find in the landscape that tells them something about themselves?
3. How would you describe Helen's relationship with fate, chance, and destiny. How does she distinguish between them? How does the narrative suggest that fate, chance, and destiny might converge or differ? Does looking into the future help Helen to better understand what happens to her?
4. What reasons does the novel give for the Antarctic's association with ordeal and death?
5. Discuss what happens between Luke and Nara at Bluefields.
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Jean McNeil
is originally from Nova Scotia but has lived in London, England since 1991. Her novel Private View was nominated for the Governor General's Award in 2003. She spent the austral summer of 2005â06 in Antarctica as the British Antarctic Survey/Arts Council of England International Fellow to Antarctica, and has since been writer-in-residence in the Falkland Islands, Svalbard and on a scientific expedition to Greenland. She is a Fellow at Cambridge University and teaches Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.