Drought Read Free

didn’t respond to that. Ella had always been his favorite little girl and the thought of her becoming a woman when he wasn’t around to take care of her was constantly hurtful. But he knew that it had all been his own fault, his marriage to Peta splitting up. No woman could be expected to put up with black moods like his, and his unpredictable bursts of temper. He called them his ‘Djinn Days’, after the devils who were supposed to appear in dust storms in Afghanistan, and make everybody depressed or mad.
    â€˜I’m going back to the office now,’ he told Peta. ‘I promise you I’ll look into this and get back to you. How’s Tyler, by the way, is he OK?’
    â€˜Tyler is just fine. When he’s not asleep or at school he’s stuck in front of his laptop but all his friends are the same.’
    â€˜OK, Peta. Like I say, I’ll get back to you.’ He was tempted to add, ‘I love you,’ but he knew that would only irritate her.
    If you love me so much, why did you shout at me and push me around and try to make feel so small? Why didn’t you get yourself some help, if you were so disturbed by what happened to you in Afghanistan?

THREE
    O n the way back to the office in Carousel Mall Martin switched on the radio in his car. According to the weather reporter on KTIE, there was no foreseeable prospect of what he called ‘measurable precipitation’. In other words, no rain was expected for the next four days at least. Temperatures would reach 100–107 degrees during the day, and drop only to between seventy-five and eight-three degrees by night.
    â€˜San Bernardino’s Municipal Water Department is asking every citizen of San Bernardino to conserve as much water as possible. Over the past three years the lack of any significant rainfall has brought us close to crisis point. You should think twice, folks, before washing your vehicle, and make sure you check the watering index online to decide how much water you’re going to use to irrigate your plants.’
    Martin parked his Eldorado in the basement parking lot and went up in the elevator to the office. As he pushed open the glass door with
San Bernardino County Children &
Family Services
stenciled on it in silver letters, Brenda the receptionist gave him her usual glower, peering at him over her thick-rimmed spectacles. Martin had always thought Brenda would be quite attractive if she didn’t wear such schoolmistressy glasses and didn’t clench her hair in the tightest of French pleats, like a coil of copper wire. He sometimes wondered if she was always so scathing to him because she thought
he
was attractive, too.
    â€˜Arlene wants to see you in her office,’ she told him.
    â€˜OK, Brenda, thanks,’ he said, and started to walk down the corridor toward the soda vending machine.
    â€˜I think she wants you in there right
now,
’ said Brenda. ‘“Just as soon as he comes through the door,” that’s what she said.’
    â€˜I’ll be sure to tell her you gave me the message,’ said Martin. He continued to the end of the corridor, pushed a dollar into the soda vending machine and noisily bought himself a can of Dr Pepper. Brenda continued to glower at him as he walked back past her desk.
    â€˜Brenda, have a heart. My throat was as dry as a camel’s back passage.’
    She pursed her lips but didn’t say anything. As he reached Arlene Kaiser’s office, however, and knocked on the door, he glanced back and he was sure that he caught her smiling.
Women
, he thought.
If only they would come out straight and tell you how they felt, and stopped making you guess
.
    â€˜Come!’ called out Arlene Kaiser, in her usual high-pitched screech, and he opened the door and stepped into her office. Arlene was the Deputy Director of Children & Family Services and so she had a gray steel desk the size of an aircraft carrier and a corner office.