Chapter Three

The International Dream

 

 

ROY DIDN’T GET home until 9:45pm. ‘Wait until you see the resort,’ he said excitedly, pulling off his jacket and kissing her. ‘It’s incredible. The stats are surreal. I mean, I knew the architects were going for something really futuristic but this is—you need a hand with that?’

‘It’s salmon salad, I can manage,’ said Lea. ‘Hang your jacket up.’

He aimed himself at the refrigerator and found a beer. ‘I’m sorry Tahir took me off like that. I wasn’t expecting it.’

‘What was so urgent?’

‘A workman had an accident.’

‘Was it serious?’

‘The guy died. There was nothing to be done.’

‘What happened?’

‘They’re installing pressurised refrigeration pipes under the sand to cool the beach down for tourists, and he was sent to repair one of them, but it exploded. Talk about bad luck.’

‘That’s awful,’ said Lea.

‘The company will take care of all the bills and pay his family compensation.’

‘That’s not the point.’

‘It’s a massive project, Lea, a lot of people involved, accidents happen. It’s the biggest train set I’ll ever get to play with. I never had an opportunity like this before.’

She rested a hand on her hip, leading him to look at the rearranged lounge. ‘Do you want to check out the house first and tell me you approve?’

‘I already saw it last time I came out.’

‘You didn’t tell me.’

‘Sorry, I figured I could leave it to you. I’m just jazzed. The resort already generates more power than the entire country used in the seventies. The Persiana’s main atrium is so big that they’re having to install a computerised airjet program to stop it from creating its own internal weather system.’

‘Its own weather system? How does that work?’ She dipped slices of courgette into lemon juice.

‘The hot air separates out, then cools and condensation builds up. They’re constructing glass-walled executive suites with bathrooms that are below the water line so you can watch the fish while you’re taking a shower, but the glass gets heated from the freshwater side and they’re having problems with the rubber seals.’

Whenever Roy described technical problems, he had the enthusiasm of a child. He been brought in to find solutions to architectural faults in the main hotel of Dream World, the multi-billion dirham resort nearing completion on the country’s reclaimed coastline. Experts from around the globe had been hired at great expense. There was never a question of not taking the job. By the time the offer of employment came through, Roy had been out of work for over eight months.

‘You think there are going to be enough rich people to fill the place?’ Lea asked.

‘You’re kidding, right? The board of directors don’t have much taste but they know the market.’

‘Aren’t they the ones you were supposed to meet at the Mandarin Oriental? The ones coming over from Guangzhou? I thought they didn’t show.’

‘Well, they didn’t. I met their people. All they’re concerned about is getting the place back on schedule for its revised opening date on September 9th. Where are we eating?’

‘The table’s laid outside. I’m not sure if there are mosquitos so I bought some citronella candles anyway.’ She shook her head. ‘Maybe you can get in with the board and persuade them to make you a director.’

Roy followed her about, as excited as a dog. ‘Apparently they’re famous for rewarding hard workers. I’ve got to sign a shedload of non-disclosure forms. And there’s a limit on who we can discuss the project with. We’re not allowed to bring in freelance consultants whenever there’s a problem. There are a couple of guys at NASA who know about heat-resistant materials, but we can’t access the specialist advice we need because of the conflict with their own confidentiality agreements. I’ll have to work with as many lawyers as engineers, but you know I can do that.’

‘Tell me more over dinner,’ said Lea, taking a salad bowl to the patio. ‘Cara, come and eat.’

‘Is it salad?’ Cara called.

‘Yes, with cold salmon. The green stuff won’t kill you, it’s not kryptonite.’ In London, Cara mostly lived on tomato soup, cheese and toast.

‘I’ll have it later,’ she yelled. ‘I’m trying to get the Wi-Fi set up.’

‘It’ll take you ten minutes to eat, honey. The internet will probably still be there when you finish. It’s our first dinner.’

‘Let me do this and I’ll set you up with a dock so that you can play your wailing opera women.’

‘Always with the bargains. Okay, just this once.’

‘So—the central tower of the Persiana is over 430 metres,’ Roy continued, seating himself and grabbing a fork, ‘which means it’ll be the tallest hotel on earth. There are three hotels, the Persiana, the Atlantica and the Arabiana. Dream World sticks way out into the sea and weighs over a million tons, plus it has to withstand everything from earthquakes and gulf storms to tidal waves, so they’ve got to get it right. Everything has to be ready in three months. Fifty years ago this place was a backwater used by pearl divers, camel traders and Bedouin. Everything changed when they struck oil, of course, but that’ll all be used up in a couple of years, so they’re future-proofing the country.’

‘By building resorts no-one else will be able to afford to visit?’

‘Come on, show some enthusiasm. The Russians and Chinese own the franchise but guess who gets most of the money? Two thirds of the investment returns to the UAE. This is the flagship resort that’ll prove the model can work. Then they can build others all around the world.’

She pushed a bowl of rice at him. ‘I know it’s a really exciting opportunity for you, but don’t you think it’s kind of grotesque? I mean, all you need is another credit crunch and it’ll become the world’s most expensive slum.’

‘Darling, if we took that attitude, nothing would ever get built. I’m still a New Yorker at heart, I can still walk down 34th Street and marvel at the buildings. Manhattan took the lead a century ago. Okay, its skyscrapers aren’t as big as those in the East but they have more cohesion, more character.’

‘They also serve a practical purpose.’

‘So will Dream World. We’re all working harder and playing harder, Lea. And this is going be the best playground on the planet.’

Lea had always loved her husband’s optimism. It seemed to be a quality bred into New Yorkers from birth. He’d just started working downtown in an architectural practice soon after the Twin Towers collapsed and, typically, had seen the 9/11 tragedy as a structural engineering problem. After that, the failure of his own company and the killing damp of London winters had encouraged him to seek opportunities overseas. Arab, American, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, what did such differences really matter? Everyone needed to construct; it was an instinct as natural as building families and friendships.

‘What?’ said Roy, not chewing. ‘You’re looking at me funny.’

‘I can look at my husband,’ she said. ‘You make me remember why I married you. Like a big kid with those eyes. Finish what you were saying.’

He pushed his blond fringe back from his forehead. It was just starting to grey at the sides. ‘You know I appreciate your support, Lea. This is my only chance to get into the big time. I had to come here, the shit we went through.’

‘Shh, Cara might hear you.’

Roy clapped his hands, dismissing the subject. ‘Anyway, it’s our life for the next two years, but the good news is that you won’t have to do any food preparation from tomorrow.’ Roy waved a fork across the meal. ‘They’re sending over an Indonesian maid. She won’t live in, she’ll just come and help you out during the day. You can become a lady of leisure.’

‘I’m not sure I want to do that, Roy.’ Lea laid down her cutlery. ‘There’s not going to be much work. Do we really have to have her?’

‘She’s part of the package. All the senior executives have them. She’s fully paid for, so we might as well use her. Besides, I thought you wanted to concentrate on your magazine writing.’

‘I’ll have to find some freelance contacts first. The house is hardly going to be any trouble to look after. I was used to fixing broken pipes and clearing mud out of the hallway in Belmont Terrace every time it rained. I think I can manage a place like this and hold down a job at the same time.’

‘All I’m saying is that you won’t have to work if you don’t want to. Didn’t you do enough of that in London?’

‘But I want to work, Roy. I don’t think it’s going to be enough just being a housewife.’

‘That’s what I mean. You’ll have someone to do the boring chores. Anyway, I already agreed to take her on.’ Roy shrugged. ‘But if she doesn’t work out we’ll let her go, okay?’

Lea picked up a fork and toyed with her food. She imagined it would be easy to become trapped within the compound, only seeing other wives and venturing out with her family at weekends. In London she had worked at a women’s magazine called Eva for five years. It never achieved a huge circulation but had prided itself on a certain level of literary merit. She had suggested sending pieces from Dubai, but her boss had implied that she needed to be based in London to maintain her edge. There wasn’t going to be much chance of finding similar work here.

I won’t argue with him, she thought. We did enough of that in London. This is a fresh start for all of us.