The Cable Car Control Room – Part 1: Fog Hold

"Hold the line," said Luca.

"It's held," said Chiara.

"Hold it harder."

She laughed in spite of herself, her hand on the great steel lever. They sat together in the glass control room above the valley station of a cable car in the Dolomites, with a bank of screens, a stack of radios and a window that showed nothing but white. Fog had rolled in at nine. The great cabins had stopped, swaying quietly in the cloud. Three hundred skiers were waiting in the queue below.

She was thirty-one, a new operator, small and sharp, in a navy uniform jacket, with a black ponytail and a notepad she was starting to hate. Luca, thirty-six, the control room chief, was tall and lean, with grey-flecked hair, a short beard and an expression of grave calm. He had run the line for twelve winters. He had a mug that said PATIENCE and a very dry sense of humour.

"What do I say?" said Chiara, holding the microphone.

"Tell them the truth."

"The truth is we don't know when it will clear."

"Then say that. Nicely."

She cleared her throat and pressed the button. Her voice, calm and clear, rang out across the loudspeakers. "Good morning, everyone. Heavy fog on the summit, so the line is paused. We expect an update in twenty minutes. There is hot chocolate at the café. Thank you for your patience."

A pause. Then, faintly, through the window, a cheer.

"They applauded," she said.

"You were charming."

"I was terrified."

"That's the secret," said Luca, with a faint smile. "Sound terrified and charming."

They waited three hours. They drank coffee. He told her stories: the time a cow got on a cabin, the time a skier proposed at the summit and the ring fell into a snowdrift. She laughed until her ribs ached. At noon, the fog thinned, then lifted, and the mountains broke out above the clouds in a blaze of white and blue.

"Go," said Luca.

She pulled the lever. The cabins began to move.

"Can I ask you something?" said Chiara, as the line hummed.

"Yes."

"Is it always this stressful?"

"Never," said Luca. "Sometimes it is boring. But today was a good day."

"Green?" she said, a cabin, a light.

"Green," said Luca, a slow smile. "Very green. Hot chocolate?"

Continue the story: Part 2 – Last Cabin.