David Dun - At The Edge

"Call me," she said. "Soon. Like when you get home."

Dan got on his cell phone on the drive to his house. He called Otran's home. It felt a little unusual. Normally, he was relaxed around Otran, but this time he felt tight. Just the way he felt before they opened the gate on his last bull ride.

"I've got another issue I need to discuss," he began after the customary pleasantries. "Maria Fischer and I have been checking each other out for a while now. Maybe I'm doing most of the checking. We still disagree on everything having to do with trees." He paused, nervously tapping the wheel of his car. "It's conceivable that all this chemistry could, you know, make a battery or something. I thought you ought to know in case you felt it would constitute a conflict of interest."

"A what?"

"A conflict of interest. That's when-"

"I know what a conflict of interest is," Jeb interrupted. "So does Maria Fischer have to call up Patty McCafferty and tell her the same thing?"

"Probably not. She's still in the denial phase."

"You're sure?"

"What about love is sure?"

Otran chuckled. "You sound as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. But I don't care about the details of your as-yet-hypothetical love life. The real issues are: Are you emotionally attached to her, and if so, would it affect your judgment? Would it affect your ability to help me on the Highlands?"

"What do you need me to do?"

''I'm buying out Metco's half of the old growth. And I'm going to need convincing timber-harvest plans and someone to litigate them if I'm ever going to persuade the government to buy it."

"This is a shock," Dan said.

"It was to me too," Otran said, "but the price was right. So will you help me?"

Dan was silent, wondering how to respond.

"It's that bad, huh?" Otran laughed.

"I'm not sure. Maria's ideas don't change the way I think. Tell me this. You don't actually expect to harvest the lower Highlands, right?"

''We're figuring the government will buy it. Save us all a big right. Make a little money for our side."

"But if the government doesn't act right away?"

"We'd have to go ahead and start cutting if it came to it. How can you make the government move if you just sit there and let the trees rot for free?"

''Could we tell Maria it's a bluff? That we won't actually cut?"

''If you tell her that, we're liable to lose that shrill intensity of hers. We absolutely have to make the world believe we'll cut. Besides, if they don't buy it, we have to manage it for long-term timber production. And to do that, we have to cut it."

Dan sighed.

"I just hope we don't have to deal with it," Jeb said. "Cutting the Highlands or the romance. Hell, I don't care about a stolen kiss, but if she's going to be a fixture… We'll just have to talk. I mean, knowing her is great. It's always good to know your adversary. But for God's sake, how would it be to get in bed at night with the enviro who's been nipping at your heels all day?"

"Maybe violins and flowers have taken over my brain," Dan said.

"At least you're thinking with your brain," Otran said.

The minute Dan got home he called Maria's room at the Palmer Inn.

"Long time no see," he said. "Listen, let's get a drink in the pub."

"Now?"

"I know we've been together for two days, but I need to talk."

"I'll have one beer," she said.

Dan chuckled. "It's impossible to ignore the emphasis. You don't approve of my having two beers."

"I guess that's none of my business. But as long you ask, when do you have just two?"

"Touche."

It was only a couple of miles from his house to the Palmer Inn, and before Dan could decide how to bring up the most difficult topic of the evening, he had rolled into the lot.

"You look nice," he told Maria. She wore a khaki pants suit and yellow print blouse.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"What do you mean? I just said you looked nice."

"You have the knitted-brow look, last displayed when Judge Traxler asked you point-blank if there had been accelerated harvesting. So what's up?"

They were through the main lobby and at the head of the stairs to the pub.

"In a couple days a story will break about a sale of the lower Highlands."

They were walking down a narrow staircase and a noisy drunk was coming up from below. She moved to Dan's side of the stairs to let the man pass. For an instant she leaned up against Dan. Her hair smelled of orchids, and the warmth of her body felt good. He knew he wanted more of her, and what he was about to say would give him less.

"What? Tell me."

"Come on," he said, pushing her by the elbow, just the way he used to nudge Tess. It was a little test and she let him. "Let's sit down and I'll tell you."

They sat in a booth. Instead of sitting opposite her, he slid in beside her, putting her on the inside next to the wall.

"Is there something wrong with the other side of the table?"

"Just that it's the other side of the table."

"Somebody is sure to see us."

"Crowd's light. And so what?"

"So it's my career, not to mention yours. Imagine what Amada could do with this."

"For one night let's just forget it."

"For one beer we'll forget it. Now tell me about the lower Highlands."

"Otran's going to buy it."

A look of utter amazement crossed her face.

"How long have you known this?"

"I just found out." Her eyes searched his. "I decided to tell you right away."

"But it's not the telling me that's got you bothered. Is it?"

"No. It's not."

"Jeb Otran is tough. What does he want with it?"

"He's going to manage it for timber unless the government buys it. Between you and me, I hope the government buys it and gives us all some relief. So does Otran. But that's purely personal. I just don't want to fight about it."

"Are you going to help write harvest plans and defend them in court?"

"It's my job."

"Well, it's my job to save those trees. So let me out."

"Not until you listen to me."

She fixed her eyes straight ahead and sat stiff as a statue.

"Come on," he urged her.

She didn't move. A single tear coursed down her cheek until she brushed it aside.

"This has got nothing to do with you and me. Or at least it doesn't have to."

"Just for the record, my boyfriend and I decided to call it quits. But I guess that's a moot point now, isn't it?"

"This isn't personal."

"Do you believe in this?" she asked. "Laying waste to this forest?"

"I believe we can have a fair debate and let someone else decide. One park more or less won't decide the future of mankind. Nobody's going to turn it into a wasteland."

"That's a cop-out. This time I mean it. Let me out." She turned to him, her eyes bright-fired with determination.

He slid out. "You're taking this all wrong."

She muttered some obscenity as she left. He could guess what she said.

One beer led to another. Then a couple of boilermakers. The whiskey burn felt good. Filling the hole inside with liquid comfort seemed an acceptable idea until the pub started to move. Certain that Maria wasn't looking at this thing correctly, Dan decided to pay her a visit.

When he rose to walk, he realized that sitting down had made the earth flat. Standing, he didn't feel right, either. He knew he'd had too much alcohol. He needed to make a trip to Maria's room to sober up.

The stairs weren't too bad because there was a stout railing on both sides and no traffic. When he reached the lobby, he knew he had to concentrate. For a moment he sat in an overstuffed chair and considered his predicament. No way would the clerk give him Maria's room number. Although he knew it earlier in the day when he came to pick her up, he was now having a tough time. It was 328 or 338 or perhaps 318. Probably he could remember if he saw the door and its placement in the hallway.