K Nilsen - The Yellowstone Traps

Abel closed his eyes and bit down on his tongue for five seconds. “We will remove from here when the weather improves and, hopefully, settle at our fledgling Canadian sister community in the Maritime Provinces, on the Atlantic coast, at Prince Edward Island.”

Throughout the room mouths hung agape.

“Our forebears settled the West, arriving by horse, by ox team and Conestoga wagon. We will reprise their toil and effort, only in reverse. We will settle the East, and bring with us our potent brand of self-reliance and self-determination, tenets that are just about extinct on this continent. We will rebuild our town there on the rim of the bountiful ocean. And like here at Independency, will we forge a new community, one that is just, peaceful, fruitful and beautiful amid a world of gathering famine, fear, and darkness.”

The entire congregation stood stunned by Abel’s revelation. Servings of cake sat neglected on plate after plate.

Relieved to have finally aired thoughts that had been fermenting in his souring soul much of the winter, blood returned to his face. His backbone straightened. He seemed to grow in stature before his audience. He peered to his left and sought Winnie’s eyes, seeking one last measure of assurance before addressing the flock again. Winnie simply nodded her sentiments his way.

For thirty seconds he scanned the room and made eye contact with each and every one. Slowly, he raised his right arm chin high, palm open, fingers outstretched. He held is hand in the air for ten seconds, then slowly rotated it and held it palm up, fingers now closed together. He reached out to his neighbors, as if motioning to each of them to take his hand.

“Join me.” Abel said firmly. “I can’t do this without you.”

Author K.R.Nilsen is a retired natural foods industry marketer and manufacturer who began a writing career right out of college behind cramped desks in the chilly newsrooms of small northern New England daily and weekly newspapers. He gravitated to magazine editorial work at Yankee Publishing at Dublin, New Hampshire, and eventually earned a CASE Grand Gold Award for educational publications, before changing careers abruptly and becoming a marketer then producer of shelf-stable fruit juices and all-juice sodas.

Outside the confines of working life, Nilsen became a factor in New Hampshire’s hiking community by planning and developing the 170-mile Cohos Trail and its shelters situated from the White Mountains to the Canadian border. For his all-volunteer work creating that lengthy outdoor recreational resource, he was presented the Granite State Legacy Award in 2015. He is the author of several hiking guidebooks and trail databooks, including 50 Hikes North of the White Mountains from Countryman Press.

A strong advocate of self-reliance and for self-sufficient lifestyles and communities, the author channeled his interests into developing a fully-fledged alternative living community within the pages of this novel. Not one to idly preach, he recently put his ideas into practice, developing and expanding a small organic farm on the campus of a year-round Waldorf educational camp, Camp Glen Brook, at Marlborough, NH.

Wedded to a life-long love of the earth sciences, particularly paleontology and geology, his passion invariably led him to the geological minefield that is Yellowstone National Park. For more than twenty years, he has spent his leisure hours reading the works of scientists who were unraveling the mysteries of the immense volcanic structure beneath the national park and similar features beneath other slumbering calderas scattered about the planet.

To this day, Nilsen dabbles in freelance article writing. His work has been published in the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, Private Pilot, Country Journal, New Hampshire Profiles, and the like.

Nilsen lives with his wife, Catherine, on a small farmstead in the rural southwest corner of the Granite State, sharing outdoor chores with Havanese and Polish Lowland Sheepdogs and an eclectic assortment of chickens.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

Publisher’s Note:

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are the work of the author’s imagination.

Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is coincidental.

Solstice Publishing - www.solsticepublishing.com

Copyright 2018 – K.R. Nilsen