Read Online Point of Law by Clinton McKinzie - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Clinton McKinzie
Tags: Fiction
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meadow.
David Fast does a little organizing of his own. He pops open the back of his gleaming Suburban, revealing a few boxes of donuts, an ice chest, and a huge urn of coffee. His workers gather around as he jokes with them. Burgermeister stands directly beside him, as close as a bodyguard would. But he doesn’t smile at the jokes. Instead he squints angrily at the environmentalists.
After a few minutes Fast takes a heavy roll of canvas from the Surburban’s backseat. With Burgermeister’s help, he carries it over behind Kim’s makeshift stage. There they unroll the canvas and start to string it between two trees right next to where the Tribe’s banner proclaiming “Save the Valley” is hung.
Kim hurries over, probably asking him what the hell he thinks he’s doing. Fast just smiles—maybe even a little apologetically—and ties one end of the banner to a tree’s trunk. His enforcer pulls it tight at the other end while glaring at Kim. I suspect he says something rude, too, because Kim’s back stiffens although she remains in the developer’s face. The canvas reads in neatly printed letters, “Support Local Jobs! Support the San Juan Economy! Wild Fire Resort.”
Kim keeps arguing with him, but Fast never loses his thin-lipped smile. After securing his end, Burgermeister comes to stand beside his boss. Then he reaches out with a thick finger and pokes Kim right in the breastbone. I start to get up. As tightly wound as Kim is, I expect trouble right there. And I’m feeling protective toward her even though she hasn’t really done anything to encourage me.
Fast does something sensible—he grabs Burgermeister’s arm and tries to pull him away. But Burgermeister jerks free. Before I even take a step, Kim spins away and marches back to where the television crew is still setting up. She speaks hotly to the reporter or producer who’d hugged her earlier, but her friend just shrugs and shakes her head. They hadn’t seen it. Kim’s face is red when she walks back to her makeshift stage.
Two people on foot come up the Forest Service road and into the meadow. Even from a distance, it’s easy for me to recognize pretty Sunny and her boyfriend, Cal the Caver. The sunlight glints off Cal’s pierced eyebrows and nose. Sunny’s blonde dreadlocks bounce with each step. Fast sees them, too, and I watch him pause, then start to stride toward the couple with brawny Burgermeister in tow. Cal slows. He looks over a shoulder, back down the road, as if he’s considering running away. But Sunny tugs his hand toward the gathering activists.
Fast intercepts them near the center of the meadow. It looks like there’s a brief argument before Sunny tugs again and leads Cal past the two big men. Fast and his enforcer talk to one another while watching the young couple walk away.
What’s that about?
Both Sunny and Cal glance back at the men nervously.
Then Kim’s voice rings out across the meadow. “Let’s get started,” she says. She calls the Tribe around her makeshift stage and arranges them so that they’re in view of the television crew’s camera but not in its way. I stay where I am, wanting to be able to watch the activists’ backs.
She steps up on the stump and begins to speak. Her voice is loud enough for me to hear across the meadow as she decries what the development will do to the valley. Almost as soon as she starts speaking, Fast, Burgermeister, and the other men move in behind the activists, encircling them. They begin chanting, “Local jobs! Local jobs!” drowning out Kim as she does her best to shout over them, her beautiful, damaged face getting redder and redder beneath her tan. A few of the activists, led by Cal, do their best to exhort the workers to shut up and listen, but it’s a halfhearted shushing—they’re clearly intimidated by the big, rough-looking men.
It’s over even more quickly than it began. Kim simply steps down from the stump, her head low but her jaw protruding sharply.
David Fast does a little organizing of his own. He pops open the back of his gleaming Suburban, revealing a few boxes of donuts, an ice chest, and a huge urn of coffee. His workers gather around as he jokes with them. Burgermeister stands directly beside him, as close as a bodyguard would. But he doesn’t smile at the jokes. Instead he squints angrily at the environmentalists.
After a few minutes Fast takes a heavy roll of canvas from the Surburban’s backseat. With Burgermeister’s help, he carries it over behind Kim’s makeshift stage. There they unroll the canvas and start to string it between two trees right next to where the Tribe’s banner proclaiming “Save the Valley” is hung.
Kim hurries over, probably asking him what the hell he thinks he’s doing. Fast just smiles—maybe even a little apologetically—and ties one end of the banner to a tree’s trunk. His enforcer pulls it tight at the other end while glaring at Kim. I suspect he says something rude, too, because Kim’s back stiffens although she remains in the developer’s face. The canvas reads in neatly printed letters, “Support Local Jobs! Support the San Juan Economy! Wild Fire Resort.”
Kim keeps arguing with him, but Fast never loses his thin-lipped smile. After securing his end, Burgermeister comes to stand beside his boss. Then he reaches out with a thick finger and pokes Kim right in the breastbone. I start to get up. As tightly wound as Kim is, I expect trouble right there. And I’m feeling protective toward her even though she hasn’t really done anything to encourage me.
Fast does something sensible—he grabs Burgermeister’s arm and tries to pull him away. But Burgermeister jerks free. Before I even take a step, Kim spins away and marches back to where the television crew is still setting up. She speaks hotly to the reporter or producer who’d hugged her earlier, but her friend just shrugs and shakes her head. They hadn’t seen it. Kim’s face is red when she walks back to her makeshift stage.
Two people on foot come up the Forest Service road and into the meadow. Even from a distance, it’s easy for me to recognize pretty Sunny and her boyfriend, Cal the Caver. The sunlight glints off Cal’s pierced eyebrows and nose. Sunny’s blonde dreadlocks bounce with each step. Fast sees them, too, and I watch him pause, then start to stride toward the couple with brawny Burgermeister in tow. Cal slows. He looks over a shoulder, back down the road, as if he’s considering running away. But Sunny tugs his hand toward the gathering activists.
Fast intercepts them near the center of the meadow. It looks like there’s a brief argument before Sunny tugs again and leads Cal past the two big men. Fast and his enforcer talk to one another while watching the young couple walk away.
What’s that about?
Both Sunny and Cal glance back at the men nervously.
Then Kim’s voice rings out across the meadow. “Let’s get started,” she says. She calls the Tribe around her makeshift stage and arranges them so that they’re in view of the television crew’s camera but not in its way. I stay where I am, wanting to be able to watch the activists’ backs.
She steps up on the stump and begins to speak. Her voice is loud enough for me to hear across the meadow as she decries what the development will do to the valley. Almost as soon as she starts speaking, Fast, Burgermeister, and the other men move in behind the activists, encircling them. They begin chanting, “Local jobs! Local jobs!” drowning out Kim as she does her best to shout over them, her beautiful, damaged face getting redder and redder beneath her tan. A few of the activists, led by Cal, do their best to exhort the workers to shut up and listen, but it’s a halfhearted shushing—they’re clearly intimidated by the big, rough-looking men.
It’s over even more quickly than it began. Kim simply steps down from the stump, her head low but her jaw protruding sharply.
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