A Clearing in the Forest

by Gloria Whelan

  Lyle turned his motorcycle toward Wilson and ground the cycle to a screeching halt inches from him. Wilson lunged at Lyle. He was past caring what hapepned to himself. The two of them fell onto the roadway. Lyle’s helmet flew off. Wilson felt a blow that seemed to flatten his nose. There was a sharp pain in his head and he felt something warm and wet trickle over his mouth and chin. He tried to wrench Lyle over onto his back, his anger giving him a strength he was almost afraid to use. In seconds Lyle lay pinned to the ground, but Steve had turned off his engine and was moving across the driveway toward them, carrying a crowbar.

  Suddenly Frances stood over them with something in her hands. For an instant he thought he had been knocked senseless and was losing his mind. She seemed to have a football in her hand—holding it out as though she were getting up a game. Then he heard her screaming to him to run. Did she think he’d leave her and the dog? He looked again. She had raised the gray football up into the air, ready to throw it. Wilson sprang up and ran for the cabin. In a second Frances was behind him, pushing him through the door. A few feet away thousands of wasps were shooting out of their papery nest which now lay in fragments on the driveway. The maddened yellow jackets were charging the two cyclists, savaging them with stings. They dashed for their bikes, screaming and waving their arms around their heads, further infuriating the wasps. In seconds the bikes were racing out of the driveway, the hornets in two tornados behind them.

  The minute they were gone, Wilson and Frances ran outside for the dog. He was sitting up, regarding them with a disgusted look on his face. When they called him, the dog walked leisurely toward them, limping slightly. On his way into the cabin he paused to inspect the broken pieces of the hornet’s nest. One remaining wasp shot out at him. He snapped it up and swallowed it.

  Wilson and Frances sat in front of the fire, the dog next to them, snoring softly, his feet straight up in the air like an upended beetle. Wilson held an old towel packed with ice to the side of his face. The bleeding had stopped, but his eye was swelling shut. Frances sat daubing her hand with ammonia where several wasps had stung her. There was an unspoken agreement between them to dismiss whatever danger they had escaped. Instead, they joked about the panicked flight of the two cyclists. “Can a hornet go faster than a motorcycle?” Wilson asked.

  “Oh, I think so, Wilson, when they’re very cross. Isn’t it a shame Lyle left in such a hurry he didn’t have time to put on his helmet. Come to think of it, I might pot up my asparagus fern in it. It would make a nice memento.” Her face became serious. “I’m glad you were around tonight.”

  “It was because of me they came here in the first place. Lyle was mad at something that happened on the rig last night.” Then Wilson remembered why he had come to see her. So much had hapepned since the night before that he had nearly forgotten. He decided this was no time to tell her about the well, but she was too quick for him. “I thought you usually went into town on your night off, Wilson?” She waited, eyes narrowed.

  Wilson decided he had better tell her. Supposing there was something she could do to stop them from drilling. “Well, I heard the tool pusher talking last night. We’re nearly finished drilling on the Janston site and they’re planning to come here next.”

  “Here?”

  “They said that their best chance would be up on the bank about a hundred yards from the river. The bottom hole will be under the river, but they’ll slant drill.”

  “That’s nonsense, Wilson, they couldn’t drill that close to the river. There must be rules about that.” She glanced in the direction of the river for collaboration.

  He looked embarrassed. “Well, what they said was that because it was your property they had checked out all the regulations. If it’s state land, you have to keep a quarter mile from water. But if it’s private land like yours, there isn’t any regulation. They’ve had the state conservation men out there walking around and checking it out.”

  For the first time Frances began to take Wilson seriously. She had seen the men from the conservation department on her property last week, but she had thought they were checking the condition of the stream, as they often did. It hadn’t occurred to her that they were tramping over her property to see where a well would go, without saying one word to her about it.

  Wilson was busy folding and unfolding the dog’s ears. He had not mentioned that Pete said they expected some trouble from the ‘old lady who owned the land’ but that they could handle her—without mineral rights she didn’t have a leg to stand on. “If they do drill here”—Wilson tried to make his voice sound as though it were only a remote possibility, although he knew otherwise—“I wouldn’t feel right working on the rig.”

  “Why not, Wilson?”

  “Well, I know how you feel about a well on your land. I don’t think I want any part of it.”

  “On the contrary, Wilson. I can’t believe they would ever do it, but if they did, I’d want you there. Maybe you could put some sort of curse on the rig, Wilson, make the drill miss its target.” She attempted a smile, but Wilson thought she looked funny, as if she were getting smaller right before his eyes. He was sorry now that he had told her.

  After Wilson left, Frances sat by the fire absentmindedly eating the blackberries she had scraped up from the driveway. She enjoyed the contrast of the soft fruity flesh and the little hard seeds, an underrated fruit, she thought, probably because it was so plentiful.

  Perhaps the easiest thing to do would be to let them go ahead and drill. Recently she had read that the continents were still slipping and sliding over the earth’s surface. If you reckoned time in eons, things got put into their proper perspective. Whatever happened, the land would persevere.

  She held up a blackberry she had been about to pop into her mouth and watched a small green worm sway back and forth from its perch on the berry. She opened a window and threw the worm outside. A full moon the color and size of a pumpkin was refracted by the river into glittering orange stripes. She could hear the water as it cascaded over a snagged log.

  Taking the flashlight and some newspapers, she went out to cover the tomatoes in case there was a frost. The dog trotted behind her; his limp had disappeared. In the cold air the dog’s breath emerged in white puffs. He looked comical, like a trick dog someone had trained to smoke. By the time she finished with the tomatoes, she had mapped her campaign against the oil company. She had had a taste of blood tonight and, with winter coming on, a fight had the smell of life.

  14

  August 30

  Mr. Saforth N. Drinnen, President

  Ffossco Corporation

  Nhelville, Texas

  DEAR MR. DRINNEN:

  I like to see the people to whom I talk, but since Texas is some distance from here, I must resort to letter writing. However, a letter has the advantage of allowing one to form one’s thoughts. I believe much was lost when we put down the pen and took up the telephone.

  I cannot in all fairness blame Ffossco for wishing to put an oil well in a promising area. After all, I must be perfectly honest, I drive a truck myself (although not as often as I used to). Also, my home is heated with oil, though I use as little as possible, not, I’m ashamed to say, out of principle but from economy, which sadly, of the two, is often the more convincing taskmaster.

  My complaint is that you wish to drill an oil well one hundred yards from one of the loveliest stretches of river in our state. Or anywhere. Appended to my letter you will find a number of photographs which I have taken of the stream over the years. Of course I am an amateur, as you will see at once, but the pictures will show something of what I wish to convey of the river’s beauty. (I would appreciate your returning them, as they have been removed from a personal photograph album, hence the torn corners.)

  Appended you will find a list of animal and bird inhabitants which I have personally observed in the area where you are proposing to drill. There is also a list of one hundred and sixty-three species of plant life. I must be perfectly honest and admit
I have included Equisetum boreale, which some consider identical to Equisetum arvense. Therefore one could raise a question as to whether it ought to be noted separately.

  Finally, our area is full of sinkholes. Your geologists will tell you (perhaps you are one yourself?) that in areas where there are large deposits of limestone bedrock near the surface, rainwater sinking underground slowly dissolves the limestone to form subterranean caverns. Unless the greatest care is taken, natural gas can escape from a well and bubble up through the sinkholes and possibly into the river itself. Surely you will want to reconsider your decision?

  SINCERELY YOURS,

  Frances Crawford

  (Mrs. Thomas C.)

  Ffossco Corporation

  September 1

  Mrs. Thomas C. Crawford

  Oclair

  DEAR MRS. CRAWFORD:

  I am in receipt of your letter of August 30th. Like you, Ffossco is deeply concerned about ecology. Only last month our company gave a substantial grant to a well-known environmental association.

  However, our field geologists in your area have assured me that they are quite certain that the drilling of a well will present no problems.

  I am sure that, as a patriotic American, you wish the United States to become as independent as possible from the pressures of foreign governments. America can accomplish this only by a substantial increase in her oil production.

  If you have any further questions, our attorney is Archer Preyman, Jr., who has been fully informed of the facts in this case.

  Thank you for the very nice photographs, which I am returning.

  CORDIALLY,

  Sanforth N. Drinnen, President

  September 10

  Mr. Roger Seaworth, Director

  Department of Conservation

  8324 Governor Avenue

  DEAR MR. SEAWORTH:

  I am writing pursuant to my phone call to your department ten days ago, requesting your intervention in the matter of Ffossco Corporation drilling an oil well a hundred yards from the north branch of the Oclair River. Surely your department will not stand by and see the river threatened by possible seepage or spillage. Please let me hear from you at once.

  SINCERELY YOURS,

  Frances Crawford

  (Mrs. Thomas C.)

  September 18

  Mrs. Thomas D. Rawforth

  Oclair

  DEAR MRS. RAWFORTH:

  Rule 321 of the General Rules Governing Oil and Gas Operations sets no limits as to how close a well may be placed in relation to a body of water, unless the land involved is owned by the state, in which case it is unlawful to drill closer than a quarter of a mile to a body of water. Permits to drill are issued by the Geological Survey Department. I would suggest you contact them regarding your other questions.

  YOURS TRULY,

  Roger Seaworth, Director

  September 30

  Mrs. Thomas C. Crawford

  Oclair

  DEAR MRS. CRAWFORD:

  A painstaking survey of the geological conditions existing in the prospective drilling area has been completed. I have before me a report from our field geologist. We can say with reasonable certainty that drilling presents little danger to the environment. We see no reason to withdraw the permit we issued to Ffossco. As you know, we have already recommended the drilling site be moved from 100 yards to 300 yards from the river.

  The unfortunate incident you mention happened a year ago, and since that time we are enforcing more rigorous standards.

  VERY TRULY YOURS,

  Lytel Morthman, Director

  Geological Survey Department

  Governor John Liptonton

  992 Executive Office Building

  October 12

  Mrs. Thomas C. Crawford

  Oclair

  DEAR MRS. CRAWFORD:

  Thank you for the copies of letters which you have exchanged with Ffossco Corporation, the Department of Conservation, and the Office of Geological Surveys.

  First let me say I am a great believer in preserving the natural beauty of our great State and I share your concern for the effect of drilling on the ecology. To this end, I have advised all state agencies to exercise the greatest diligence in overseeing the effects of oil production.

  I have checked with the appropriate departments regarding the matter on which you express concern, and they have convinced me that all necessary precautions have been taken. I have explained this to State Representative Milton Rudder, who has written me in your behalf.

  Your spirited accusation that the state is sympathetic to the oil companies because of the “millions of dollars in oil royalties you have raked in from wells on state land” is unfair. The interests of the State are at all times the same as the interests of its citizens. All royalties are placed directly in the general fund of the State Treasury, where they are appropriately disbursed. Only a small percentage goes for what you choose to call “the inflated salaries of incompetent bureaucrats.”

  I welcome your concern and appreciate your bringing this matter to my attention, and I look forward to visiting your lovely section of the State in the near future.

  WITH EVERY GOOD WISH I AM,

  John Liptonton, Governor

  Department of Conservation

  Department of Geological Survey

  Representative Milton Rudder

  TREE

  The Trust for Right Ecological Education

  Board Members

  Lewis K. Drit, Jr.

  Marian Louise Filliard

  Z. Kenneth Duncon

  Lucille Rister

  Karen Splashner

  Refern Nison

  Ward Simon Smithe, Executive Secretary

  October 12

  Mrs. Thomas Crawford

  Oclair

  DEAR MRS. CRAWFORD:

  As sympathetic as we are to your plight, we unfortunately do not have the manpower to give our attention to individual cases. It may be of some comfort to you to know that TREE itself has allowed drilling in its bird sanctuary, which is located only a few miles from you. The funds accruing from these wells have been of inestimable help in carrying out our crusade for good conservation practices.

  A membership blank is enclosed.

  SINCERELY YOURS,

  Ward Simon Smithe,

  Executive Secretary

  Ralston Clifter

  Counselor at Law

  761 Oak Street

  Oclair

  October 21

  Mrs. Thomas C. Crawford

  Oclair

  DEAR FRANCES,

  I am having my secretary, Betty Jean, return the file of letters you dropped off at the office the other day while I was at Rotary. I was sorry to have missed you. I’m afraid since Tom went, Elsie and I haven’t seen as much of you as we would like. Elsie is going to give you a ring real soon.

  As you know, I have always been glad to handle any legal work for you and Tom (after all, I figure I owe my life to Tom), however, in this case I’m afraid I cannot help you, as I am on a retainer to Ffossco Corporation and serve as their attorney in this area.

  Frankly, as an old friend of the family, my advice would be to trust Ffossco in this matter. I am sure you will find them more than decent once they know you wish to cooperate with them.

  WITH BEST REGARDS,

  Ral

  c.c. Ffossco Corporation

  Nehlville, Texas

  Kevin Loft, Attorney

  North Branch Plaza

  Oclair

  October 29

  Ms. Thomas C. Crawford

  Oclair

  DEAR MS. CRAWFORD:

  I was pleased to receive your letter. I share your concern for the environment, and your case is just the kind I have been looking for since moving here two months ago. Nothing is closer to my heart than the welfare of our beautiful woods and waters.

  Although I am just starting out, I know that it is important for attorney and client to understand exactly what is involved in “goi
ng to law.” Ffossco has the services of a full-time legal staff available to them, as well as their own geological experts. We, of course, would have to hire such experts. Furthermore precedent has favored the rights of owners of mineral rights over owners of surface rights. I am perfectly willing to help you, but win or loose, it is only fair that you understand that the cost to you may be considerable.

  I am looking forward to hearing from you on this matter in the near future.

  SINCERELY YOURS,

  Kevin North

  Pine County State Bank

  45 Maine Street

  Oclair

  November 2

  DEAR FRANCES,

  I am sorry to tell you it will not be possible for the bank to increase your mortgage. I’ve known you a long enough time to come right out and say that you have had difficulty in meeting your present payments. In addition, property values where owners do not have mineral rights have declined due to the proliferation of wells, so that our evaluation of your property at this time would be downward.

  If the decision were mine alone, you know I would be glad to oblige, but I am accountable to the bank’s investors.

  Hoping to be of service in the future,

  Ralph

  Ralston Clifter

  Counselor at Law

  761 Oak Street

  Oclair

  November 12

  Mrs. Thomas C. Crawford

  Oclair

  DEAR MRS. CRAWFORD:

  The Ffossco Corporation has asked me as their legal representative in this area to write to you regarding several questionable incidents occurring during the past weeks. On November 4th the company crew found a tree had been cut down in such a manner as to block a road they have constructed to a well site on your property. This was repeated on two further occasions. Holes have been dug in the road and nails and other sharp devices have been scattered about in the path of trucks. Valuable construction material was discovered in the river. This has resulted in considerable delay and expense to my client.

  Furthermore, signs posted on your property such as “KEEP OFF,” “SET GUNS,” and “WATCH OUT FOR LAND MINES” are considered to be undue harassment. If you do not cease and desist, legal action will be taken forthwith.