• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Over the Redwoodsby Les Simon
 To Hank Ridley, the old-growth redwoods of Northern California are magical.He grew up camping, fishing, and picnicking in the ancient groves, and nowevery time he’s in them, he still notices the way they smell, so vigorous andfull of life, particularly after a rain. When he and Abby Johnson werenineteen, they lost their virginity together at the base of the largest redwoodeither of them had ever seen, and married three months later. The tree’snot around any longer, but over the years other redwoods have witnessedhim in action with Anita, Sue, Francine, Augusta, and on separate occasions,the Caravel twins. Although these experiences have turned his marriage intoa disaster, they have nourished Hank with a powerful romantic passion forredwoods. He hasn’t admitted his feelings to a soul, but one night at TheRabbit Hutch he comes close to it, and then it is only after too many beers.“Picnicking and fucking beneath those tall canopies is the best,” he
 
Over the Redwoods
- Les Simon2says to Jack, his oldest friend and logging buddy.“You ought’a know,” Jack answers, pulling on his sixth or seventhbottle of Bud.“Hey, Jack? How long we been logging now? Twelve years?”“Something like that.”Hank shakes his head, “That’s a lot of redwoods.”“Damn straight it is,” Jack says. “And shit loads to go.”But Hank wonders about that. Logging redwoods has been going on along time, and his family has been at it longer than any he knows of. Thefirst in the line was his great grandfather, Isaac, then came his grandfather, Jerome. A year ago, his father, Earl, hung the chain saw up in the garageand retired. And now Hank’s two pre-adolescent sons are planning to carryon the family tradition. Somewhere deep within him he suspects theredwoods must be getting “pretty damn thin.” No one in the loggingcommunity is willing to talk about it, though, unless some hot environmentalactivists get in their faces with it and tell them things they don’t want tohear, like demand for the timber from the ancient redwoods is growing atalarming rates, and that an estimated three percent of these unique trees inthe Northwest remain standing. Clear cutting is the big issue. Both sidesarm themselves with various facts and figures, and promises, and areconstantly arguing over them, each accusing the other of not having correctinformation.Hank is confused about the whole thing. He drinks a bit more thanusual that night, and goes home depressed. The next day he cuts down
 
Over the Redwoods
- Les Simon3more redwoods, watches them get loaded and hauled away to the mill. Amida foul stench, he has seen them sliced, diced and pulverized into the mostamazing shapes. He’s watched wood workers turn them into the finest bowlsand picnic tables and fences and decks anyone has ever dreamed of.Everybody knows they make the perfect roofing shingles.Hank begins to struggle with an increasingly sympathetic view of theforest. This worries him for several reasons. Mostly, he is concerned whathis buddies will say if he lets on what he’s thinking. And if theenvironmentalists
are
right, how will his two sons make a living when theygrow up? Where will they have picnics when they have their own families?Of more immediate concern to Hank is the possibility that the forests will bewiped out before
he
is ready to retire. Then what will he do? Where shall hehave
his
picnics? And his escapades, if he is still willing and able? He checksaround and finds that much of the clear cut lands have been converted tovineyards, surely no place for trespassers. And in the remaining forests,owners are cracking down, hiring security guards to patrol their interests.With each day, and with each dropping of another redwood marked bythe supervisor, another question crashes rudely into Hank’s mind. And justas rudely he casts it aside and lugs the chain saw to yet another tree. Oneday he is sent into the section where a tree-sitting activist is ‘living.’ Just asmost every other logger and supervisor and middle manager in thecompany, Hank’s been in here before, though only once, and nearly hadwords with the woman. “Woman, hell!” Hank muses as he climbs out of thepickup. “She couldn’t be more than twenty-two.” He begins to prepare the
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...