The Nubble Sanctuary

by
1. G. Fabiano
As the two were surveying the contours of the landscape, Dan snapped his head
back as though someone or something had hit him in the face. He fell down hard
landing on his back on top of some heavy brush. Henry quietly called over to ask
what the hell all the ruckus was. Dan, by this time, was holding on to the side of his
face. Shaking his head and cursing the situation, Henry ran over to see what had
happened. Very carefully Dan removed his hand from his cheek to show Henry
what the problem was. From the bottom of his right eye to below the right side of
his mouth was a deep six inch scratch. A gouge would be a better way to describe
the wound. Blood covered the side of Dan's face with splatters covering the front of
his shirt.
"What the hell did you walk into," half laughed Henry taking the opportunity to
make fun of his longtime boss.
"There is nothing here to run into, you jerk." Dan murmured as he looked away
from the mini-laughter of Henry. "Something came up to my face and attacked
me." Dan sobbed even though he was desperately trying to keep his composure.
Henry knowing that nothing lived on the sanctuary with the exception of a few
birds and rodents took the opportunity to again make fun of his boss. "I think
your imagining things." Henry responded. "Something probably fell off one of the
trees and you were lucky enough to walk into it." Henry then proceeded to return
to what he had been trying to do before Dan interrupted him.
The logic of Henry's statement settled Dan down even though he was very
concerned over the blood flow down his face and onto his shirt. The expression on
Dan's face made Henry smile. Dan then ranted on about his lousy luck which then
caused Henry to begin a full fledged belly laugh. Dan followed with a few giggles
himself but because he was feeling pain he couldn't get himself to completely enjoy
the moment. Because Dan's face did not stop bleeding they both decided to get him
to a doctor to check the wound and see if he needed stitches. Their moods were
generally light until they both heard a large roar of what sounded like an oversized
house cat.
The two of them stared at each other hoping that the sound was only a figment of
their imagination. The area showing no signs of movement before now started
howling as though a summer nor-easter was approaching. Dan and Henry could
not feel any wind.
The right side of Dan's face was now throbbing but because he started to
experience fear, the pain seemed the lesser of the two problems. Henry broke the
silence and succinctly said, " Let's get the hell out of here!" Dan didn't have to
answer because he just followed Henry into what he thought was the way out.
The trees and the bushes were now swaying back and forth as though they were in
the midst of a major storm. The two men still couldn't feel any wind. Darkness
seemed to be enveloping the area even though it was long after sunrise. To make
things worse, even though Henry swore that he was back tracking his way toward
where they entered the sanctuary the trees and underbrush kept getting thicker.
They also not only couldn't feel any wind, they couldn't see any signs of an
upcoming storm in the sky. The only thing they did hear was that damn screeching
of something that sounded like a very angry cat.
"Do you know where the hell you are going!", screamed Dan now knowing that
they were probably going around in circles.
"Blow it out your nose", retorted Henry not caring who had or who would
continue to have the roll of boss in their relationship. Dan could see that Henry
was now beginning to panic, for the man never got himself even close to lost before.
In fact, Henry knew he didn't get lost, something else did. Something that was now
scaring the be-1esus out of him. Something he didn't want to know but knew in his
soul that he did. The trees were now swaying back and forth as though they were
in the midst of ripping themselves out of the ground.
Henry showing that he had begun to panic saw a large rock on the edge of a group
of trees overlooking what seemed to be a small ocean inlet. Leaving Dan to tend for
himself he climbed the rock to try and get his bearings. Dan followed in the hopes
that this could be the lost exit. Dan's right eye was nearly closed but he didn't need
both eyes to see what occurred in the next few seconds.
The selectman's meeting started like every other selectman's meeting started over
the past two hundred or so years. First the town fathers arrived to have their mini-
meeting in the chief of police's office located behind the senior citizen's hall. Now
I'm not talking about the selectmen who are elected by the whole citizenry. I am
speaking of the real town fathers who are the great-great-great grand sons of the
pioneers of the Town of Kroy. Peter Rush, Philip Leighton, Arthur Weare, and
1amie Freeman were but a few of the twelve or so names now occupying the second
largest room the town had to offer.
Many, if not most of the townspeople, thought that these men were the individuals
who really made the important decisions that the town had to make. Not the
selectmen. Not those five elected officials who always seemed to know what
questions were to be asked. If they were, every now and then surprised, their
answers still resembled the answers to the questions that were supposed to be
asked. These same selectmen, or I should now say select-people because there was
a woman on the board, arrived about an hour before the meeting was to begin.
And a half-hour after the town fathers had arrived.
This particular meeting had a greater purpose than most. It was to both debate
and decide on a new planning system the town had desperately needed ever since
the land values on the coast of Maine doubled if not tripled in value. The goat-
ropers, as the locals were known to call all new settlers in Kroy, were arriving in
such large numbers that the higher the locals sold off their lands the more these
people wanted to buy. This is where the problem begins. The school, water
systems, and even sewer systems were calibrated to a small slow moving coastal
community. Its population was only supposed to swell during the summer months.
Because the summer only lasted for a maximum of ten weeks, this temporary
population problem disappeared before it could produce any permanent damage.
Now the population was swelling with both intensity and permanence. The local
builders, at first, were able to handle this growth in needed housing. Because of the
large amounts of money that could be made from this population explosion, the big
city contractors started buying up the small local contractors with such fervor that
the old local cabinet maker builder was becoming extinct. With their extinction
was the disappearance of the responsibility to restore the natural beauty of the
lands that were to be developed. This was the reason for the out of the ordinary
town meeting.
The concerned citizens arrived approximately twenty minutes before the meeting
was to begin. The early arrivals hoped to be able to have some insight and friendly
conversation with the powers before the meeting. Not that this swayed the minds of
the power holders. It just made the common citizen feel important. Some of these
early arrivals also had hopes of one day showing their importance by becoming a
selectman. Never a town father though because your great-great-great grandfather
had to have been born into that position.
The regulars were next to arrive. They did not dally in the outside vestibule to try
and talk to the principals. They simply went into the main auditorium and took
their usual seats next to their usual friends. The rest of the concerned citizens
finally arrived to take what seats were left or to just stand in the back of the room.
They hoped that they would understand what was about to begin. A few minutes
before eight o'clock PM the room was full to capacity.
Everyone who was fortunate enough to get a seat and even those who were
standing against their portion of the wall always seem to stare around the now
ancient auditorium. Even though most had been there countless times before. The
room reeked with age and character. Not long ago a group of organized goat-
ropers wanted to build a new civic center and meeting house. This idea was easily
defeated because the whole concept of a selectmen's meeting without using the
ancient auditorium seemed utterly absurd.
The walls of the auditorium were obviously white washed hundreds of times before
because every now and then you could see paints of years past through a crack or a
chip in the most recent coat. The older the paints the creamier the color. The
ceiling also gave away its age by not only being a ceiling of an auditorium but also
a work of sculpture. Its hand carved embroidery was a glimpse into a perfection of
past workmanship. The lights were also sculptured into the design of the ceiling
with their bases continuing the pattern. The large now manila bulbs were yellowed
to a point where the one hundred-watt bulbs could only illuminate the light to the
intensity of an early sunrise. As long as nature would allow it, the people of Kroy
would keep this building for the citizen's place to meet.
The selectmen would be the last to enter. All sounds would cease long before that.
Yes, you probably guessed it. As soon as the fathers of the town entered the now
full room and took their place toward the back by their section of the wall the
buzzing and whispering quieted down. The selectmen finally entered and
traditionally called the meeting to order.
Unlike all other meetings this particular assembly had a new presence in the form
of a slightly obese balding man in the front row. He was known all over town as the
king of the goat-ropers. The man who, as he says, united all the contractors of the
area to reap the maximum benefits from the still growing building boom. If you
talk in confidence to both the young and older builders you would hear a different
story. This guy was slicker than a new born worm kind of thief.
His name was Danny Popka. He was of Greek decent and Italian Heritage.
Massachusetts based, he made his millions by making rural Nashua into an
industrial giant. After draining that city of all the natural resources it had he
decided to make Kroy his next target for total industrialization. Or as many of the
locals put it. Total castration. What a perfect choice. Kroy had been known for its
endless supply of empty lots covered by grandfather type zoning. Danny Popka's
now famous quote was that Kroy's beauty was second only to its opportunity for
wealth. His wealth. Calling Kroy beautiful was not the greatest of compliments for
the town because Danny's only views of beauty had to come from the potential of
an ever-growing bottom line.
He was now sitting in the front row waiting for his turn to address the meeting. He
was wearing his customary light tan five hundred-dollar suit. It was an impeccable
fit for a man thirty to forty pounds over weight. He was extremely clean shaven
and because the top of his head had absolutely no hair, it had the ability to shine
under the ancient lights overhead. On his right was his local attorney, Bill Hisheen.
Billy had barely kept himself above water before Dan came to town because he had
the reputation that he would sell his mother's soul in order to make a buck. If
there was ever a definition for legal weasel, Billy Hisheen was it. 1ust the type of
attorney Danny could associate with and also control. To Danny's left was his
corporate lawyer dressed in the same type of suit Dan had been wearing. His name
was Arthur Gukler. He was the man that held the real legal power under, of
course, Dan.
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The meeting had many different items on its agenda that included renewals of
liquor licenses, entertainment licenses, variances, and discussions concerning
everything from sodium light control to crosswalks. About half way through the
meeting the chairman of the board of selectmen opened up the discussion on
whether or not the town should enact a building ordinance to override the existing
grandfather ordinances concerning a building moratorium.
The discussions began with citizen after citizen stating that the reason they moved
to Kroy was because of its rural safe nature. They argued that the openness of
Kroy's fields were meant to end only at the rocky shorelines of its beaches. One
after one they reiterated that their children and their old were happy in this
setting. They warned that any non-controllable urbanization program would not
only destroy the natural beauty of the area but also put an end to the life style that
they and most other inhabitants learned to love. Discussion continued and ended in
screams of agreement only to be quieted down by the chairman of the board
banging the now one hundred plus year old gavel on the well over one hundred
year old head table. The only people in the audience who remained silent were the
town fathers who seemed more solemn than they usually were. Their anxiety was
obviously breaching on sadness. This sadness on despair.
The meeting rambled on for over two hours before the town attorney for Mr.
Popka asked to be recognized. With some quiet moans and groans Billy rose and
began to speak in an extremely nervous tone. He stated that it was always possible
for any town to change laws that were made years before. Poor hapless Billy was
shouted down after his statement to the point that all in the room thought he was
going to break down and cry. Even before he sat down the meeting lost its Robert's
Rules etiquette by having people stand unrecognized to voice their displeasure
toward Billy's comments.
It was if the Pope himself walked into the room when Dan Popka raised his hand
to become recognized to speak. The room immediately quieted down to hear what
the newly ordained King of Kroy's industrialized future had to say. And say he
did. Standing in the middle of the front of the room he turned toward the now
silent crowd and stated the laws according to power and money.
"First of all", Dan smoothly stated, "there is not enough money in all of Kroy and
in all of your homes to stop me from building where I want to build".
He said this so point blankly that the only people he did not shock were the town
fathers. It was as if they had been in attendance at a similar meeting before. Dan
was obviously taking his time so that all could ingest the reality he just expressed.
He kept the silence going by saying nothing. He just stared into the crowd finding,
as many eyes as he could that were not focused down at their feet or hands.
"Secondly", Dan finally continued, "if I did decide to move on. You would be left
with such a massive loss of revenue due to lost tax dollars that your roads and
town properties would disintegrate before your very eyes."
Again he hesitated to continue and clearly saw that most of the eyes of the people
of Kroy were propelled down to their shoes forced by the power which was being
displayed before them. Except, of course, for the town fathers who just stared into
the space in front of the selectmen's desk that happened to be occupied by Dan
Popka?