Chapter 2
Throw a Monkey Wrench in the Works Out for the Best
TRE
“Hey, how was that show last night?” I nearly have to shout to be heard above the noise.
“Oh man, she kicks ass. You should’ve come with us,” Ewan calls over the counter to where I’m working the grill.
“Dude, look around.” The diner’s packed, and I’m nearly done with the last tickets from the dinner rush, but I’m glad for the distraction.
Ewan doesn’t have the same perspective on work-life balance that I do, which is part of why we’re friends.
He helps make sure I take some time away once in a while.
Plus, when you spend all summer working as a rafting guide, a lot of your work hours are still pretty fun.
“I can’t just take off to go to a concert in Portland on Friday night.
Especially for someone I don’t even know. ”
“Tre, I’ve told you to listen to Bishop Briggs like five times. Come on, man.”
“Yeah, alright. I’ll check her out. You couldn’t have had that much fun, though, if you all made it back here for work in the morning.” I smirk, even though he can’t see my face.
“It’s a good thing, too. Beautiful day. River’s running high. It’s perfect.”
“Awesome. I’ve been looking forward to getting out there.”
“Hey, uh… Bad news, man.”
“What’s that?” I ask over my shoulder.
“I won’t be able to go on the rafting trip.”
“What?” I turn from the flattop to face Ewan. “Say that again.”
“Yeah, sorry man. I can’t go.”
“Ewan, you’re our guide. You have to go.” I am no longer glad for the distraction.
“I know, I’m sorry. Kyle’ll go with you.”
“Great. Kyle,” I mutter as I turn back to the grill, trying to make sure nothing burned while I looked away.
“He’s fine. He knows the river.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure both words he says all weekend will be a lot of fun.”
I take a minute plating the meals and set them out for Sandy. “Order up!” With no more tickets right now, I step over to the counter where Ewan is sitting. He’s sipping a mug of coffee, watching me over its rim.
“We do this every year, and we planned this year’s trip weeks ago. Why can’t you go all of a sudden?”
Ewan winces as he sets his mug down. “I’m, uh, going climbing with Fiona now.”
“Are you kidding me?” I don’t bother hiding my irritation.
“Look, it’s her first summer back. It’s finally warm and dry enough to climb, and that’s the one outdoor sport she actually likes. She asked if I’d join them, so I had to say yes.”
“Them? She’s already going with people and she still had to get you? It’s not enough to support ruining Kalomish with these developments? She has to ruin our rafting trip, too?”
“Hey, enough man. I swear, you two are exactly the same. If you’d shut up and talk to each other for five minutes, you’d probably be friends.”
“Fine, whatever. But you’re paying for your burgers now,” I grumble, returning to the grill as Sandy walks over with a new ticket.
“There’s always someone who wants to sit around until closing,” Sandy complains from halfway down the counter where she’s completing the last of her side work, having already bussed all the dishes.
“Well, I’m here all the time, so some of the guys like to hang out.” The only occupied booth erupts with laughter, as if to punctuate my point. “I’ll stay. You can clock out.”
“I know, but it’s not just them. Even if they don’t have anywhere to go, don’t they realize the rest of us would rather spend Saturday night doing something a little more fun?” Sandy asks in mock-indignation.
“Oh, you’ve got a hot date planned. I see.
Let me guess, you’re finally giving Eddie that chance he’s been literally begging for since high school?
You know that eye is perfectly functional, it just looks like that,” I tease with a grin as I walk back to the kitchen to run the final load through the dishwasher.
“Ugh, please. I wouldn’t date that little creep if he looked like Henry Cavill. I bet he got that job at the gym so he can stare at all the girls while they work out. Anyway, I do have a date tonight, and no, it’s none of your business who it’s with. I’ve finished up here. I’m ready to head out.”
“Okay, I’ll walk you to your car.” I hold open the back door for her.
“Tre, nobody is going to attack me in the parking lot. This is Kalomish.” She dismisses me with a shake of her blond head. “You know, you should work on getting yourself a hot date sometime. You’re here too much.”
“Thank you for the life advice,” I reply dryly, “but the diner doesn’t run itself. Have fun, Sandy.”
“Later Tre.”
I stand in the doorway until she gets into her car, then go back inside.
I walk to the front door, flip the sign around so it says that we’re ‘Closed. Come back tomorrow’, then switch off the neon ‘Open’ light in the window.
“What happened to Sandy?” Jordan asks.
“It’s already after closing. Unlike you losers, she has a life to get to.”
“At least we’re not working after hours,” Cade fires back.
I grab the coffeepot from the machine and carry it plus my mug to the booth, sliding in next to Lucas.
“Thanks,” his low voice rumbles as he refills his cup.
“I know these two lovebirds have nothing going on,” I say, gesturing to Cade and Jordan, “but what are you doing here on a Saturday night? Shouldn’t you be on a date with that girl Emma, or Emmy, or whatever her name is?”
“Mmm. Last night I found out she was… keeping her options open.” Lucas scowls into his coffee cup.
“I’m sorry, dude. That sucks. Speaking of things that suck, did Ewan tell you guys about our trip?”
Everyone shakes their heads, and I sigh. “He’s not going rafting with us,” I say, and everyone demands to know why at the same time. “Apparently he’s ditching us to go climbing with his sister and her friends.”
“Ah, okay.” Jordan nods, his mop of red hair bouncing, while Lucas sits back, the tension leaving the muscles under his dark skin.
“Well, who the hell’s going to be our guide? We can’t run the river ourselves!” Cade says with an appropriate amount of outrage.
“Kyle.”
“Oh great, Kyle.” Cade rolls his eyes.
“Thank you! That’s what I said.”
Eventually, I kick them out with the not-untrue excuse of working early tomorrow morning.
I spend the following thirty minutes cleaning and finishing closing duties.
After the regular tasks are done, I haul a fifty-pound bag of sugar from the storage room out to my car, which is the only vehicle left in the parking lot.
I put the bag in my trunk, then return to the diner to lock up.
Beginning my long commute home, I walk along the sidewalk halfway down the building and then unlock the street-level entry door to my apartment’s shared vestibule.
I stop long enough to check my mailbox, but find nothing and climb the two flights of stairs to my top-floor apartment, which occupies half of the building above the diner.
It’s late enough that I don’t encounter my neighbors as I head inside and lock the door behind me.
I check my watch. It’s already eleven-forty-five.
I walk back to my bedroom and change out of my grease-spattered clothes, replacing them with loose-fitting dark jeans and a black turtleneck.
I finish getting ready by putting on my old hiking boots and taking a pair of black leather gloves from the small coat closet near the door.
Even though I gathered my gear before work today, I double check my tool bag has everything I’ll need: ratchet set, screwdrivers, hammer, rubber mallet, pry bar, electric reciprocating saw, spare battery, and, of course, the monkey wrench.
The headlights cut a lonely path through the darkness as I wend my way up the steep mountain road.
The main Henley and Montank construction site is near the summit of Bridal Mountain, where they’re building the terminal for the aerial gondola system.
This small, two-lane road is the only way up or down the mountain, and for decades, that’s all we’ve needed.
Hell, building this road was a major controversy back in the eighties when my granddad pushed it through the town council to aid his ski resort development over on Brooks Mountain.
People are only using it for recreational hiking and hunting trips these days, but that’s not making money for any greedy assholes, so of course it can’t be allowed.
We’ve been trying to stop the Henley and Montank developers in court for the last two years, but even with active cases and a temporary injunction, they’re still contaminating Hay Creek and wrecking the ecosystem on Bridal Mountain.
The legal system doesn’t take action against corporations when they basically wave money in the faces of judges, city councils, state regulators, sheriffs, whoever.
Fuck them all. Especially fuck Jacob. That arrogant prick thinks he can get away with selling off our town to some evil corporation that will trash our forests, pollute our water, and kill our wildlife in the name of tourism, which will increase the overuse of the environment.
He’s about to learn. If they won’t follow the rules, there’s no reason for us to.
It’s the same with those pointless town hall meetings where they never listen.
We’ve been trying to work within the process to fight for the land, but it’s clear that those meetings will never stop anything.
They’re nothing but propaganda to keep people feeling like they might make a difference while lying to convince them this development is a good idea.