Page 29 of The Northern Lights in His Eyes

“It looks cold” was all Arnie replied.

“So? It’s cold. The summers in LA are beastly hot, and you spend all your time in an air-conditioned building. So what’s the difference?” He stood near the windows, looking out over the frozen land.

“Okay. Whatever you say. I’ll send you the meeting details, and you send me your flight information. I’ll pick you up at the airport when you get in.”

“Thanks. I’ll let you know.” William ended the call and found Garvin talking with Enrique.

“There’s nothing more that we can do right now. The troopers will continue to look into things, but we can’t go back up there now. Too much visibility, and the mining company is certain to have people up there cleaning up and getting their things out, so anything we find will have been sanitized.”

“Okay. So what’s next? They can’t just get away with this.”

Enrique shrugged. “There will be a hearing on the mining company’s license, and we’ll have to make sure that we’re there. It’s the one way we are sure to make them pay. If they can’t mine anymore, then all their resources will be spent for nothing. Also, there is a fine for breaking the rules.”

William sighed. “It seems so anticlimactic. I want some big finish with the mine going up in flames and the people responsible getting gunned down in a hail of bullets.”

Garvin chuckled. “You’re such a drama queen.”

“But am I wrong?” William turned to Enrique. “It seems like a letdown, even though I’m happy that there wasn’t any violence. But still it feels like we should do something.”

“We can’t, not now. The weather is calling for more snow, and that means that we’ll be shut in again. All we can do is hunker down once more and wait it out. Hopefully this will be the end of these storms and spring will start to come.” Even as he said the words, the wind came up and blew snow off the roof in a sheet of white that obliterated the view of everything else. “Whatever is up there to find is going to be buried under even more snow, and if the wind picks up, any indication of what happened will be covered over.”

“Okay,” William said. “But we can do something. I can talk to Arnie and see if we can get someone to help us fight them legally. The police are doing what they can, but someone needs to speak for us. The mining company will send lawyers and lobbyists to do their talking in Juneau.”

Garvin drew him closer. “Us? I like the sound of that.”

“Yes. Every one of us who wants this area to remain as unspoiled as possible.” William looked around. “All the people in here fish, right? What if the mine damages the river? What if the avalanche hurt animals and other game that are just trying to make it through the winter? They were killed, and it will take time for their numbers to be replaced. So less hunting.” He could suddenly see the various cycles of life that could be interrupted by carelessness and greed, and it made him angry.

Enrique patted his shoulder. “Go ahead. We could use any help we can get.”

“Okay. Let me see what I can come up with. Arnie knows plenty of lawyers, and they’ll have to have contacts up here.” He pulled out his phone and sent Arnie a message, telling him what he needed. Arnie sent back questions, and William briefly explained the issue. “Arnie says he’ll put out some feelers to see what he can find out.”

Garvin leaned closer. “Do you think he’ll help?”

William smiled. “Yeah, he will. Not only does he want to keep me happy, but Arnie is a member of the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and a few other organizations. He’s a big-time tree hugger, so this sort of thing makes him really angry.”

“Okay, then. We’ll wait until he gets back to us on that front,” Enrique said. “And thank you. Mining is such big business that it can be hard for us to make our voices loud enough.”

William had no doubts about Arnie and his ability to be heard. “He deals with the sharks in the fashion industry as well as Hollywood all the time. Arnie is more than a match for them.” He actually thought it would be interesting to see the mining company go toe-to-toe with Arnie and his people. After an hour, those miners would be more than happy to crawl into their holes in the ground and never come out again.

“Good.” Enrique stayed with them until the troopers finished with the miners. The group then sat at one of the tables and ordered food. Apparently they were feeling more conciliatory at the moment.

Sasha stayed close, situated right between them, watching the table of miners in case they did anything they shouldn’t.

Garvin gently stroked his head. “You know, Sasha is going to miss you when you’re gone.”

William smiled. “I bet he’s just waiting for me to go so he can take back my side the bed.” He tried to play it off as humor, but it fell kind of flat.

“No. Really.”

William nodded. “I’m going to miss him too.” And the truth was that he was going to miss Garvin so much it frightened him. But there was no need to bring that up. William had to leave so he could get back to work. He had responsibilities and commitments to meet. “But I’ll be back,” he promised as he looked at Sasha. “I won’t forget you, and I’ll definitely come back to see you.” While he was talking to the dog, the words were for Garvin.

“When were you planning to come?” Garvin asked, his voice rough but soft.

“I don’t know. I was thinking that once I get this deal completed with P&G, I could come up here again for a while. I have to go to Paris in April for the spring shows.” His calendar was filling up pretty quickly.

“And when will they need you to start filming?” Garvin asked. William knew that once these decisions were made, filming began quickly because time was money to these people. “You don’t have to answer that. Your expression says it all.” He drank the last of his coffee and set the mug on the table. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go back to the cabin. I have things to do in order to get ready in case we get snowed in again. Maybe we can take a run to Anchorage to lay in some supplies.”

“Okay.” William wished he could see a way out of this, but his work was back in LA. Maybe this entire trip had been a mistake. Just like his friends thought he always did, William had rushed headlong into something without considering the consequences. He had come up here because he wanted to see Garvin. Things between them had progressed better than William had ever hoped… but now he had to leave again. His lack of planning had probably left both of them worse off in the long run.

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