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CHAPTER XI
KALI, July 30 Monday afternoon
Whisker and claw, they crouch in the night
Their five eyes smoldering green and bright Walter De La Mareats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of. Sir Walter Scott "Hsst!" I was curled up on the boom, enjoying the warm sun on my fur, when I heard it. I lifted my head and looked around but didn't see anything. Must have been dreaming, I told myself. Sam had left a few hours earlier, so I knew it couldn't be him. I closed my eyes and heard it again. "Hsst! Blowboater! Over here." This time the voice sounded familiar. I looked down the dock, just in time to see a yellow head pop up from a space beside a piling. "Cyclops! What are you doing here?" "You're alone, right?" he growled, and when I purred an affirmative he stepped closer. "There's a meeting at the Community Center to talk about the offshore drilling. Scarlet, Toots and I are going. Want to come?" "How?" I asked in bewilderment. "Is it open to cats?" "Heck no! We cats are never invited to anything. But we don't need an invitation. It's our island, remember!" He pointed toward the Community Store porch. "Meet us under there a little before dark. And," he added, "don't get the ducks all riled up when you come!" With that he was gone, slipping back onto some hidden board beneath the dock. I had no idea what they were planning, but it sounded like an adventure, and I was up for it. When the sun started to slip toward the horizon, I slipped up to the bow and hopped across to the dock. The ducks weren't around so it was easy to slink across the parking lot to the porch. Toots was there, waiting for me. "Come on!" she cried. "We're meeting the others there. It's a long way.” HARVEY, July 30 Monday evening The disposition of noble dogs is to be gentle with people they know
and the opposite with people they don’t know… Plato The night of the meeting had come. Emily said that Rakes’ lawyer thought she could convince the residents of Ocracoke of all the benefits of offshore oil drilling. “Hah!” she said. “She doesn’t know the people here!” Emily was planning to speak, and she was, as she expressed it, scared to death. "But what was the use of my spending four years studying Marine Biology," was how she put it to me, "if I don't tell what I learned there? And I know how much damage this drilling thing could do to this island!" She spent hours pouring over her books, looking up facts. I tried to let her know that I thought she'd do just fine, but she’d been jumpy as a scared rabbit all week. I watched her get ready, putting on nice black jeans and a blue button-down shirt and putting her hair up in a knot. I was bound and determined to go with her, and I had a heck of a time convincing her, but I finally succeeded. "All right, but we'll have to go early so I can find a parking spot with shade," she told me. We were one of the first ones there. We parked under a big cedar tree, just in time to see three cats slip across the parking lot and creep under the Community Center. I wasn't sure, but one of them looked like that cat that got me in so much trouble. Kali, I think her name was. I jumped up against the window and barked, just to let them know they'd been seen. Meanwhile Emily filled up my water bowl and got out to join the crowd that was quickly forming at the front of the building. There were people in jeans and T-shirts, fishing boots, shorts, even a few who were dressed up, though I didn't know them. I recognized most of them and wagged my tail, but then I caught a glimpse of someone familiar standing over at the side, his bald head shining like a slick tennis ball, and I felt the hair on my back stand straight up. KALI, July 30 Monday evening The cat is, above all things, a dramatist—
Margaret Benson I followed her lead, having no idea where we were going. We worked our way along the shore, darting from building to building. "Rigs won’t be coming,” Toots explained. “His coughing might give us away. Hope you're not claustrophobic!" she added, when we finally approached a big gray building near the other end of town. "We'll be sitting in a heating duct." I heard a familiar hsst, and saw a movement under the building. We joined Cyclops and Scarlet and watched the action for a while. Cars and pickup trucks were beginning to pull up, and soon the parking lot was full. I heard a dog bark that sounded familiar and, glancing toward some trees, recognized that brute of Emily’s. She opened the door and got out; then reached her hand back through the partly open window to scratch his nose before starting toward the building. The cars kept coming, and soon they started parking on the street. People were coming from everywhere. They stood outside in little groups, and we could hear them talking. I recognized several people, including a couple of the fishermen Sam fished with. Cyclops seemed to know half the town. "There's Mac, he's the county commissioner." He pointed to a rather thin man wearing coveralls. "And that's Benjamin. He's a lawyer and owns the Seaside Motel. Oh, and that lady with dark curly hair is president of Ocracats. Watch out for her. If she sees you don't have an ear snip she'll be after you!'" I touched my ear self-consciously, feeling a little ashamed of my unmarked status. I certainly didn’t want to get cut open again! But Scarlet chimed in with her soft purr, “Don’t let him prejudice you. She and that lady she’s with buy big bags of Purina Cat Chow and leave it out for us to eat. They’ve kept a lot of us island cats from going hungry. Why, I’ve not been above having a few meals myself.” Toots nodded in agreement. People started heading up the ramp that led to the building, and I almost meowed out loud when I realized one of them was Sam. Most everyone had gone inside. Cyclops motioned for us to follow him. We crawled far under the building till we came to an opening in the floor. It felt creepy sliding through the metal duct, but the others seemed to know what they were doing. Soon we stopped, and I realized that I could hear voices above me quite clearly. “Stretch out and get comfortable,” Toots mewed back at me. “We’ll be here for a while.” I was complaining to Toots about getting my paws dirty in that duct when Cyclops growled to be quiet. Someone was saying "Good evening, what a big crowd, and thank you all for coming." "That's the county commissioner!" I heard Scarlet, who was behind me, whisper. "We're here tonight to learn more about the possibilities of having an offshore oil drilling operation near Ocracoke" he said. “First we'll listen to one of the attorneys from Oxxon tell us how it works and what the benefits are. Then an attorney for Coastal Protection will speak, after which the floor will be open for questions and comments. Please refrain from speaking until you're called on." The lawyer from Oxxon was a lady with a very pleasant voice. She went on for a while describing how Oxxon had obtained a lease from the government in 1981 but had not until recently decided to act on it. Now they just wanted to do some exploratory work. It might be that there wasn't any oil or gas out there, in which case they would drop the whole thing, she said. If by chance they happened to find oil, they would be very careful of the environment as they proceeded. “And,” she added, “the operation would provide the locals with great jobs.” I heard someone snort at that. “Huh! I’ll bet!” The next speaker was a man from Manteo who represented an environmental group called Save the Sea. He talked about what oil drilling had done to the Louisiana coast. I’d heard it all from Riggs, and I’d seen exactly what oil could do to a cat, so I started purring in support till Cyclops batted me with a paw. ”Shh!” he spat. “We don’t want them to hear us!” A lot of islanders spoke, and I was pretty sure I recognized the voice of that Emily girl with the dog. She really cat-blasted the oil-drilling people and she sounded real convincing. I couldn’t help liking her a little better as a result. The lawyer started arguing with her, and then an angry man’s voice rose up louder than the rest, saying something about ignorant fishermen who didn’t know anything. Cyclops hissed to us, “That’s the man Riggs was talking about!” Voices started getting louder, with a lot of yelling and caterwauling. The county commissioner banged on the desk and said it was time to adjourn, and Cyclops hissed, “That’s our signal to get out of here.” HARVEY, July 30 Monday evening after the meeting This dog, only, waited on, knowing that when light is gone love remains for shining
Elizabeth Barrett Browning I curled up in the seat of the truck for a while, but I kept an ear out for the goings-on inside. I heard what sounded like angry voices and then a banging inside the building, so I jumped up and looked out the window. A few shadowy forms slipped under a car not far away, and I heard a sound that sounded suspiciously like a meow. Before I had a chance to look closer, the doors opened and people began pouring out into the parking lot. Emily came out with a crowd of people, including Mickey and George, all talking at once. “Ooh,” I heard Emily cry, “I can’t believe he had the nerve to say that! I’d like to punch him!” I didn’t hear her say a name, but I was pretty sure I knew who she was talking about. Before long I saw Rakes swagger out and head the other way, a well-dressed lady at his side. Emily and her friends talked for a few minutes. Her friend Sam joined them, and he walked with her as she came back to the truck. I barked a few times, just to let them know I was on top of things, as Emily opened the truck door. She got in and he reached over and patted her shoulder. “Hang in there, Emily. Don’t let him get to you.” He walked over to his bicycle and, after giving me a hug, Emily started the truck and we went home. KALI, July 30 Monday evening after the meeting Pussycat pussycat where have you been?
Mother Goose We slipped back out the duct and slunk along the fence till we were away from the crowd. Then we sauntered back the way we’d come. Cyclops, Toots, and Scarlet stopped off at the Fish House and I hurried back to the Mary Bee. Sam was back on the boat, looking in cabinets and calling my name, when I hopped across the bow and slipped through a porthole into the cabin. He scooped me up and cried in surprise, “Kali! Where were you? And how on earth did you get so dirty?” I jumped out of his arms and gave him a haughty look before checking my cat dish, as if I had no idea what he was talking about. It took me an hour to clean all my fur on that night.    |
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