Part 44 (2/2)

'So what brought you to Marfa?' Book asked.

'Fracking. That's my mission in life, to stop fracking.'

'Well, good to have something to do each day.'

'Are you mocking me?'

'No.'

'Aren't you pa.s.sionate about your work?'

'I am.'

'Me, too. I'm a very pa.s.sionate person.' She gave him a coy look. 'Who knows, if you play your cards right, you might find out how pa.s.sionate.'

'You want a beer? Or six?'

She smiled. 'It'll take more than that, cowboy.'

'Beers?'

'Charm.'

The waitress brought gla.s.ses of water and b.u.t.termilk biscuits with pecans and soft b.u.t.ter. Carla held up the water gla.s.s.

'That water,' she said, 'it's from the Igneous Aquifer. That's the aquifer Billy Bob's punching through to frack.'

'The aquifer Nathan thought he was contaminating?'

'Yep.'

'How do we prove it? The samples came back clean.'

'They came back legal. The shocking thing about fracking isn't what the industry does-s.h.i.+t, they thought it was brilliant to put diesel fuel down a well hole-but what's legal. Between the trillions of gallons of drinking water used to frack the wells and the billions of gallons of toxic chemicals put down into the earth, ten years from now we'll end up with lots of natural gas but no drinking water. Lots of jobs, but more people with cancer. Lots of energy, but more global warming ...'

The waitress brought their dinners, but Carla was on a fracking roll.

'Which is so stupid when the answer is staring at us: green energy. Solar, wind, hydro. Over time, green energy would create a lot of jobs, too, and no cancer, no carbon footprint, no global warming, no groundwater contamination, no earthquakes. If the people knew the truth about fracking, they'd rise up against it. But the industry hires New York PR firms to run disinformation campaigns to confuse the public, same thing they did with cigarettes. They say steel-and-cement casing prevents groundwater contamination, but they don't mention that the failure rate for casing is six percent immediately upon construction and fifty percent over thirty years. They say gases released into the air like benzene are safe, but they don't mention that breast cancer rates spike among women living above frack fields. They say fracking's been around for sixty years, but they don't mention that the amount of chemicals and pressure down hole for horizontal fracking is way more than for those vertical wells drilled back then. They learned from the tobacco companies: lying works. And the media says, ”Well, there's a big debate about fracking.” And the people hear that and believe it. And as long as there's a debate, the fracking continues ...'

Which continued into dessert.

'... And the industry touts the jobs. That's the big sales pitch. Jobs. Jobs to keep the ma.s.ses pacified. Politicians need to create jobs to get reelected, so they take the billion dollars a year the industry spends to lobby them and give the industry free rein to destroy the environment. Because politicians are inherently corrupt and evil. Like the G.o.dd.a.m.n oil and gas industry.'

Book listened attentively and ate the pecan pie then sipped his coffee throughout her impa.s.sioned plea. He had sat through many such pleas from environmental groups in Austin trying to save the springs, the river, the wilderness ... but no one had brought more pa.s.sion to the table than Carla Kent. She finally paused to take a breath; he waited to see if the lull were temporary or permanent. Her eyes danced with pa.s.sion, which made her even more attractive. She drank her beer and smiled.

'I'm done ranting.'

'Good.'

'I feel better now.'

'Good.'

'So, Professor, how do you feel about s.e.x after dinner?'

'Good.'

Chapter 31.

'Being gay in West Texas, that wasn't an easy thing for Nathan. It's a hard land with hard people.'

Brenda Jones knew about her husband's double life. It was the next morning, and Book and Carla had stopped off at Brenda's house to bring her up to date. They had called ahead; she had called Jimmy John. He wore his red jumpsuit; he had just gotten off the night s.h.i.+ft. He recoiled when he saw Carla on the front porch.

'We were more like brother and sister. Best friends. But I loved him, and he loved me, I know that. And we had been together since grade school, I couldn't imagine living without him. He was a sweet man, Professor. He took good care of me. He would've been a great dad. He saw on TV that babies in the womb could hear voices, so every night at bedtime he'd put his head close to my belly and read children's books to our baby.'

She looked down at her belly; when she looked up, her eyes were wet. She seemed to have aged ten years since Book had last seen her.

'Brenda, are you taking care of yourself?'

'I can't sleep without Nathan next to me.'

She wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

'After law school, he wanted to live in Austin, but I knew he'd have to face it every day, fighting his demons with so many gays there. Out here, there was no temptation. Until the artists came to town. I saw him weakening, and I knew he had given in to his demons.'

She paused.

'Why would he choose them over me, Professor?'

'Nathan didn't choose to be gay any more than you chose not to be. That's who he was. It's hardwired, like your blue eyes. Brenda, he tried not to be himself for you. But he didn't choose to be gay over you.'

She jerked and grabbed her belly.

'Whoa, he kicked me hard. He must want out.'

She blew out a breath and pondered her belly a moment then looked up at him.

'Professor, you don't think he'll be gay, too, do you?'

'Brenda, he's your son. You'll love him no matter what he is.'

Book turned to Jimmy John.

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