“Are you okay?”
“I’m the best I’ve been in a long time. Things are tense in the house, but I’m about to go home with a cup of forbidden liquid in my hands and a bag full of books my father would hate me reading just to prove my point. I feel… confident. I feel like I’m leading on some sort of march that will free my brothers as well. I had no idea they felt just as oppressed as I did.”
“I have to admit, I’m glad to see you. I’ve been thinking about you,” he said.
“Oh, really?” I asked. “I wonder why.”
“Not just because of that,” I said with a chuckle. “I was just… worried. That your father would squeeze you back into the life you’re trying to get away from.”
“Nope. I’m stronger than most people give me credit for. I just had to figure it out for myself.”
“That you are, Ava,” he said. “That you are.”
“So, tell me about this meeting you just had. What happened?” I asked.
“How much have I told you about my family’s company?” he asked.
“Not much. I only know that you have one.”
“Well, through our company we own part of Kettle. Most of the mountainous terrain.”
“I know that part,” I said.
“There’s a company who’s threatening us with all sorts of action to try and get us to sell.”
“Is that a thing companies can do?” I asked.
“It’s not kosher business practice, but yes. Currently, they’re threatening to get the government involved.”
“Why do they want your land so badly?”
“They want to put a gas line through the mountains. It’ll save them millions of dollars to cut through rather than go around. My family’s company was trying to stop the line from being settled though this town altogether, but our lawyer got us to compromise.”
“Was that your lawyer you were talking with?” I asked.
“Yep. I told him if we gave them an inch, they would take a mile. But he was certain that if we settled, they would leave us alone. So, my father and us all agreed to have them route the gas line through the valleys and around the mountains.”
“Which would still cost them millions more than just blasting them away,” I said.
“Exactly. Now, they want to buy the land from us for double what it's worth. But we aren’t selling. And now I’m having to investigate our options because this company’s getting serious about their accusations.”
“None of that seems legal. What did your lawyer say?” I asked.
“We can sue them for harassment and notify the U.S. government of the threats they are making, but beyond that there isn’t much we can do unless we can catch them doing something illegal.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s all your lawyer had to say?”
“Hence why I’m frustrated. My family purchased this land a very long time ago simply to preserve it. We run some hunts and a couple of camps and give out hunting permits, but that’s about it. That money gives us the property taxes on the land and the property taxes on the cabins we’ve built in the area, and that’s it. It’s not some big money-making scheme for us. It’s just to preserve the beauty of this town.”
“I think that’s a very noble thing to do,” I said. “Kettle’s a beautiful place. I couldn’t imagine it without its mountains.”
“And running a gas line is never just a gas line. Then y
ou need people to settle and work it, which means building more homes. Which means more grocery stores and more places for entertainment. It would bring the world into this small little town, and soon Kettle would be like every other industrial city in the nation.”
“That’s not okay. I have serious memories in this town that stem around how small and quaint it is,” I said.
“Our family single-handedly makes sure that stays intact. But this company that keeps reaming us is making it difficult.”