Repossession Man
by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Page 3 of 5
"Like what?"
"Like nothing. Keep quiet and watch."
"You need to explain something you do. I need to write my report. Do you chop down trees? Kill ecosystems and whatnot? Are you, like, nature's repo men?"
"Where do you learn this stuff?" her father asks.
"Mr. Keys."
"What a communist."
Candace looks at Lyle for an answer. "Well, what do you do?"
He tries to think of what he does, the press he writes to keep the protestors in line, the research on the Boreal Toad, the main hindrance to the expansion. The other day Jeff concluded their toad brainstorming meeting with: "The toad's been around forever. Their time is up."
"I write development ideas," Lyle says. "Then I sort of try to sell these ideas to the public without them thinking they're being sold anything."
"In Aspen they use biodiesel fuel in Snowcats," Candace says.
"So do we," Lyle says. "We just started that."
"Aspen has efficient snowmaking equipment," she says.
"Move to Aspen then," Jeff says. "Go find Hunter Thompson and trip out."
"He's dead," Candace says.
"Well, my bad," Jeff says.
"That equipment only cuts a few million gallons," Lyle says. "Shaves about four off of 160 million gallons of water, but you're right. It's a good public-pleasing policy. Easy pleasing."
"I want to do what you guys do," Candace says. "Sit around and think up ways to trick people and get away with stuff."
Jeff laughs. "Yeah, it's pretty cool. Don't look at me like that, Can. Everyone wants to save the earth at your age. Give it four years. You'll want an Escalade. Then diamonds. Then you'll want a coat that's made out of bunnies and dolphins or some crap."
"We don't trick people," Lyle says. "They make their own choices."
"But you lie in a way," she says.
"No," Lyle says. "I make suggestions for what one should desire."
He wants to ask her questions, too. Are you proud of your work? Do you lie? Do you love your father? Does he influence the bad choices you make? Do you doubt yourself? Why? Why don't you value yourself the way I do?
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