“Coal burns and gives off sulfur dioxide as wells as nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide. These gases cause acid rain and global warming.” He writes this down in a small notebook. “This is why we shouldn’t use coal. However, coal is our number one source of fossil fuel. It’s used in the generation of electricity.” He writes this down. She puts her hand on his thigh and gently squeezes her fingernails into the skin.
“What are you doing, honey?” She sits up and wraps her arms around his stomach. “lay back down.” She breathes on his ear.
“I can’t. I have to think about the opposition’s argument against coal. It would look bad if I didn’t think about the counter points of the environmentalists.” He stands up feeling the wind between his legs. He walks over to his desk and picks up a briefcase. “I’ll be up late. After the hearing tomorrow, I’ll be able to rest easy, but until then I need to get this work done. I’ll be to bed early tomorrow and then we can have fun.”
“What about Clay Town?” She brushes her hair around the lobe of her ear.
“Coal fires happen all the time. It can’t be representative of all coal mines. Most coal mines today have safety codes in practice to prevent that. It’s only the fires that started before the safety codes were put in action. Coal mines today are biased against hiring smokers, because of this. The data from their hiring practices confirms this. However, I like your thinking. You’re keeping me on my toes.” He smiles at her then leaves the bedroom.
“Do you honestly think defending coal mines will benefit the world?” She asks as he leaves the room.
“It’s heroin and America’s addicted. We’re not getting off fossil fuels anytime soon.” He shuts the door behind him.
The hardwood floor creaks and moans as he walks. The clock on the wall reads three a.m. The pale moon shines through the glass doors leading to the back patio. Snow glistens in the moonlight and the small tracks of rabbits and other small game dot trails leading from the patio to the back yard.
He stands at the obsidian colored formica counter. He walks over to the sink and fills up the coffee pot. He slows the water pour and tops off the pot.
While pouring the water into the resevoir of the coffee maker, he looks through the kitchen window. He sees the girl, she lays on her bed and sips from a glass of alcohol. She lights a cigarette and inhales. The light shines on her body and she traces an imaginary circle in the air with the cherry of the cigarette. She’s talking to herself.
Well, I don’t think I should be watching this, he thinks. He turns away and puts coffee grounds into the filter and puts the filter in the coffee maker. He pushes the switch and sits facing the coffee machine and turns on the overhead light. He scribbles a line across the top of the paper. It doesn’t matter, she can’t see me. I could look all I want, I could stare at her. No, I need to work on this for the hearing. He scratches his chest and listens to the sound of the coffee maker. He looks down at his notebook and begins to write.
Coal gives off these gases, but it is possible with filters to lower the levels of these gases to non-worrisome levels. There’s got to be a better word than non-worrisome, he thinks. Less dangerous, but that implies that there is danger which isn’t a word I want in the heads of the senators before they vote. He scribbles a little more. Even if there is a coal fire, China has methods which the U.S. can efffectively and cheaply reproduce to extinguish seam fires.
He walks over to the dish washer and gets a coffee cup. He looks towards the girl’s house while he pours the coffee. She’s not even paying attention. I could stare at her all I wanted to and she wouldn’t even notice, he thinks. He blows on the coffee. His breathe stirs the black surface. Steam swirls around and into nothingness. No, I need to get back to coal.
He sits back down and continues to write. Coal, coal, coal, fucking coal, why does the committee need me to write about coal. It’s like I’m still in school. I didn’t study science, I’m not a geologist, and I should be defending people not an industry, Christ. Coal, anthracite, diamond restructed so that it’s black and worthless for nothing more than cookouts so that fat rednecks can stuff their faces with hotdogs while I waste away in a marriage that’s meaningless, lusting after the ‘girl next door’, and hating my wife for loving me. In me, I see coal, and in coal, I see me. What more is there to say? Burning fossil fuels are bad for the environment, but no one cares about that. All anyone cars about is getting to places faster. If you want to save the environment, then ride a horse everywhere.
He sips on the coffee, it burns his tongue and he drops the glass in the sink. The wood behind him creaks. She stands behind him and he doesn’t notice. She knows what he wants. He wants the girl through the window, but then again, doesn’t everybody, she thinks.
She walks gently back to the bedroom and underneath the covers and cries herself to sleep.
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