She had milked the cow and fed the chickens before taking Ol' Ned for a ride. There was water in the trough, so the grain was all they needed. Latching the gate, she headed for the house. Somewhere in the forest, a barred owl hooted. Tree frogs sang their songs to each other. Monroe should be listening to the night. Maybe he wouldn’t be so willing to shut it off.
She sighed. This day had to come. With Clarksville growing the way it was, people were bound to need more lumber for homes. Ma wondered how she could criticize others for raping the forest when she lived in a wooden house. Well, mostly wood. The native rock front and fireplace didn’t amount to much. Yes, the groceries they ate were purchased with money Pa made working with wood, but Ma was wrong. She wasn’t against the use of some trees. They used the wood from dead trees to heat and cook. It wouldn’t be so bad if the lumber companies came in and selected a tree here and there, but they cut down everything in sight for miles on end and left a tangled mess of limbs. Maybe they planted trees back, but it took a lifetime to replace those oak trees. Monroe might mean well, but in the end, all the logging companies were the same - bad news for the environment.
When she entered the living room, Monroe was still lying on the couch. She crept around the couch and looked down at him. He lay on his back, his head propped up slightly with a pillow. One hand lay across his chest and the other above his head. He was asleep. Maybe Ma had given him some herbs.
For a moment she gazed down at him. He was pleasant to look at, that was for sure. It was a shame he was a timber man. Not that she was personally interested in him. Still, he didn’t look the sort to be dealing in drugs – at least he didn’t have the look of the guys that hung around the Hudson place. The way he dressed suggested he was accustomed to nice things and despite what he had been through, he still looked neat and clean.
He had said he was looking for lumber, and the sign that came off his car named a specific lumber company. There certainly were enough trees on the mountain to interest a lumber company. Better a lumber man than a drug dealer.
She tip-toed around the couch and went to her room.