From “Deadly Turn”
My daughter slid down the truck to sit on the packed dirt, careful not to touch me.
On the river, heat shimmered off rocks. Afternoon shadows made the boy and dog look like slow-motion silhouettes. Chan’s right arm flew back and forth as he cast into pools below him. Pock’s head followed the fly line in and out of the water.
Kate’s face brightened.
“There’s tons of calculations in forestry. It’s not just boys with axes any more. Folks crunching numbers are all over the place analyzing the forest’s outputs and versatility. I’m headed toward the new stuff. My advisor teaches Climate and Forest Carbon Dynamics and even though I’m not that far along in the program, he lets me audit that class.
“Smarty-pants,” I said.
“Yup. I am.”
The damselflies were back, this time hooked up in mid-air to mate right in front of us.
Kate ignored them. “I can run computer models based on real field research. I can show how growing Maine trees and leaving them longer on the land before they’re harvested pulls more carbon from the air than any other carbon reduction strategy we could go for. That includes the wind thing.”
I was afraid that if I jumped up and hugged her, the moment would end badly.
