Dina sat back, scowling ferociously at the possibility that Ruthe might have a point. "Like they'd agree to that."

"So far, we've got the votes," Ruthe said. "Unless they changed the Constitution when I wasn't looking, which these days seems more and more possible, every president still has to go through the United States Congress. That's a hundred senators and over four hundred representatives, each and every one with his or her own agenda and priorities. If we put this problem away for them, think how grateful they'll be."

"The Sierra Club and the rest of the gang will never go for it."

"Not right away, no. Eventually ..."

There was a brief, telling silence. Kate wondered if she was watching policy being made.

"What do you think, Kate?"

Kate, jolted out of her reverie, said, "What?"

"Should we trade ANWR for the rest of the park lands?"

Kate tried to avoid the issue. "I don't live there."

"It's publicly owned land, Kate."

"Upon which Alaska Natives have been subsisting for millennia."

"And some of them are for drilling in ANWR."

Kate tried another tack. "Is there actually any oil there?"

Ruthe shrugged. "Nobody knows for sure. There's only been one well drilled there—by the state, I think—and they're keeping the results secret."

"Anybody guessing?"

"The last estimate I heard was enough to keep the nation running at full throttle for three months," Dina said.

"Really? That's all?"

"Some guessers say there's more than other guessers say."

Dina glared at her lifelong roommate. There was no way Kate was going to get in the middle of this. "About Dan O'Brian," she said.

"Oh yes, Dan," Ruthe said with quick sympathy, and perhaps relief. "How is he taking it?"

"He likes his job, he's good at it, and he doesn't want to leave the Park. He probably wouldn't anyway—he's in love again."

Ruthe gave Dina a smug look. "We noticed."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes indeed. We were at the Roadhouse the night they met."

Dina blew out a cloud of smoke and watched it rise into the air. "It was one of the better seductions I have witnessed," she admitted. "I do so enjoy seeing a thing well done."

"What do you mean?" Kate said.

Dina stabbed the air with her cigarette, emphasizing her points. "Dan walked into the room, and that girl zeroed in on him like a heat-seeking missile. Target acquired, and— three, two, one—impact!"

Kate looked at Ruthe, who was laughing in spite of herself. "It was kind of like that," she admitted. "Poor Dan didn't stand a chance."

"Poor Dan isn't exactly yelling for help," Kate said. "And about Dan. What's the point of him just holding down a cabin when he's so much more useful at riding herd on Park rats shooting out of season and yo-yos flying in from Anchorage to shoot at everything that moves? He doesn't want to resign, but you know that if they're that determined, they'll find a way to force him out."