“You going through that whole thing tonight?” Helen asked, walking over behind him and lightly kneading his shoulders. He let himself relax under her touch.

“Most of it, or I won’t know what the hell I’m talking about when I get there.” He closed his eyes. He could feel the knots in his shoulders loosen, the tension of the day disappearing.

“Maybe later after Jessie falls asleep…” She pressed harder.

“You’re kidding, right? I didn’t think she ever slept.”

“Well, I’ve heard that most four-year-olds are supposed to, sometime. Actually, she did sleep in the car on the way up. I guess that’s not such a good sign for later.”

“No, I wouldn’t think so. A recharge like that should last for days.” He stood and grasped her around the waist, pulling her to him. “As for now—”

Then Jessie was yelling something about soap in her eyes, and Helen gave him a quick peck on the cheek, raised her hands in defeat, and disappeared into the bathroom. He sat back down, a warm, tight feeling in his chest. It had been a long time since they were this close, this happy. It was hard to believe how fast and how easily it had happened.

He turned his attention to the file. The morning after next he was supposed to begin by attending the meeting at the branch office in Quebec City with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Canadian environmental board. He could only guess that they had some serious questions about why the project had to shut down in the middle of the biggest, dirtiest and potentially most harmful part of construction. Their job was to make sure everything went smoothly, that no part of the environment or the people in it were in danger, and that there was nothing illegal going on. Without the FERC, developers could do pretty much anything they wanted. It was good to have them around in many cases.

But sometimes, they could be a royal pain in the ass.

The file in front of him was well over an inch thick; it looked like an all-night job. As he listened to his wife and daughter splash happily in the bathtub, he flipped through the mass of papers, beginning with the execu- tive summary for the project. Here he found a project description, and began reading. The proposed power plant consists of the following major sections: Lower reservoir, constructed using the existing and abandoned Jackson copper mines, with extensive renovations and structural improvements…upper reservoir, currently containing approximately 70 acres of woodland, surrounded by a manmade earth bowl…power tunnel running for an approximate distance of 2,500 feet and 200 feet below the surface…powerhouse facilities, located below the entrance to the original mine, containing four 250-MW turbines…