“Tom Walker is a rich, arrogant prick,” Dad said. “We’ve all known men like him. He didn’t go to ’Nam. Guys like him had a million ways to dodge the draft. Unlike me and Bo and our friends, who stood up for our country. But, hey, I can get over that, too. I can get over his holier-than-thou attitude and his rubbing his money in my face. I can get over him leering at my wife.” He stepped down the rickety porch steps, splashed into the murky water that pooled along the bottom step. “But I will not let him destroy Kaneq and our way of life. This is our home. We want it to stay wild and free.”

“He’s fixing up the tavern, Ernt, not building a convention center,” Thelma said. At her raised voice, Moppet got up and walked away, went over to play with Marthe and Agnes.

“And a hotel,” Mad Earl said. “Don’t forget that, missy.”

Thelma looked at her father. “Come on, Dad. You guys are making a mountain out of a molehill. There are no roads over here, no services, no electricity. All this complaining is counterproductive. Just let it go.”

“I don’t want to complain,” Dad said. “I want to do something, and by Christ, I will. Who’s with me?”

“Damn right,” Mad Earl said, his voice a little slurred.

“He’ll raise the price of drinks,” Clyde complained. “You watch.”

“I didn’t move out into the bush so I could have a hotel nearby,” Dad said.

Mad Earl grumbled something, took a long drink.

Leni watched the men come together, each one clapping Dad on the back as if he had said the perfect thing.

Within moments the women were left sitting alone in the muddy center of the compound.

“Ernt is pretty worked up over a little fixing-up of the saloon,” Thelma said, watching the men. You could see them ingesting righteous anger, puffing up with it, passing the jug from one to the other. “I thought he’d let it go.”

Mama lit a cigarette. “He never lets anything go.”

“I know you two don’t have much influence with him,” Thelma said, looking from Mama to Leni. “But he could start a shitstorm up here. Tom Walker may have a new truck and own the best land on the peninsula, but he’ll give you the shirt off his back. Last year when Mop was so sick, Tom heard about it from Large Marge and showed up here on his own and flew her to Kenai.”

“I know,” Mama said quietly.

“Your husband’s going to rip this town apart if we aren’t careful.”

Mama gave a tired laugh. Leni understood. You could be as careful as a chemist with nitroglycerin around Dad. It wouldn’t change a thing. Sooner or later, he was going to blow.

*   *   *