The Final Frontier for Old Growth

With the breeze blowing against his face, Danny is at peace. He’s isolated from civilization and among the last of the old growth trees. While waiting, he inspects the bark of the yellow cedar he stands behind. This goddess is nearly four hundred years old. Danny toys with the thought yet has no true grasp of how long that is. He peels off her bark playfully, trying to get a longer strip with each try. Finally, his supervisor breaks him from his daydreams.

“You’re good to go,” says a voice over his radio. It's Greg, his supervisor on the job.

“We’ve got two more big ones after this, then it’s ground zero in this district,” he chuckles.

It’s the rough voice of a man who spends his days off four-wheeling and clay pigeon shooting. It’s probably in an electric car, and these days, there isn’t any more real game to be hunting.

“You got it,” moans Danny.

He fires up the chainsaw in a matter of seconds. It’s all very procedural. The death is clean and quick enough; a matter of minutes for her hundreds of years on Earth. She falls with an all-powerful swoop, suffocating her children when she lands. He’s good at what he does; a true professional. The sight can only make him grin. He pulls out a cigarette, lights it, then takes a long smooth drag.

Following the felling of the cedar and its thunderous boom, from across the valley, Elderflower brings down her binoculars. There are no words that come but only silence as she grieves. Tears fall like rain between her and her family of protectors, of forest defenders. There’s just a few dozen of them left, and they’re on the final frontier. Of course, frontline action is their primary goal, but with the final old growth dwindling down, there’s little hope. The trees are defended, only by hundreds of military personnel, who’s job is to ensure it can be cut down safely by the industry.

Now it’s likely too late. At least in this district, one of four existing in the New Americas, a combination of what used to be Canada and the United States. Now, only two old growth remain, both of which will be gone by the end of the work week.

* * *

Danny returns to his work settlement later that night. As the lead logger and at his request, he spends his time here in solitude. He likes his work friends, but it’s family he loves most.

Out here, it’s amazing how little there is in terms of houses, or buildings of any sort. The landscape is completely barren. Not a single tree in sight, the land is left to look more naked than a sheared sheep. It is a purgatory to hell, with nobody around for miles.

As per usual, when Danny has just finished up his dinner, the phone rings. It's a playful ring, compared to most.

“Hello?”

“Hi Dad!” Her innocent voice never fails to make Danny grin.

“Evie! How’s it going? What did you get up to today?”

“I’m good! Me and Suzie and Amanda had a playdate and we played dress up with Suzie’s dog and then we had a tea party with her!”

“Hm, hm,” Danny can’t help but smile. “Sounds like the best day ever. I miss you so much sweetie. I’ll be home soon, I promise.”

“When is soon?” ventures Evie.

“I’m not sure honey. Hopefully just a couple more weeks. There’s almost no trees left in the district, so we’ll be wrapped up pretty quickly.”

Silence on the other end.

“Okay, honey?” continues Danny.

“Okay." Then another pause. "Dad?”

“Yes honey?”

“What do the trees look like?”

“Don’t worry about that. They’re really a thing of the past now. Soon there’ll be no more and I’ll be retired and able to spend the rest of my life with you and Mom. I love you so much. Have a good night sweetie. I’ll be home soon.”

“Goodnight Dad. I love you too.”

Danny sets the phone down, a sense of relaxation settles in as he counts down the days till he can return home.

From his wide window view, he watches a propaganda van pass by; one operated by the old growth protectors. The side visible to Danny reads, “What will become of the future generation?” in hand painted letters. It’s surrounded with a scene of old growth trees, overpowering the human figures lower down by the van’s step up rails. His subconscious fills with fear and cowardice yet he recognizes it only as anger and disgust. The van moves parallel to Danny on a painfully straight road, making its way toward the final old growth, or the doorstep of the political leaders, or who knows where.

“These hippies need to get a real job,” he mutters to himself.

He closes his blinds, shutting out the real world and allowing him to turn his attention to a laptop.

As he settles into this mindless comfort, an impossibility occurs. First a slam on the horn, then a swerve, then a terrible crash, all on this hopelessly desolate landscape. A sudden panic fills within him. There’s little knowing of what caused the accident, on such a straight and lonely road.

He steps outside, and it’s no surprise to see the van is involved. It’s thrown over on its side. The rooftop faces straight at Danny; an image of a mighty cedar stares at him. The tree of life. He runs over without hesitation. Halfway crushed under the van lies a deer. Its sudden presence fills Danny with emotions he can’t describe. A light burns with sincerity in its dying eyes.

If you can not save me, save her, the deer tells Danny. It is unclear how the message was heard yet there is no doubt it was said, never mind the fact that no wildlife like this has been seen in years.

Danny glances into the van. Alone is a woman, passed out in the driver’s seat, suffocating beneath an airbag and the restriction of the seat belt. There’s no hope waiting for an ambulance.

“Shit, shit, shit” he repeats as a mantra for panic. Danny pulls her out of the wreck. He clears away the airbag, then lays eyes on her. Time stops. She’s beautiful. He’s never seen any of the protectors up close. There’s an aurora of peace and love radiating from her, alongside a heart shaped locket hanging gently around her neck. It all creates a feeling Danny has forgotten since he entered a world of industry, of money, and of false responsibilities.

His grandmother wore the same heart shaped locket. It was a vessel of a feminine power, connecting with him the nurture she gave him as a child. She had passed away when he was young, leaving Danny to be raised by men. He grew stiff, hardworking; he learned to turn off compassion. The recollection left Danny in a trance. Suddenly he returned to reality. Snap. Then he blinked his eyes a few times.

“I’m going to get my truck. I’ll take you to the hospital as fast as I can,” he promises.

Before leaving, Danny turned his attention to the deer, laying on the road with broken bones and defeat.

“Thank you,” he says softly. The creature looks back with contentment, an approval of his actions.

He returns not two minutes later in his salvaged 1980’s Ford pickup, then helps her into the passenger seat. At this point she finally came to.

Starting the drive brings the young woman further to her senses. She’s in shock, and she’s confused.

“Wha’, what’s happening?” she ventures. Danny suspects head trauma.

“You were in a car accident. You hit a deer. I’m driving you to the hospital as fast as I can but it’s about 30 minutes from here.” Danny explains this to her just as much as he is to himself.

“A deer,” the woman recalls.

“You’re going to be okay,” he says, simultaneously telling himself the same thing.

“I see,” she replies, suddenly taking on an astonishing clarity.

“What were you doing in these parts?” she asks.

“I’m a logger.”

“Oh.”

“I know, I know, I saw your van.” Maybe it’s the locket, or her injured state, but Danny feels compassion. He feels comfortable with her.

“Hm, and you did something to save me?” The woman giggles. “I’m surprised, genuinely.”

She looks over at him and for a moment the two catch each other's gaze, and everything else ceases to exist for Danny. Then he returns his stare to the road, as one naturally does when driving.

“They call me Elderflower,” she tells him.

“I’m Danny. Pleasure to meet you.”

The remainder of the ride changed Danny, yet in a yin and yang sort of way it equally changed Elderflower. The two saw each other for who they were: sacred souls in their own way. Nonetheless, the despair was evident within Danny. He split ways with her shortly after she got to the hospital. He was touched and challenged, and that night he had a lot of thinking to do. Still, he chose to hold on to the bright light he found from Elderflower.

* * *

The day of the second last cutting. Danny shows up to work, and reality hits him. He noticed the magical aurora he was living in since he met Elderflower, but only here and now, as it disappeared. It didn’t take long for colleagues to notice either. Greg was the first to say something.

“You okay Danny? You’re practically retired, man!”

“Oh I’m excited,” Danny says, almost fooling himself with his conviction. “Just getting in the zone. It’s almost over man. It’s so, so sad,” he finishes with a whimpering voice and puppy face, mocking the tree huggers and hippies.

Greg breaks out in spitting laughter. Then his smoked out lungs start a coughing fit.

“That’s the spirit. That’s the fuckin’ spirit.”

Inside, Danny winces. When it comes to cutting the tree, he almost doesn’t make it.

“You’re ready to go,” reports Greg over the radio. Danny hesitates. He’s under too many eyes. He shuts off his emotions, fires up his chainsaw, and slices the holy being. He struggles to ignore her cries and feel her pain. It’s a long while, until it’s over. Then, a moment of silence, as the chainsaw shuts off and she falls through the air. She smashes into the valley, radiating a final thunder of her being. It’s more powerful than anything Danny has ever seen. He struggles to control the tears forming in his eyes. He at least makes sure no one will notice. Then he takes a deep breath, knowing now there’s just one tree remaining.

I can’t go through with it, Danny realizes.

Danny fails to report to work HQ on the final day. The felling of the district’s final old growth tree. In fact, he’s nowhere to be seen. Or maybe running late, reasons his supervisor.

“This is unlike him,” Greg says to his colleagues, very stoic and all.

“Maybe he’s already up there. Just so desperate to finish the job,” offers another.

Upon their arrival to the logging site, the crew spots a large excavator. It’s parked sideways, obstructing the road completely. Unusual, no doubt. Yet with the military enforcement at the gates, it can only be industry up here.

Greg groans, then hops out of the truck. He marches closer and closer, until the sight of someone comes into view. It’s Danny Woodsworth, sitting against the machinery, both arms chained into a blockade.

Greg drops his jaw. Soon the entire crew stood before him. These are Danny’s pals, now staring in shock. Nobody says a word, only staring in awe and confusion. Across the valley, Elderflower watches with her binoculars.

This is for the future generation, Danny tells himself, thinking of Evie and Elderflower and everyone who lives on this beautiful earth. With the breeze blowing against his face, Danny is at peace.