RETURN OF THE SKUNK (SEPTEMBER, 1987) BY MELISSA LAIRD ILLUSTRATION BY CLAUDIA CAVE ETER PICKED UP THE RECEIVER AND TRIED DIALING MARIA’S NUMBER AGAIN. IT WAS AFTER HER LAST CLASS AND THERE WAS A GOOD CHANCE SHE WOULD BE BACK IN HER STUDIO. “WE ARE EXPERIENCING HEAVY CALLING CONDITIONS. PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL AGAIN.” THE FAMILIAR VOICE OF THE COMPUTER. SHOOT. HE JUST WANTED TO SEE HOW tried to get him to call in sick.” Peter gave him a quizzical look. “Hawkins, my housemate.” The emotions began to surge through Jed’s chest and seemed to make his whole body shake, jiggling the ring of keys attached to his overalls, shaking his beard and pony tail; his eyes looked hurt and his mouth looked dry and she was—in her fourth month and all. Was she feeling any kicks yet? Ever since she left him in that hotel room in Pasco and he stayed, convinced that the job at the Hanford Health Organization was such a great opportunity, his life had developed an urgency it never had before—in his work, in his desire to be with Maria. Her leaving had been sudden, premature; but it was partly his inertia that had stopped him from going with her. And there was the painting she had done of him at the Columbia River—a realistic likeness staring him in the face. Why couldn’t she have stuck to something abstract like everything else she did? As she tossed clothes into her suitcase, he picked up the painting as if there might be a huge canvas bag conveniently stashed behind it to carry it in. “I’m leaving the painting for you,” she said. He looked at her, his brows slowly closing in on his eyes. “Don’t you understand, Peter? This stays here as an image for your survival.” She went to the closet and got the rest of her clothes. “There you go squinting again.” She slipped off her bathing suit and they made love as if they wouldn’t be together for a long time. After she was on the bus he considered grabbing his stuff and driving to Seattle, even beating her bus there. Part of him had already gone with her. Instead he drove back to his hotel and reported for the new job the following Monday, prepared to carry on the work of exploring the link between nuclear power plants and cancer. Now, after a year of work at Hanford, he wasn’t sure where the research would lead him. This was the first job he had ever had that took him away from direct patient care. Now he worked with X rays, slides of blood and other tissues, tumor registries, and reams and reams of paper. Peter tried dialing the number again. Suddenly the building alarm system drowned out the phone. “Attention! Attention! All personnel to B-10! All personnel to B-10!” Great. Another fire drill so the DOE could claim there was a bona fide evacuation procedure. He put on his headphones so he could say he didn’t hear. “Repeat! Personnel are instructed not to exit the building until instructed to do so. ” What the hell? Peter went out into the hall where people were leaving their offices. “Dr. Stewart, do you know what this is all about?” It was Claudia, a researcher with his project. “I’m in the dark, Claudia. Keith, do you know what’s going on?” Peter asked the project manager. “There’s been some kind of emissions test at the N reactor and they want us all below ground level until they’re sure the air is radiation-free. Nothing to panic about.” “Right.” Peter went back to his office and collected a couple of files of case studies he was working on. No point sitting in a basement with nothing to do. He made his way to the steps along with the sixty or so people from the building. The basement was jammed with people—not just office staff from his own building, but construction people, pipefitters, and engineering types from other parts of the reservation. Someone who said he was from UNC Nuclear spoke through a microphone asking people to calm down, to please stand or sit in one spot. At the other end of the basement a large group of people had clustered together. As Peter got closer he heard a woman’s voice screaming. “Don’t listen to 'em! There wasn’t a test at the N reactor. The damn thing is on fire and the only reason we didn’t smell the smoke is the wind is blowing the other way. I say let’s get on some face masks and get the hell out of here!” Somebody shouted there weren’t any face masks left. “Doc, is that you?” Jed, the fellow from a carpentry crew Peter had met in a bar that first week in the Tri-Cities was behind him. “Damnit, Doc—it’s finally happened. All those paranoid fanatics were right. The N reactor’s up in smoke and you can bet these mothers are going to try and keep it quiet as long as they can.” “Jed, how close were you?” Peter asked. “Simmons and I were dropping off a load at a construction site a few miles away. But there’s so much smoke, it’s incredible. They wouldn’t let me past your road right out here—it’s packed with vehicles, ambulances, everything. Some cop made me turn around and get to this basement.” “Damn, they’ve already started an evacuation procedure.” Suddenly Jed started gritting his teeth. “I tried to get Hawkins not to go in today after all the overtime this weekend. And the problems they’ve been having.... I angry. “He was in there, Doc—Hawkins works at the N reactor! How the hell do you think he got out?” Peter gulped and, trying not to play the doctor, put his hand on Jed’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about Hawkins, Jed. Let’s just hope he saw it coming some way and got out. I wasn’t in the service but now I feel like I was drafted somewhere along the line into a war that started at Three Mile Island—actually way before that. It started with the atomic bomb, which is why they have the N reactor making plutonium.” “Yeah, and then there was Chr nobyl,” Jed added. “But we failed to take that one as a warning.” Jed kicked his boot on the cement floor, leaving a long black smear. “Everybody knows the N reactor is graphite- cooled—like Chernobyl—with no containment dome.” “I—I never should have stayed. Maria was right—I was crazy to think I could come here and make some kind of difference.” “Attention! Attention, please!” The fellow at the mike continued bleating. “Please keep the. noise level down so we can provide you with further instructions!” Jed and Peter headed toward the south entrance. “ Listen, Peter, hold up, would ya? I just saw one of my partners from the crew, Tom Reeves. Hey Reeves!” Tom was a tall Indian with long braids and a cowboy hat. “Jed! This week-end my uncle told me the skunks were coming back.” “The skunks?” Jed asked. “ I think I know what he’s talking about, Jed,” Peter said. Just before Maria left, she and Peter had talked with a Yakima Indian woman who told them a lot of local stories. “Great. You tell him, man," Tom said. “I’m trying to feel out this crowd. There’s somebody directing it.” “Damn, you’re right!” Jed and Tom stood still for a moment and Peter tried to wait, although people were starting to bump into him. “All medical personnel! Calling all medical personnel!” The same voice belted through the mike. “Report to the north entrance of B-10. You will be given a face mask and taken to the Kadlec Hospital in Richland. Extra personnel are needed to participate in today’s emergency test of the Hanford N reactor.” Peter turned around, facing Jed. “Lis- “Damnit, Doc—it’s finally happened. All those paranoid fanatics were right. The N reactor’s up in smoke and you can bet these mothers are going to try and keep it quiet Clinton St. Quarterly 15
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