The Nubble Sanctuary. "Finally", he continued; this time with a small not so hidden smirk on his face," most of you don't want me to leave because you see that this is probably your best chance to see the benefits of modern industrialization. This includes better schools, parks, theaters, roads, and just basically a better life. So stop this nonsense and leave this room with things left as they are supposed to be. Go home and dream about a different life in a different and better future." Dan realizing that no applause would follow simply sat down to enjoy his created silence. Silence that existed except for a question made by the oldest of the town fathers; Arthur Weare. At first, because he was so old, he could hardly be heard and even though he was asked to, he refused to go to the front of the meeting room. Old man Weare just sucked in more air and repeated, "What about Nubble Sanctuary?" Whispers began to move through the crowd as though they were energized by this simple question. Arthur Weare again repeated himself after the newly created noise calmed down. "What about Nubble Sanctuary?" Nubble Sanctuary is an inlet of forest that grows in the midst of giant mountains of ledge and the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, it grows where it shouldn't be able to grow. The ocean winds should have blown away its topsoil with the numerous winter storms washing away any chance of a spring revival. It never happened. The sanctuary in the winter lost its green color only to be replaced by every shade of brown and black one could imagine. Its stems and root stock hung on to the soils with such intensity that no winter storm could carry it away. Even during the storm of '78, which destroyed most of Kroy Beach, the Nubble didn't show the slightest disarrangement. It seems that spring always came first to Nubble Sanctuary. While the whole coast suffered through the dampness and dreariness of the spring season, Nubble Sanctuary blossomed its colors right after the first sign of thaw. There are old-timers still alive today who swear that the great frost of the summer of '33, killed most if not all of the vegetation on the coast of Maine except, of course, the Nubble Sanctuary. Every type of wild flower and plant thrived on this reservoir of life. A new color always seemed to sprout out of the thick bushes of green that occupied this natural wonder. Summertime brought all who lived in Kroy out to view the wilds of the sanctuary. The thickness of its growth could rival any rain forest that the South American continent could produce. That was the phenomena which gave the sanctuary magic because there was little rainfall to sustain this type of growth. People were not the only animals who enjoyed the beauty of the sanctuary. The birds were drawn to it. Every type, every size, and every color of bird found its way here. Nests could easily be seen throughout the dense stems and leaves of the underbrush. These nests were easily seen yet not easily reached because no predator was ever observed on sanctuary grounds. Except maybe for crazy Alice MacGraw's cat. Everyone hated that cat. Including the MacGraw family. Except, of course, Alice who hated everything and everyone else. The story goes that one night after Alice's father downed his second bottle of whiskey, he accidentally tripped over the resting cat. Not that it was the cat's fault. But old man MacGraw tripped his way into kicking over his newly purchased second hand radio. Legend has it that he went crazy. He caught the cat and threw it into his wagon. He then drove to the edge of the Nubble Sanctuary where he threw the now terrified cat as hard as he could into the deep green of the underbrush. Alice never talked to her father again and was seen years later staring into the sanctuary hoping to see the only thing she ever loved or would ever love again. In fact, to this day young lovers who park near the sanctuary swear that in the darkest part of the night they can hear that cat cry. That is quite impossible because Alice MacGraw died over one hundred and twenty-five years ago. "Yeah, what about the Nubble Sanctuary?", screamed young Mr. Pastor, the new high school biology teacher fresh out of the University of Maine at Farmington. "What about its history, its beauty, and most important of all its natural view into the past that our children can see and admire." Young Mr. Pastor's statement did the opposite of what everyone knew he wanted to do. Instead of causing an uproar of screaming and demanding that the sanctuary be saved it caused a few seconds of silence that made even the cold blooded Dan Popka shiver with apprehension. Seconds felt like minutes. Then the quiet gave way to murmurs which evolved into discussion which led to another complete breakdown of Robert's Rules of Order. Everyone now wanted to voice his or her plea to have the sanctuary saved. The gavel first had no effect on the voices of the crowd until, once again, the now composed Dan Popka stood up in front of the soon to be quiet room. "The Town of Kroy no longer owns or has any jurisdiction over the Nubble Sanctuary!" Dan stated this point with clarity so that no one in the room could miss his point. Dan then allowed a long pause to pass because he wanted to make it even clearer that everyone understand exactly what he was saying. "Those lands are governed by the same laws and ordinances that govern all of the privately owned properties in Kroy." Dan then took this time to turn his back on the townspeople and speak directly to the selectman sitting at the ancient table. "Your children will have to find a new view into the past because that land is the first to be developed." Dan made sure that he met all the eyes of the selectmen before he continued to say anything further. He then continued a little louder so that all the people could hear even though he was still facing the selectmen. "Your children will have to give up this view into their past and admire my monument to the future." Dan's monument was known to be a thirty unit condominium complex overlooking the ocean. Each unit was said to have a pre-construction selling price of over $750,000.   Even before the townspeople had a chance to begin any discussion Dan turned toward the townspeople and stated in no mixed words that, "all of you are wasting my time and your own. There will be no delay and no interference with what is legally mine." He continued by exclaiming," I have already defeated you once when you cried monopoly because I unified your non-working contractors. If you try to delay me this time I will not stop until I acquire all of your good and respected homes through the courts. Dan then finalized his thought by asking, "Is all of this perfectly clear to you fine and upstanding Kroy citizens?" Silence was and could only be their answer. The chairman of the selectman's board, with the help of Dan, again acquired control of the meeting and asked if anyone wanted to move to have the discussions halted. Dan's local legal eagle was the first to raise his hand with Dan himself seconding the motion. The chairman then asked for a vote to see if anyone deemed it necessary to study a legal means to override the clauses which govern land development. Young Mr. Pastor raised his hand in compliance with ordinary town meeting rules but was simply ignored. Instead of complaining he just lowered his hand knowing that no one would second his obviously worthless motion. Silence again ruled the room. The only exception was the sound that Dan and his two lawyers made congratulating each other on their victory. Dan was smiling but what no one else in the room saw, so was Arthur Weare. The next couple of weeks saw a progression of heavy construction equipment and surveyors being brought into the once quiet Kroy Beach area. The largest influx of equipment being put in a vacant lot next to the Nubble Sanctuary. The planning for the development of the Nubble Sanctuary was completed months before with the legal maneuvers coming to its end at that ill fated selectman's meeting. The beauty of the area slowed down the pre-construction crews to the point that they quickly dropped behind Dan's production schedule. The most common description by the workers was that the area radiated a relaxed and quiet aura. They all expressed the opinion that they had a hard time concentrating on what they were paid to do. In fact, one whole surveying crew quit because they came to the conclusion that they could not take part in the destruction of such a beautiful natural area. This slow down forced Dan to take full charge of the preliminary construction process. He hired Henry Fieldstone to manage this part of the process. Henry was a mountain of a man whose face clearly showed what kind of a life style he lived. His hair was a thin veil of gray over a deeply tanned colored dome. Thick layers of skin surrounded his eyes which were sculpted by years of squinting to block out the glare of the sun. He could obviously grow a full beard in a single day because after shaving in the morning, by afternoon a thick blanket of rubble appeared. His six foot five inch frame was solid yet lean for his 56 years of age. He demanded and received total compliance to his orders. Henry worked for Dan on various other construction projects with consistent success. More importantly, on this specific project, he had no use for bleeding heart environmentalists. His idea that nature was created for use and even mis-use by man was a perfect compliment to Dan's own conceptions of how life was supposed to be. A glass lined condominium was of much greater value than a field of overgrown trees and shrubs. Dan knew that Henry was perfect for the job. Henry also knew that he was perfect for the job because everything in his life had to be perfect; even his women. He was married four times going on five. His women had to be perfect like him. The first sign of aging by his wives meant that they should be replaced. He never had any children because they would take up too much of his time. Plus he was too selfish to give anything that he had away. It all belonged to him. Besides, why should he give any more perfection to what he considered to be an imperfect stupid society by giving it more perfection. Henry never failed because he knew how to use people. He never had to be nice because of his reputation to get things done. He only had one quest in life and that was to attain as much wealth as was humanly possible. This was odd because he lived a frugal life. Money to Henry was a religion. It wasn't important what money could buy but rather how much money one had. He equated money with power and powerful was all he wanted to be. Everyone knew that when Henry died he would take it with him. Not that he had any magical means to do this. He would simply hide it or destroy it so that no one would be able to enjoy what he built. What was owned by him. Henry brought in his own people. His workers were small mirror images of Henry. These included the attitude that nothing has any value unless you can make money from it. Yet even these hardened individuals couldn't help themselves to wonder about the mystery of the sanctuary. The day before construction was to begin the whole crew, including Dan Popka, got together for their traditional pre-excavating meeting. This was more of a big drunk which included a keg of beer and plenty of Jack Daniels. The sanctuary was especially quiet that evening. The leaves of the trees and the brush showed no movement even though there was that perpetual sea breeze present. Even the birds of the sanctuary took this time to be silent. The only sound that could be heard was a distant cat like howl. Early the next morning Dan and Henry were the first to arrive and start to string off which areas were to be bulldozed and which were to be spared. As the two walked deep into the sanctuary's heart the quiet became literally deafening. It was as though they walked into a vacuum. Both men felt uncomfortable but refused to show the other this demonstration of weakness. As the two were surveying the contours of the landscape, Dan snapped his head back as though someone or something had hit him in the face. He fell down hard landing on his back on top of some heavy brush. Henry quietly called over to ask what the hell all the ruckus was. Dan, by this time, was holding on to the side of his face. Shaking his head and cursing the situation, Henry ran over to see what had happened. Very carefully Dan removed his hand from his cheek to show Henry what the problem was. From the bottom of his right eye to below the right side of his mouth was a deep six inch scratch. A gouge would be a better way to describe the wound. Blood covered the side of Dan's face with splatters covering the front of his shirt. "What the hell did you walk into", half laughed Henry taking the opportunity to make fun of his longtime boss. "There is nothing here to run into, you jerk." Dan murmured as he looked away from the mini-laughter of Henry. "Something came up to my face and attacked me." Dan sobbed even though he was desperately trying to keep his composure. Henry knowing that nothing lived on the sanctuary with the exception of a few birds and rodents took the opportunity to again make fun of his boss. "I think your imagining things." Henry responded. "Something probably fell off one of the trees and you were lucky enough to walk into it." Henry then proceeded to return to what he had been trying to do before Dan interrupted him. The logic of Henry's statement settled Dan down even though he was very concerned over the blood flow down his face and onto his shirt. The expression on Dan's face made Henry smile. Dan then ranted on about his lousy luck which then caused Henry to begin a full fledged belly laugh. Dan followed with a few giggles himself but because he was feeling pain he couldn't get himself to completely enjoy the moment. Because Dan's face did not stop bleeding they both decided to get him to a doctor to check the wound and see if he needed stitches. Their moods were generally light until they both heard a large roar of what sounded like an oversized house cat. The two of them stared at each other hoping that the sound was only a figment of their imagination. The area showing no signs of movement before now started howling as though a summer nor-easter was approaching. Dan and Henry could not feel any wind. The right side of Dan's face was now throbbing but because he started to experience fear, the pain seemed the lesser of the two problems. Henry broke the silence and succinctly said, " Let's get the hell out of here!" Dan didn't have to answer because he just followed Henry into what he thought was the way out. The trees and the bushes were now swaying back and forth as though they were in the midst of a major storm. The two men still couldn't feel any wind. Darkness seemed to be enveloping the area even though it was long after sunrise. To make things worse, even though Henry swore that he was back tracking his way toward where they entered the sanctuary the trees and underbrush kept getting thicker. They also not only couldn't feel any wind, they couldn't see any signs of an upcoming storm in the sky. The only thing they did hear was that damn screeching of something that sounded like a very angry cat. "Do you know where the hell you are going!", screamed Dan now knowing that they were probably going around in circles. "Blow it out your nose", retorted Henry not caring who had or who would continue to have the roll of boss in their relationship. Dan could see that Henry was now beginning to panic, for the man never got himself even close to lost before. In fact, Henry knew he didn't get lost, something else did. Something that was now scaring the be-Jesus out of him. Something he didn't want to know but knew in his soul that he did. The trees were now swaying back and forth as though they were in the midst of ripping themselves out of the ground. Henry showing that he had begun to panic saw a large rock on the edge of a group of trees overlooking what seemed to be a small ocean inlet. Leaving Dan to tend for himself he climbed the rock to try and get his bearings. Dan followed in the hopes that this could be the lost exit. Dan's right eye was nearly closed but he didn't need both eyes to see what occurred in the next few seconds. As Henry reached the top of the rock and bridged his eyes with his hands so that he could see more clearly, a whistling noise made by a swinging limb of one of the trees surrounding the rock screamed into the air. Before Henry could react, and too late for Dan to close his one good eye, the limb cleanly sliced Henry's head in two. The top half dropped into the surrounding water.