Taterskin & The Eco Defenders: Book 2, Chapter 46
Book 2 ("Tell It to Future Generations"), Chapter 46 of 56
CHAPTER 46
“What is that sound?” Ravelle asked.
“Chainsaws,” a Bush Dog told him.
“What’s a chain saw?” Ravelle said (remember, he’s from 1861, prior to the invention of gasoline-powered tools such as chainsaws).
“It’s an automatic ax,” Alexis said.
Ravelle was still a little confused.
“Loggers,” Alexis added.
“Loggers!? Cutting down the trees?”
“Precisely,” Stripes said.
“Let’s go!” Ravelle replied.
It was easy to locate the tree assassins: Ravelle and the animals simply followed the loud and angry-sounding buzzing noises. The sound was something like that made by a million bees whose hive has been inadvertently knocked over by a rambunctious Labrador Retriever (not that I had personal experience with that or anything).
Ravelle tried getting the fellers’ attention, but even when they finally noticed that he was trying to talk to them, they ignored him, thinking he was merely somebody looking for a job. So Ravelle gestured for the animals to come forth, and in no time the loggers were surrounded by a variety of colorful and venomous Snakes, Lizards, and Frogs; then the four-footers crashed through the forest. The Howler and Spider Monkeys scrambled up into the trees; the Ocelots and Bush Dogs padded forward; the Toucans, Laughing Falcons, Stinkbirds, and Vampire Bats flew up, too.
Noticing all these visitors arriving simultaneously, the loggers turned off their chainsaws to find out what was going on. Now that the racket made by the chainsaws had ceased, Ravelle stopped talking. The loggers also said nothing at first. The only sounds were the Reptiles creeping forward, the Cats and Dogs rushing in, the flapping wings of the Macaws and Toucans and other Birds, and the Monkeys getting settled in the branches of the trees. But then, there was something else: the crunching sound of a loud army approaching over the fallen leaves, twigs, and sawdust strewn about the forest floor. When the loggers looked down to locate the source of the rustling commotion, they saw thousands of Titan Beetles and Hercules Beetles, Bull Ants and Bullet Ants and, perhaps the most disconcerting and demoralizing of all to them, giant (10-inch long) Centipedes.
This had become our modus operandi: Warn our adversaries first — either directly, verbally, or visually by showing ourselves — then take action only if necessary.
Vine snakes hung down from the branches of the trees, almost in the faces of the loggers. As the fellers looked up at the serpents, wondering if they would strike out at or drop onto them, they also saw the Monkeys standing in the trees, in a crouched position, with one arm grasping a branch above, prepared to leap on them at the slightest provocation. When the loggers looked in front of them at Ravelle, they saw the rest of the animals, ranging in size from Ocelots and Bush Dogs to Jaguars.
The loggers were not stupid. But they were irritated and angered over this intrusion.
“What do you want?!” they demanded.
They directed the question at Ravelle, not realizing the Macaws understood Portuguese, and could speak it, too.
Cutting to the chase and striking a mildly strident note due to the belligerent attitude of the loggers, Ravelle said (after having the Portuguese interpreted to him by Scarlet the scarlet Macaw): “It’s not what we want, it’s what we demand.”
“What authority do you have? Who are you? Where are you from?”
“I am a proud member of the Eco Defenders,” Ravelle answered, Scarlet interpreting his words from English into Portuguese. “I am one of many participating in an ‘Occupy the Basin’ mission. I am Ravelle X, from Charleston, South Carolina.”
None of this meant much to the loggers. They only found it confusing.
“Well, Ravelle, we are the ones with chainsaws. We have a job to do, and” —
Scarlet, who is a big fan of classic movies, said, “Calling it your job don’t make it right, boss.”
Francisco the logger had never heard a Macaw speak before, and thought it must be Ravelle throwing his voice.
“You can’t fool me with that ventriloquistic jazz,” he accused Ravelle.
Scarlet interpreted what the logger had said into English for Ravelle.
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘jazz,’” Ravelle answered, “But Scarlet is the one who said that, not me. I can’t speak Portuguese.”
“Liar! We should capture you and sell you into slavery, where you belong!”
“I’ve been there, and I’m not going back,” Ravelle said. “Besides, slavery was abolished in 1863 by Lincoln.”
“Lincoln Shminken. For your information, there is more slavery today than ever before in human history. Social laws trump political laws. The haves will always enslave the have-nots, regardless of place or time,” Francisco asserted. Apparently, he was some sort of Machiavellian philosopher-logger.
“We will abolish slavery forever,” Ravelle and Scarlet said simultaneously.
Francisco now perceived that it truly was Scarlet talking, because Ravelle could not speak in his own voice and throw his voice to make it sound as if Scarlet was talking at the same time.
“Hey, what’s going on here?!? Humans and animals working together? Talking Birds? Have I been drugged? Am I nightmaring? What’s happening?”
“It’s no nightmare; it’s a dream come true,” Ravelle said.
“It may be a nightmare for you,” Scarlet explained, “But it doesn’t have to be. Lay down your weapons — your chainsaws, that is — and you can leave peaceably. Drive away and don’t come back.”
“Or what?” Francisco said belligerently.
“Or we will disarm you and drive you out forcibly,” Ravelle answered.
“Then you leave us no recourse,” Francisco said, and raised his chainsaw, preparing to start it up. His fellow treekillers followed suit, getting ready to do the same.
It was wonderful — amazing that is — (but I guess you would expect amazing things to happen in the Amazon) how quickly the Titan Beetles and Hercules Beetles responded to the threat. In the blink of an eyelash, it seemed, they swarmed all over the loggers. In what seemed like no time the men were totally covered in the large Beetles. The chittering, chattering, clicking, and clacking sounds the Beetles made were nerve-wracking, to say the least — to the loggers, that is. Still, Francisco tried to lift his Beetle-bedecked right arm to start his chainsaw. His first victim was going to be Ravelle. He figured if he ripped a gaping hole in the man he thought should be slaving away on a sugar cane plantation somewhere instead of butting in on other people’s business, the whole operation would fall apart and he and his crew could get back to work without further interruption.
That attempt of Francisco’s to saw Ravelle asunder was prevented by Billie the Eyelash Viper, though. She struck at his wrist, causing him to drop the chainsaw. Seeing that and fearing similar things for themselves, the other loggers quickly hurled their chainsaws away from themselves, held up their arms, and meekly surrendered.
Dejected, defeated, and demoralized, the loggers pleaded for relief from the onslaught of the Beetles. Although the insects had not bitten them, but had simply crawled all over their bodies, from head to toe — in their hair, on their face, down their pants, up their pants, under their shirts — it was driving the interlopers insane.
“I guess you ‘fellers’ didn’t appreciate who you were dealing with,” Ravelle admonished. “You can leave. We won’t hurt you. We won’t pursue you. When you reach your truck, the Beetles will drop off you and leave you be. Any funny business, though, and the Jaguars and Monkeys will replace the Beetles. Spread the word: No logging operations will be tolerated throughout the jungle. Anybody encroaching on the preserve carrying gasoline or gasoline-powered tools or machinery will be considered trespassers and intruders. Now go!”
They left; and you better believe that they did recount their experience far and wide, once they reached “civilization.”
Further forays into the forest by loggers were few and far between. When they did occur, their duration was truncated — the Jaguars, Snakes, Poison Dart Frogs, Howler Monkeys, giant Beetles, and the rest of the forest animals and insects saw to that.
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