Taterskin & The Eco Defenders: Book 2, Chapter 47
Book 2 ("Tell It to Future Generations"), Chapter 47 of 56
CHAPTER 47
Chapawee was experiencing some excitement of her own, on the Amazon. Leaving the Androcles on the island where she had stashed it, she paddled up the river in a dugout canoe of her own design and construction.
Little did Chapawee know that she was being watched throughout her journey, from the riverbank — word had been passed among the river creatures as well as the animals of the riverbank about her and her mission, and so she was being provided safe passage by the watchers.
On reaching Rio Purus, one of the Amazon’s tributaries, Chapawee turned up it. She was headed toward the terminus of the Trans-Amazonian Highway. She had a special objective in mind once she got there.
Not everyone would be welcoming to her, though. Had she known enemies were close at hand, she may have been a little more cautious.
As she got to the place on the river closest to the end of the Highway (or start of the highway, depending on your point of reference), Chapawee pulled her canoe up onto the riverbank and asked a candle of Tapirs to keep watch over it, as she would be needing it again. They were glad to do this for her.
Chapawee then constructed the sign she was to place on the Highway. She carved it out of the wood from a fallen log with a hand-carved knife that had been a gift from her father.
With help from Scarlet (who had been called to the river from the jungle by means of the Howler Monkeys’ inter-jungle communication system), Chapawee posted the following sign, with its message in English, Portuguese, and Spanish:
AMAZON BASIN DECLARATION OF ECODEPENDENCE
The Amazon Basin (“The Reservation”) Has Been Occupied by The Eco Defenders for Preservation of the Earth. Tourists and Visitors and Settlers are Welcome.
No Large-Scale (Industrial, Factory) Ranching, Farming, Logging, or Mining Permitted.
No Gasoline or Gasoline-Powered Machinery or Tools Allowed on Reservation Land.
Violators will be Prosecuted and, if necessary, Persecuted: Those Not Adhering to these Regulations will be considered Trespassers and will be Evicted and Banished from the Reservation forthwith.
Patrolled By Eco Defenders of the Air, Jungle, and Rivers
A large contingency of land speculators were drawn by the sound of the sign being posted. As Chapawee was admiring her work, with her hands on her hips and tilting her head to one side to gauge the general comeliness and symmetry of her handiwork, she heard them approach from behind.
“What’s this?” one of them said. “Who are you?”
“Read it yourself,” Chapawee said, ignoring the second question.
They then did. Some grew red with anger; others chuckled, thinking it was some sort of practical joke or the work of an addled brain or impractical hippie; yet others realized it was no joke, yet could scarcely believe that this lone woman was daring to tell the world that the entire Amazon Basin was off-limits to the commercial activity they had been carrying on for such a long time and which they intended to expand.
“Who are you, and what gives you the authority to say what is allowed to happen in the Amazon?” one from their midst demanded, in English.
Chapawee explained who the Eco Defenders were and why they found it necessary to take this drastic step — for the sake of humankind’s, animalkind’s, and the earth’s future.
“Again I ask, with what authority are you vested?”
“Right needs no permissions.”
“What do you mean? What is ‘Right’? In other words: Who decides what is right?”
“When the earth is being despoiled and life on it is endangered, all right-hearted and right-minded people decide, and are then obligated to act.”
“So you’re saying those who would ranch, farm, log, and mine within the Basin are wrong-headed?”
“Yes, and worse yet, they are also wrong-hearted,” Chapawee said, staring him down.
The men quickly conferred with each other, and decided on a different tack. ‘Every man has his price,’ is their motto. By ‘every man’ they meant every human, not limiting their credo to males of the species. Thinking that the island of Manhattan in New York had been sold by the natives to newly-arrived Europeans for a few baubles and beads, they offered to give Chapawee their bling (the gold necklaces they were wearing) in exchange for her leaving the jungle for them to further exploit. They took the jewelry off their necks and dangled them out to her, enticingly (or so they thought).
Chapawee gazed at the shiny gold jewelry and smiled. She gathered them up, one by one. The men looked at each other, satisfied with how well and quickly their plan seemed to have worked. But then, with a sudden flick of her wrist, Chapawee tossed all of the necklaces into the river.
Nobody above the surface noticed it, but the necklaces were quickly scooped up by a White-Blotched Ray named Polka-Dot and buried in the sand at the river’s bottom.
“Hey! That necklace cost me thousands of reals!” complained one of the men.
“That’s an odd word for currency,” Chapawee replied. “Money is not real at all. It has no intrinsic value. It only holds value because governments and their citizens agree to the illusion that it does. It’s a mirage that will dissipate and dissolve soon enough.
“Besides, that is blood gold. People die so that you can show off with your gaudy status symbols. Let them return to the earth.”
“We don’t have time for any more of this nonsense,” one of the men then said. “Get out of our way, little lady, or we will evict you, and possibly from more than just the Amazon,” he threatened, narrowing his eyes and pointing his finger at her.
The first man then stepped forward, with an ax in his hand, and pulled his arms back, preparing to chop down the sign.
It was then that the watchers from the forest made their presence known.
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