Creature Discomforts

interjected.
    “And Opal and I personally are committed to the preservation of the natural environment where, it just so happens, we live. Why else would we be out here sweating in the woods, for Christ’s sake? Opal can speak for herself, but I, for one, am not standing around listening to slurs and digs. There’s never been any reason why Anita shouldn’t represent us, and I never have liked this keep-it-quiet attitude on her part or on yours, either, Opal. It’s insulting. You’d think we were criminals.”
    “You said it, Wally,” Effie told him. “I didn’t. And there certainly are about a million reasons why everyone here but you is reeling at the news that Anita represents you, and the main one is conflict of interest. A lawyer can’t represent an organization dedicated to saving the environment from developers and at the same time represent the developers! That’s conflict of interest! Never mind that everyone who knows Malcolm understands his total dedication to conservation, given which, he would hardly want his daughter acting for the enemy, would he? Would he, Anita?”
    “Leave me out of this,” Anita said.
    “How?” Quint asked. “How are we supposed to leave you out of it when you put yourself in the middle? If you wanted to stay out of it, you could’ve declined to work for developers. And if you and Wally and Opal all thought that it was ethical and aboveboard for you to represent Swan and Swan at the same time you were representing the Pine Tree Foundation, why keep it a big secret?”
    “For the very good reason,” answered Opal, with a swish of her high pony tail, “that we thought it might be misunderstood, particularly by Anita’s father. The situation was perfectly simple. Wally and I needed a good attorney. Anita is one. Furthermore, she passed her bar exams in Maine and in Massachusetts, and Swan and Swan has some interests there, too. On top of which, we know Anita. Therefore, it made perfect sense. So far as telling people, we decided to be considerate and discreet. We did not lie. Anyone who was interested could have consulted any number of public records.”
    “Why would anyone have done such a thing?” Effie demanded. “Why would Malcolm or anyone else have gone digging into records to find out that Anita was doing something that all of us thought in a million years she’d never do? Does anyone go around trying to make sure that Quint and I aren’t secret agents of the military-industrial complex? Of course not! You don’t check up on people unless you have some reason to be suspicious in the first place.”
    Quint turned unobtrusively to his aunt and asked, “Gabbi, did you know about this?”
    As if testifying in court, Gabrielle answered solemnly, “I did not.”
    Anita finally spoke up for herself. “This whole matter is being blown all out of proportion. Anyone would imagine that Wally and Opal intended to build a skyscraper in the middle of Bar Harbor or open a chemical factory and turn Northeast Harbor into Bhopal. What no one, including you, Daddy, wants to admit is that development is inevitable. Better Wally and Opal than someone else.”
    Malcolm Fairley looked so crushed that I wished Anita had said nothing. With heartbreaking bitterness, he echoed her. “Development is inevitable.” His eyes were filled with tears. “Anita, how could you have done this to me? To the Pine Tree Foundation? What if the benefactors find out? What if they discover that my daughter, the foundation’s attorney, is representing the interests of any developers? If they find out, they may immediately withdraw the support on which all our efforts rest. Didn’t you realize that the foundation must be like Caesar’s wife? It must be above reproach and seen to be above reproach. My own daughter! How could you have betrayed me?”
    “Daddy,” Anita replied unprettily, “cut the shit.”
     

Chapter Twenty-five
     
    MY FATHER STOOD APART . Except to object to Effie’s lapse into Latin, he’d said nothing. Uncharacteristically, he hadn’t even caught the eye of any of the dogs or snuck them treats from the supply he always carried in his pockets.
    Always. Buck always carried dog treats.
    That piece of trivia was as accessible to me as if my memories of my father had never vanished; all of a sudden, the memory was in its proper place again. In fiction, the recovery of the forgotten past is notably gauzy, nebulous, insubstantial. Veils lift. The victim blinks away