With brow furrowed and a look of grave concern etched across her face, Linda ushered her longtime neighbor into the kitchen. Morning sunlight streamed through the window above the sink as she poured two cups of coffee and set a plate of warm blueberry muffins on the table.

LINDA: ”Abby, please come in. I’ll put on some coffee and make a little breakfast. Then you can tell me exactly what you mean by making a big stink.”

ABIGAIL: “Thanks, Linda. Another cup of coffee would be wonderful, but I’ve already had breakfast.”

LINDA: “Already? It’s barely eight o’clock.”

ABIGAIL: “I know. I was up early. I had breakfast with some friends.”

LINDA: “Friends? Oh, who was over? Were your out-of-town kids visiting?

Abigail smiled over the rim of her coffee cup.

ABIGAIL: “No, Linda. Not those kind of friends.”

LINDA: “Then what kind of friends?”

ABIGAIL: “Animal friends.”

Linda nearly dropped the coffee pot.

LINDA: “Animal friends? What animal friends? You mentioned a skunk named Sebastian, but that was seven years ago. Are you implying that the skunks have returned?”

ABIGAIL: “Not just the skunks.”

LINDA: “What do you mean, not just the skunks?”

ABIGAIL: “Quinn found a lot more than skunks.”

LINDA: “Quinn?”

ABIGAIL: “A porcupine.”

Linda stared at her neighbor.

LINDA: “A porcupine.”

ABIGAIL: “An investigative reporter, actually.”

Linda shook her head.

LINDA: “I don’t know whether to laugh or call a doctor.”

ABIGAIL: “You asked.”

LINDA: “I did. Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared for the answer.”

ABIGAIL: “Neither was I.”

LINDA: “All right. Start at the beginning. Who did this porcupine find?”

ABIGAIL: “Scout.”

LINDA: “Who’s Scout?”

ABIGAIL: “Sebastian’s son.”

LINDA: “Sebastian had a son?”

ABIGAIL: “Apparently.”

LINDA: “And let me guess. He talks.”

ABIGAIL: “Quite a bit.”

LINDA: “This keeps getting better.”

ABIGAIL: “Quinn also found Wiley.”

LINDA: “Who’s Wiley?”

ABIGAIL: “A weasel.”

Linda groaned.

LINDA: “Of course he’s a weasel.”

ABIGAIL: “Actually, he’s very helpful.”

LINDA: “I’ve never met a helpful weasel.”

ABIGAIL: “You haven’t met Wiley. Then there are the beavers.”

LINDA: “Beavers?”

ABIGAIL: “Several families.”

LINDA: “Several families?”

ABIGAIL: “And four groundhogs.”

Linda put down her coffee cup.

LINDA: “Four groundhogs.”

ABIGAIL: “Very determined groundhogs.”

Linda leaned back and folded her arms.

LINDA: “Let me see if I understand this. A porcupine reporter found a skunk, a weasel, a colony of beavers and four groundhogs, and now they’re all working together.”

ABIGAIL: “That’s about the size of it.”

LINDA: “Why?”

Abigail’s smile faded. She glanced out the kitchen window toward the woods behind their homes. Seven years earlier, those woods had been at the center of a battle that neither woman had forgotten.

ABIGAIL: “Because they’re worried.”

LINDA: “About Hell’s Bells?”

ABIGAIL: “The pollution hasn’t stopped.”

Linda nodded slowly.

LINDA: “No surprise there.”

ABIGAIL: “Seven years ago we were worried about what might happen. Today we know.”

LINDA: “The flaring and odors.”

ABIGAIL: “Yes.”

LINDA: “The sick people and the sick animals.”

For a moment, neither woman spoke.

ABIGAIL: “Yes.”

LINDA: “The continual complaints from residents.”

ABIGAIL: “Exactly.”

LINDA: “And yet Hell’s Bells keeps operating.”

ABIGAIL: “Exactly.”

LINDA: “I’ve also heard rumors the plant isn’t making money.”

ABIGAIL: “So have I.”

LINDA: “And that they’re looking for a buyer.”

ABIGAIL: “Which may be the best opportunity we’ve had in years.”

LINDA: “Opportunity for what?”

ABIGAIL: “To remind people that the fight isn’t over.”

LINDA: “So what’s the plan?”

ABIGAIL: “The beavers are building dams.”

LINDA: “Dams?”

ABIGAIL: “As many as they can.”

LINDA: “You do realize we’re talking about a multi-billion-dollar cracker plant.”

ABIGAIL: “The beavers are aware of that.”

LINDA: “And they think a few dams are going to stop it?”

ABIGAIL: “Not a few dams.”

LINDA: “A lot of dams?”

ABIGAIL: “A great many dams.”

Linda shook her head.

LINDA: “Abby, I fail to see how beaver dams can stop a cracker plant.”

ABIGAIL: “The dams aren’t aimed at the plant.”

LINDA: “Then what are they aimed at?”

ABIGAIL: “The pipeline.”

LINDA: “The pipeline?”

ABIGAIL: “The beavers believe that enough dams, built in the right places, could alter the landscape enough to cause sections of the underground pipeline to shift.”

LINDA: “Shift?”

ABIGAIL: “Just enough to interfere with the flow of methane.”

LINDA: “And without methane?”

ABIGAIL: “Hell’s Bells has no feedstock.”

LINDA: “No methane. No plastic.”

ABIGAIL: “Exactly.”

Linda shook her head.

LINDA: “I spent seven years trying to understand the logic of the gas industry. Now you’re asking me to understand the logic of beavers.”

ABIGAIL: “I never said it would be easy.”

LINDA: “Ha, Fair enough.”

ABIGAIL: “The animals know they can’t undo what’s already been built. But they believe they can interfere with the methane reaching Hell’s Bells.”

LINDA: “And while they’re doing that, we’re making our own stink.”

ABIGAIL: “Exactly.”

LINDA: “I suppose every movement needs more than one strategy.”

ABIGAIL: “Now you’re beginning to think like Quinn.”

LINDA: “And what about the skunks?”

ABIGAIL: “Protection detail.”

LINDA: “Hmmm … Protection detail?”

ABIGAIL: “The skunks will guard the beavers while they work.”

LINDA: “Actually, that part makes perfect sense.”

ABIGAIL: “You think so?”

LINDA: “Absolutely. If I saw a skunk marching toward me, I’d reconsider whatever I was planning to do.”

ABIGAIL: “Especially if there were several of them.”

LINDA: “How many are you talking about?”

ABIGAIL: “a hundred, just like seven years ago.”

LINDA: “Ah-ha, so it worked back then and you figure it’ll work again now. And the groundhogs?”

ABIGAIL: “Tunnels.”

LINDA: “Tunnels?”

ABIGAIL: “Under Hell’s Bells.”

Linda stared at her.

LINDA: “You’re serious.”

ABIGAIL: “Very.”

LINDA: “I don’t suppose anyone explained to the groundhogs that cracker plants are built on concrete.”

ABIGAIL: “They know.”

LINDA: “Then what’s the point of the tunnels?”

ABIGAIL: “The groundhogs know that if enough tunnels are dug beneath Hell’s Bells, the earth itself will refuse to support it.”

Linda raised an eyebrow.

LINDA: “The earth will refuse to support it?”

ABIGAIL: “The groundhogs think that’s only fair given everything Hell’s Bells has done to the land.”

Linda stared at her.

LINDA: “So, obviously the groundhogs plan to undermine the cracker plant.”

ABIGAIL: “Literally.”

Linda couldn’t help but laugh.

LINDA: “I have to admit, that’s clever.”

ABIGAIL: “It should be. I came up with it.”

LINDA: “Ah-ha, so, you assigned the jobs, didn’t you?”

ABIGAIL: “Someone had to.”

LINDA: “Let me guess. The beavers got dams because they build dams.”

ABIGAIL: “Exactly.”

LINDA: “The skunks got security duty.”

ABIGAIL: “Who better?”

LINDA: “And the groundhogs got tunnels.”

ABIGAIL: “They’re natural excavators.”

LINDA: “You really thought this through.”

ABIGAIL: “Not entirely. Quinn and I discussed it. The animals added ideas of their own.”

LINDA: “But the basic plan was yours.”

ABIGAIL: “I simply looked at what each animal does best and gave them a job.”

LINDA: “The beavers build.”

ABIGAIL: “Dams.”

LINDA: “The skunks defend.”

ABIGAIL: “Exactly.”

LINDA: “The groundhogs dig.”

ABIGAIL: “Better than anyone.”

LINDA: “And Quinn?”

ABIGAIL: “Quinn investigates, asks questions, and keeps everyone informed.”

LINDA: “So everybody has an assignment.”

ABIGAIL: “Everybody has a role to play.”

LINDA: “And what exactly are we supposed to do while the animals are off saving the world?”

Abigail smiled.

ABIGAIL: “The same thing they’re doing.”

LINDA: “Which is?”

ABIGAIL: “Making a big stink.”

LINDA: “You mean protests.”

ABIGAIL: “Protests. Letters. Petitions. Public meetings. Phone calls. Social media. Whatever it takes.”

LINDA: “Just like seven years ago.”

ABIGAIL: “Exactly.”

LINDA: “Then I think we’re going to need some signs.”

Abigail grabbed a marker and wrote three words on a paper napkin.

DAMN HELL’S BELLS

Linda stared at it for a moment and then she smiled …

LINDA: “The beavers are going to love that.”