Mr. Fullwider, who owns the station in Gilmore, had to quit selling gasoline. There just isn’t enough gasoline customers left to make it profitable. The people who lived around Gilmore had to move to Winston to be closer to their jobs. They refused to buy hybrid cars like ours, and Mr. Fullwider wouldn’t invest in charging station equipment even if they did. Some people resist every move to help improve and save the planet, and when they have that attitude, they suffer the consequences.”

“I read somewhere that if you don’t have a hybrid you can’t buy gasoline. Is that true?”

Marvin’s thoughts went wild. Where is this kid getting all these crazy notions?  How am I going to put a stop to all the information she’s getting? This isn’t supposed to happen.  “Where are you getting all this stuff, Little Molly?”

“Grandpa talks to me a lot.”

“As soon as I see my father I’m going straighten out a few things with him. He’s trying to destroy everything we have worked so hard for in order to bring the changes we need.  Even though he’s my father, he still is a stumbling block to our cause.”

“He told me you wouldn’t like what he tells me.”

“He’s right, I don’t.”

“Daddy, couldn’t those people buy gasoline at Gilmore without a permit? Is that why they moved”

“Molly, the rules for gasoline kept them from getting a permit. Most of them didn’t have enough income to buy a hybrid so they had to drive their pollution bombs. If they lived far enough away from their jobs, they could get a gasoline permit, but they were too close to their jobs. So they moved and Mr. Fullwider quit selling gasoline.”

“Grandpa says that Mr. Fullwider is going to close the business cause he can’t make enough money to live? Is that true?”

Marvin glanced into the mirror and glared at his daughter. Definitely, he would have a talk with his father. “There are things more important than profits. What good are profits if the earth is ruined in the process?”

“Grandpa says that’s hogwash. I think that’s a funny word. It’s like horse feathers. That’s a funny too. Grandpa uses a lot of funny words. He even talks about hen’s teeth too.”

“Well, your grandfather doesn’t understand global warming is serious.”

“Not according to grandpa. He says that’s hogwash too.”

Marvin groaned and told Molly that was enough about grandpa.

After a long silence, Molly began again with questions. Her dad tried to ignore her, but she asked the same question over and over again. “Daddy, since the generator won’t run the motor to run the fan, why not use the electricity that the big windmills generate? I know the chicken house is hooked to them because of the big wires going to the big box on the wall.”

“We can’t use that source today,” Marvin replied with no explanation.

“I think I know why,” Molly said brightly. “The wind isn’t blowing. If we had gasoline for the generator momma wouldn’t need to turn the fan crank.”

Molly quit talking and just when her father thought she had run out of things to talk about, she said,” We have electricity in the house. Why can’t we hook the fan motor to the house?”

“Obviously, you don’t understand the new system under which we live. There is a limited amount of power that each household is permitted to use. If we go over that limit, then we are charged a penalty for not conserving. If we do that too often, they will cut off our power. If we ran the chicken house fan motor, then we would go over the permit limit each month. It’s that simple.”

“Sounds simple minded to me, daddy.”

“Molly, I don’t want you to hear you say such a thing again. We have worked hard to help save the planet. We have made sacrifices for our well being. We have — what did you say?”

“You said you didn’t want to hear such things again so I didn’t say it very loud.”

“Molly,” was all the frustrated and shaken Marvin Dimwiddy could say. To be continued.)

    © 07-03-2008 DEC