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“Please just give it a minute. It’s burning old oil. The blue smoke will go away in a minute. But I really should clean the engine. Do you mind if I do that? It would take a day or two.”
    Margaret made a fussy face. “I don’t see the point, Alfred. I’m not planning on using it. You’d just be wasting your time.”
    “It would be good practice for me, actually.”
    “I won’t use it.”
    Gosh she was stubborn. “Do you mind if I do it anyway?”
    “Don’t you have to get to Australia to save the world?”
    She was losing her patience. But I felt stubborn, too. I didn’t want to leave her without fuel and a working engine. Maybe she was ready to throw in the towel, I didn’t know, but I wouldn’t be part of that. My newfound gratitude for life made me very determined.
    “One or two days shouldn’t make too much difference.”
    “Oh, suit yourself!” She went to the bow with Hollie, and sat down.
    So, I got to work. I shut off the engine, drained the oil, and flushed the engine with diesel fuel. Then, I left it to dry. I sprayed lubricating and anti-rust oil everywhere there were moving parts that could be loosened, tightened, or removed, and let it sit. I took fine steel wool and buffed the rust from the casing and driveshaft as well as I could. It was a small engine, and it didn’t take two whole days for that much work, but it took a whole day for everything to dry and the oil to work its magic.
    Once it was dry, I tightened everything up again, filled the engine with oil, and snuck in another can of fuel for the tank. It was slow, steady, relaxing work. While I kept at it, Margaret and I chatted. Usually she was out on deck, and I was inside, and we talked without seeing each other, except when she got worked up over something. Then, she’d come in and stand in the doorway to the cabin with her hands on her hips, and wait for me to make eye contact, such as when I suggested that she didn’t have to be so negative, that it wasn’t too late, there was still time to save the oceans and the world. I had my head buried beneath the engine when she stood in front of the light and darkened my view.
    “The reason we are in the mess we are in is because humans are greedy and thoughtless, Alfred. They want bigger cars, bigger houses, bigger steaks, bigger toys, and they don’t care how they get them. They don’t want anyone digging, cutting, or burning in their own backyard, but they sure as heck don’t mind someone digging, cutting, or burning in somebody else’s backyard, just so long as they don’t have to see it. And if people on the other side of the world are dying in war or drought, that’s just fine so long as they can have their oil, coal, and all their consumer goods. But what humans haven’t realized in all this time is that we’re all connected. We’re all connected to each other, and to the Earth, and to every other living creature. What one creature does affects everybody else. That’s a lesson we should have learned from aboriginal peoples a long time ago, but didn’t, and now it’s too late.”
    I raised my head. “Aboriginal peoples?”
    “Yes, Aboriginal peoples, because they have a healthier relationship with the Earth. They only take what they need, and they give back. Aboriginal peoples tend to be self-sufficient and naturally sustaining, when left to their own devices. They’ve learned to be that way over thousands of years. Then we come along with our industrial revolution, and we just can’t use up the Earth’s resources fast enough. We don’t care how garbage piles up. We don’t care if we poison rivers and lakes and oceans. And even when it’s evident that it’s too late, as it is now, people still don’t care so long as they can get to the store to buy something else. The last gallon of gas is probably going to be burned up in the tank of some guy on his way to a dealership to buy a new truck!” She stood behind the bags of clothing with her arms folded like