LETTERS

by David Eide

"No, no, no." Rasputin emphatically thumped his fist on the small round table. "This was not and never will be a 'Utopia'. I do not have a conception of that word. There is nothing heavenly about working and sustaining a group of people on the fact of their hands. I do not even consider this place an experiment. It's simply a group of people who have decided to live by common sense."

I can remember Rasputin saying these words as though they were said yesterday. And the ironic thing is that he said them the morning of the first dispute. Everything had been so calm and without tension in the mountains I assumed it was the character of the people never to feel a conflict in their bones.

But that morning the sun was up like a bold face. I was starting to get dressed when I heard noises and shouts so ran outside while putting my shirt on. A little clot of people had gathered around two men who were in the center squaring off. I had seen the men before but had never spoken with them. They were the workers; the dutiful ones.

Apparently they were fighting over a tool that lay in the dust. It looked like an army surplus tool. The hair of both men was slicked over their faces by energy and heat. I wondered if any blows had been delivered yet.

"You're wasting time," one of them said. He picked up the tool and held it out, shaking it in defiance.

"No, I need it to dig in the hard rock. Besides, you can't take a guy's tool when he ain't lookin'."

"It's not yours," and the man's voice vibrated as he shook the tool.

"You knew I was going up to the falls to dig up the old stone. You know I've been trying to get rid of the stone for a long time. And here you wake up and the first thought is, 'I'm going to mess with John and get his tool and make him think about it. Man, you're wasting time!"

"And what are you going to do with the stone when you finish with it?"

And John started talking with the highest degree of sarcasm I had heard in a man for a long time. "Well, Phil, don't you know what we do with stones when we dig them up? Do we have to put you back to school? Do you have to go with the kiddies to the falls and have Lester teach you about stones and what we do when we dig them up?"

By this time Rasputin had made his way out to the scene. He had half a smile on his face. When the two men saw him they stopped but Rasputin kept staring at them as if saying, keep going, this is fun this is what we need here. And so the two men started again, trading insults that had a peculiar flavor to them. I figured they were locals and using objects meaningful to the locals but not to me. Some of the insults made me start to laugh but I suppressed laughter and watched as soon the match became fully verbal, almost transcendent in the bright morning sun as they stripped each other down to the core of their beliefs.

David Eide
March 28, 2000
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