Ethan Saxe's Questionnaire

I don't. I live in the pacific northwest. I like it because of the mountains and trees. It has a convenient mix of large swaths of wild undeveloped land with a few very large urban centers. I don't like the cities, but they are helpful if I need serious medical care or some extra tannery supplies. My "home" is either a small cave where I stash some gear, the tarp I sleep under near the cave, or the nests I have created in various trees and cliffsides. I have setup a tannery near the cave, which I use for leather to patch up my clothes or trade at nearby markets.

I get some money from selling leather hides or crafts to hikers, backpackers, and tourists. When I have more leather than I need I go to various camp grounds and farmer's markets to sell the extra. I don't make much and people usually give me strange looks. There are a few people that appreciate the quality handmade leather, so at certain markets I have a "regular" customer. I don't spend it on much either. Sometimes I buy chemicals for the tannery. Sometimes I buy matches when I don't want to work to start the fire. I don't really need money.

After spending all this time in the wild, I can hear the spirits of the earth. They are hurting and scared and furious. I don't know why no one else seems to have noticed, but the earth is dying. Humans are taking more than their share and destroying anything that slows them down. I want to help the earth heal. Unfortunately I can not heal the earth faster than humanity is wrecking it. I think I need to slow the decay first. I will destroy the massive pollutants and the factories. I will free the livestock and let humans remember how to hunt for their meat. I will kill to heal our earth. I will die to heal our earth.

My brother died five years ago. No one came to the funeral except for me. Why would my ex-wife come? My kids were too busy in school and "weren't that close with him". No one showed up, and I realized how alone he was. How alone I was. The world didn't need me, so I left the world. At least that's what I thought then. Now I know, I actually found the world. I found earth, when I left "civilization". The first year alone in the woods was hard, but I didn't care. Then I started to hear the spirits, and everything started making more sense.

Clara and Kate are my daughters. They're both grown up now. Kate was doing computer stuff in college, so she probably has a job doing that somewhere. Clara was trying to become a doctor. I don't know if she's finished school for that yet or not. They were both so smart. I still miss them. I'm not sure how I could even track them down to visit them anymore though.

Shit, am I closest to Frank now? He was my first repeat customer at the Leavenworth farmer's market. He talks to me constantly whenever I'm there. It does seem to encourage other people to come over and buy stuff. I'm just real bad at chatting. I've learned a surprising amount about him though. He's lived in the town his whole life. He has a wife and three kids. Loads of other cousins, aunts, and uncles but I don't even try to keep them straight.

My childhood was normal. I grew up in San Diego with my family. My parents were Richard and Karen. They both worked around the docks. My mom was a manager and dad was a dock coordinator. They died about 15 years ago now. There was incident at the docks and they both died when a container smashed into the office. It was sudden and tough, but Ollie and I got through it. I grew up in my big brother's shadow. Ollie was three years older than me, so I was always being compared to him in sports and school work. We both did well. Ollie went through life effortless, and I focused all my effort just to try to keep up. We both fit in and had friends. Hanging out with Ollie helped boost my popularity in school as well. We both played football in high school and some in college too.

Yeah, my high school sweet heart and ex-wife, Rachel. We got married after high school. She worked while I went to college. We were married and had two beautiful daughters. Over time we grew further and further apart. The "honeymoon" period from high school wore off. We slowly realized we didn't have much in common any more. We did the classic "stay together for the children" then got divorced when they went to college. I don't know if it mattered. The girls seemed to know something was wrong for awhile. They didn't seem surprised when we broke the news of the divorce.