The Oil Rig

The oil rig stood looming over Emerald Bay. Sean couldn't remember a time when it hadn't existed, its ugly red surface flaking paint into the bay, the incessant sound of drilling like monotone humming day in and day out. He thought that choked, dead fish floating on the surface of the water was normal, and that the dark sludge coating the beach had always been there. So, initially, he didn't hate the oil rig as must as his older brother, Arthur, did.

Arthur was eighteen years old and he despised that oil rig. He hated it with a passion and he hated it even more now that he had to work on it with Papa. Every day he would come back with coal caked under his nails and in the grooves of his skin, and with hatred etched in his eyes.

But he never said anything.

Sean, who was nine, feared the oil rig because of the change it had brought upon his beloved brother, Arthur. He was even more frightened because he knew one day he would have to go work there, too. Everyone in the struggling village of Crofton worked on the oil rig, and he would be no exception.

One day after school, Sean ran home to find his brother sick in bed. His brother had developed a hacking cough that would not go away. Today he started to cough up blood. Then his shift manager had sent him home.

The doctor who came to visit told them Arthur was sick from breathing in dirty air. He said Arthur never had strong lungs to start with and that they were filled with fluid. If the fluid didn’t drain soon, Arthur could die.

When Mama heard the news she began to weep softly. The Craig family down the street had lost a son to tuberculosis. Fear filled Mama when she realized that it could happen to her son, too.

Sean didn’t cry when he heard the news, though. He ran out of their small cottage and into the neighboring forest. He grabbed a short stick and began to whack at anything in his way – trees, the grass, vines, dandelions. A rage like he had never felt before filled his body as he made his way through the forest, thorns scratching at his arms and legs. It wasn’t fair! Why did his brother have to work on the oil rig and become so sick? Why would he someday have to work there, too?

He was so busy whacking away that he didn’t notice when he stepped into an inconspicuous ring of mushrooms.

“I wish the oil rig would just go away!” he cried.

“Your wish is my command,” whispered a soft voice.

Sean was so surprised that he dropped his stick.

A small, female creature, about as tall as his knee, stood next to him. She gave off a faint green glow and had dark green hair that flowed down to her waist.

“Who are you?” Sean gasped.

“I am the Leprechaun of Emerald Bay,” she answered. “And you have stepped into my Fairy Ring.” She indicated toward the dainty ring of mushrooms Sean had just stepped in. “Now, who would you be?”

“I’m Sean. You’re a leprechaun? I thought Leprechauns were short, bearded men!”

The Leprechaun bristled with annoyance. “And whom, young master, do you think made all the Leprechaun babies, then? Our Men-Folk are more conspicuous because of their annoying habit of Rainbow-gambling, but I assure you that we Female-Folk are just as common.”

Sean blushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

The Leprechaun seemed to accept his apology. “You Human-Folk are generally ignorant. It isn’t your fault, I suppose. Now what was this wish of yours?”

“I made a wish?”

The Leprechaun sighed. “Of course you did, Human. That’s what woke me up from my slumber. Your wish from inside my Fairy Ring.”

Sean thought hard. “Oh, yeah! I did make a wish! I wished that the oil rig would disappear!”

“Oil rig?” The Leprechaun frowned. “Oh. That hideous thing the Humans have built in my bay.”

“How can you not care?” cried Sean. “That thing is ruining the bay. It pollutes the water and kills the fish. It blocks out the sun with its smoke and waste. It drills the ocean floor and dumps sludge onto the beaches.”

“Sean, when you’ve been alive as long as I have, you will understand that these things will all come to pass,” the Leprechaun explained gently. “People always have the tendency to try to destroy nature, but they never have succeeded. I have seen worse things in my bay.”

“Well, this one is ruining my life!” exclaimed Sean angrily. “My brother is sick from having to work on it.”

“Getting rid of the oil rig won’t solve your problems,” said the Leprechaun. “Your village depends on that hideous piece of junk. Your father and brother feed their family with the wages earned from working there. However…” she sighed. “You are entitled to one wish. Are you sure that is the one you want?”

“Yes,” said Sean resolutely. “That is what I want.”

“Very well,” replied the Leprechaun. “Very well…” She smiled and faded into thin air.

Sean stared at the spot where she had been standing and shook his head several times. He had just encountered a Leprechaun, and she had granted him a wish. How weird was that?

The next day, however, Sean wasn’t quite sure if that encounter had been real. Did Leprechauns really exist? Could they even grant wishes? Sean checked in the forest for the Fairy Ring but couldn’t for the life of him find that circle of mushrooms again.

A week later, a horrible storm descended on Emerald Bay. It raged for a whole week, destroying houses and fields. After the storm abated, all the villagers came out to assess the damage.

Sean’s family’s cottage was untouched, as if protected by some magic spell. But all down their lane, neighbors were rebuilding and replanting. The biggest surprise, however, came when they all looked toward the bay. The oil rig was gone. It had been swept down by the storm.

Sean rejoiced for the next week as their family helped others rebuild. They had a big celebration when they fixed the Village Square and he had a grand time off from school playing with his friends. But at nighttime, he could hear his parents whispering, and they always sounded worried.

“What if the oil rig doesn’t open?”

“We’ll figure something out.”

“We have a sick son and a young child to raise. How will we do it without the money?”

Then the news came out. The company would not be rebuilding the oil rig. They were moving on to a different bay where storms were supposed to be less likely. The villagers grumbled and complained. How would Crofton survive without their one source of jobs?

It didn’t.




Ten years from the day Sean made that fatal wish, he was living in a big city. He and his father and brother worked long hours in a packaging factory.

Sometimes Sean would think about the Leprechaun’s wish and wonder if he had made the right decision. At night, as he lay in bed, all his muscles aching, he would cringe, thinking about the beautiful life he had in Crofton, and how he destroyed it all with a simple, immature wish.

One night, as he tossed and turned in his bed, the loud noises of the city echoing throughout his apartment and his brother’s dry cough reverberating against the wall, the Leprechaun appeared by his bedside.

“Sean, oh Sean,” she whispered sadly. “Look where your wish has brought you. Do you really think you made the right decision?”

She looked so forlorn, standing there with her green light dancing around her. Although Sean had wished many, many times she would return, upon finally seeing her again, anger rose in his throat.

“How could you let me make that wish?” he snapped. “I was just a boy! You knew the consequences that would follow!”

“I knew nothing, Sean,” she explained. “I cannot see the future any better than you can. I only have my judgment and my keen intuition developed from thousands of years of existence.”

“What do I do, now?” Sean cried. “Arthur is still sick, Mama is weak and frail, and soon Papa won’t be able to work in the factory any longer. We won’t be able to pay the rent and we’ll be on the streets.” He shuddered at the thought.

“There’s nothing you can do to change the past,” the Leprechaun told him. “But I’ve come to offer you another chance. Come back to Emerald Bay. Start anew. The bay has righted itself, as nature always does. There are too many sea creatures dwelling in my bay. All the plant life and algae is dying. We need Humans, too, Sean. Predation is a natural cycle of life, just like destruction.”

She smiled and touched his arm. Her fingers felt light and cool against his skin. “Think about it.”

Then she disappeared.

Sean lay in bed for a long time. Could it be possible? Could he return back to Emerald Bay? Could it really be restored?

When the sun rose, it rose with his hopes and his dreams. He couldn’t reverse the past, but he could make the future better for himself and for his family.

They could start over. They could return to Emerald Bay.