Kaleidoscope (6 page)

Had this been a
TV
movie-of-the-week, one student and then another would have turned to face Leland. No one did.
In the silence, audience members began to stir uneasily in their seats. “Well, that’s your decision,” Leland said. He moved closer to the podium, adjusted the gold silk lining of his scarlet hood, and began his prepared speech. I heard more than one sigh of relief. My left-hand neighbour, who taught constitutional history and dreamed of Greece, pulled out his BlackBerry and began thumbing through images of Crete, Rhodes, Lesvos, and Kos. When Leland finished, the applause was polite but perfunctory.

We were back on track. A student pianist played a piece he had composed for the occasion. The university president delivered her message, and then the real business of the day – the awarding of degrees – began.

Beside me, my colleague found a website that allowed him to take a virtual tour of Athens. I watched the students trooping across the stage and thought about the next graduation in our family – our younger son Angus’s from the College of Law. It was a year away, but Zack was already determined that his stepson would join the firm, and he had dangled the shiny bauble of a summer job in the new Calgary office to entice Angus to work at Falconer Shreve. The Calgary job was a sensible solution to a prickly problem. Working with the firm would be an impressive line on Angus’s resumé, and except for Zack’s partner, Kevin Hynd, nobody in the Calgary office knew or cared about Angus’s relationship with Zack. I was thinking about how much fun Angus must be having in Calgary when my colleague said goodbye to Greece, flicked off his BlackBerry, tapped my arm to get my attention, and stood. The last graduate at the last convocation I would attend as a faculty member had received her degree. It was time to leave the stage.

The basement room where the members of the platform party removed their academic garb was hot and crowded. Leland was handing his robe to a woman from the
registrar’s office. His face brightened when he saw me. “I was hoping we’d connect,” he said. “I’m meeting Margot and Declan in the lobby, and they were looking forward to seeing you and Ed.”

I gazed around the room. “Ed’s here somewhere,” I said. “Let me find him, and we can go upstairs together. Incidentally, congratulations – not just on the honorary doctorate but on your speech. I liked what you said to the protestors.”

Leland’s expression was amused. “They didn’t.”

“Sometimes it takes a while.” I spotted Ed coming towards us. “Here’s our man. Let’s find Margot and Declan.”

Walking through the lobby with Leland was an odd experience. He had just received an honorary doctorate. I would have anticipated that someone would have reached out to shake his hand or called out congratulations. No one did. People weren’t hostile. They simply stepped aside and gave us a wide berth. Leland moved quickly, eyes straight ahead towards his destination.

Margot and Declan were waiting a few feet from the glass entrance doors. Both were elegantly dressed for tea at the president’s house, Margot in a cream jersey wraparound dress that hugged her curves and Declan, for the first time in my memory, in a suit and tie. His outfit was clearly new and very expensive, but his dark blond dreadlocks were, as always, tied back with a piece of hemp. He was, after all, sixteen years old, and he, too, had a statement to make.

As soon as we reached Margot and Declan, we exchanged a few words and started through the crush towards the exit.

The sequence of events that followed had the jumpy, unfocused quality of a video shot by an amateur. Leland and Margot were following Ed, Declan, and me through the doors when seemingly out of nowhere Louise Hunter
appeared, grabbed her ex-husband’s arm, and attempted to pull him back into the building. Two factors worked against her: the press of people seeking to get out of the hot and airless lobby was intense and Louise was drunk. Leland pried her fingers loose from the arm of his jacket, whispered something, and made his escape.

The car that would take Leland, Margot, and Declan to the president’s tea was waiting. So were the protestors and the police. The scene was anything but tense. After three hours outside, the fire had gone out of the bellies of the protestors. The officers sent to keep order as Leland left the Conexus Centre were vigilant but relaxed.

When Leland reappeared outside, the demonstrators took notice and began chanting and raising their signs. It seemed they were simply going through the motions, and no one, including the police, looked alarmed. However, when a cameraman from a local
TV
station, who had been taking feel-good pictures of happy families, turned his camera on the confrontation, the stakes were raised. The protestors began jockeying for position, and in the confusion Riel Delorme was knocked towards Leland Hunter, and the handle of Riel’s sign struck Leland’s head before clattering to the ground.

Reflexively, Leland’s hand went to the wound; it came away covered in blood. The police moved quickly to clear the area, herding the protestors away from Leland. One officer pulled on gloves and picked up the sign. There was an ugly jagged piece of metal where the wooden handle had been joined to the placard. The cop brandished the sign. “Who was holding this?” he asked.

Riel Delorme stepped out of the crowd. “I was,” he said. He seemed both resigned and defiant. Two officers moved into position beside him.

Margot opened her bag and took out a pocket pack of tissues. She ripped it open and carefully removed all the
tissues so they formed a pad. She placed it against Leland’s wound. It was soaked immediately, but even when fresh blood ran down her arm, Margot maintained the pressure on the wound.

Declan was staring at Margot’s arm; he seemed frozen. “Dad, this is bad,” he said.

“Head wounds always bleed,” Leland said. “Get me to emergency, and they’ll stitch me up.”

One of the police officers flanking Riel Delorme took in the situation. “There’s an ambulance on its way. Did anybody see what happened?”

No one said anything. Finally, I spoke. “People were jostling one another. The man holding the sign was pushed towards Leland Hunter and the handle hit him. It was an accident.”

The
EMT
team arrived, imposing order on our chaos. They began checking out Leland. The bleeding had slowed, but he was pale, and despite his impatience to get to the hospital where he could be stitched up and sent on his way, the
EMT
people were thorough: maintaining the pressure on his wound and monitoring his heart and blood pressure. Margot, blood-spattered but composed, sat on the concrete beside Leland, holding his hand and whispering things that made him smile.

Louise Hunter had broken down, weeping and straining to get close to Leland. Declan and a woman with fiery red hair who appeared to be a friend of Louise’s were keeping Louise firmly in hand, well away from her ex-husband.

My statement that Leland Hunter’s injury had been inflicted accidentally brought me attention from a young uniformed officer with a badge identifying him as Kevin Toews. I didn’t have much more to offer him: the account of what I’d seen, the nature of my connection with Riel Delorme, and my contact information. Riel’s eyes never left
my face. When Constable Toews walked away, I gave Riel what I hoped was an encouraging smile; he nodded acknowledgement and walked over to the ambulance. It was a gutsy move. The
EMT
people had just picked up the gurney on which Leland was lying. Riel leaned towards Leland. “I’m very sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to hit you.”

Leland met Riel’s eyes. “Never ruin an apology with an excuse,” he said and then he turned away.

The
EMT
people loaded the gurney into the ambulance. Margot and I watched together until Leland was inside and the doors were shut.

“I’ll take a cab and meet you at the hospital,” I said.

Margot shook her head. “There’s no need. Declan’s meeting us there. And Leland is right. Head wounds always bleed a lot. I have five brothers. I know Leland will be fine.” She held out her hands. They were trembling. Margot tried a smile. “Apparently my body didn’t get the memo that I’m taking this in stride.”

“That’s always a problem when you’re in love,” I said.

“A lesson I’m just now learning,” Margot said ruefully. When she turned to open the door to the passenger’s side of the driver’s compartment, Louise Hunter appeared. The red-haired woman was with her. The woman seemed to have a firm grasp on Louise’s arm, but Louise managed to shake her off. When Louise attempted to shove Margot out of the way, Margot put her hands on Louise’s thin shoulders and gazed down at her as if she were disciplining a child. “I’m the one who’s going with Leland,” she said.

Louise’s intake of breath was sharp. “I’m his wife,” she said.

“Not any more,” the red-haired woman said, and her voice was firm. “Louise, don’t do this to Declan and don’t do this to yourself. Let me take you home.”

Margot shot the woman a grateful look. “Thanks, Sage,” she said. “I’ll make sure you get an update on Leland’s
condition.” Then she climbed into the passenger’s seat and shut the door.

A knot of protestors had been watching the scene unfold. They appeared to be delighting in Leland and Margot’s pain. As the ambulance sped off, a boy who didn’t appear to be much more than sixteen raised his arm in a power salute and yelled, “I hope you die, you rich fucker.”

The ambulance had disappeared, but the young boy kept cursing Leland and uttering obscenities about what he’d like to do to Margot if he ever got her alone.

“Let’s get out of here.” Ed’s hand was on my arm. He looked at anxiously. “You seem shaken,” he said. “Do you want me to call a cab?”

“No, the wind’s died down. I could use some fresh air.”

Ed and I had never felt the need to chat when we were together, so we walked home in companionable, if thoughtful, silence. When we reached his house, I kissed his cheek. “See you on Sunday,” I said and started towards my car.

“Jo, can we talk for a minute. I’d like your opinion on something.”

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“Not a one. This is a gift Barry and I never dreamed would come our way. What I wanted to talk to you about are the orchids I’ve been growing for the wedding.”

“Cascading white phalaenopsis and dendrobium – exactly what you gave me to carry when Zack and I were married. They were so spectacular no one noticed my dress.”

“Zack did,” Ed said. “When you joined him at the altar he couldn’t stop beaming.”

I smiled at the memory. “It was a nice moment.”

“I want that moment, too,” Ed said quietly. “Joanne, I know I’m not Adonis. I see myself in the mirror every day. I’m middle-aged, I’m fat, and my hair is thinning, but I want Barry to look at me the way Zack looked at you.” Ed’s voice
was husky with emotion. He cleared his throat. “So what do you think? Would I look foolish if I carried the orchids when I walked up the aisle to join Barry?”

“Raise high the roof beam, carpenter,”
I said.
“Like Ares comes the bridegroom, taller far than a tall man.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, it’s your wedding day, Ed. Carry the orchids. You and Barry have earned that moment.”

CHAPTER
3

I was staring at my academic robes, pondering their fate now that I’d retired, when Margot called, sounding tired but relieved. “Good news,” she said. “The doctor in emergency stitched Leland up, said that he should take it easy for the rest of the day but that he’s fine.”

“That is good news,” I said. “So you’re home safe.”

“We are, and we may never leave again. That was a real adventure in crazy town this afternoon. Thank God Sage Mackenzie was there to hustle Louise away.”

“Is she Louise’s companion?”

“No. She’s the lawyer Leland pays to keep Louise out of legal trouble. Sage doesn’t come cheap, but as you saw today, she earns every penny. I promised I’d give her a call, so I should move along, but I knew you’d be worried.”

“I
was
worried. Tell Leland to let you pamper him for a while. Actually, after the afternoon you had, you could probably use a little pampering yourself.”

Margot chortled. “Leland and I will take turns playing nurse. Have a good weekend, Jo.”

“You, too.”

After I hung up, I decided that the fate of my robes could be determined another day. I zipped them back in their garment bag and took them down to the closet in the mudroom where we kept everything we didn’t know what to do with. The weekend could not begin too soon for me.

Taylor, too, was ready to rock and roll. She loped through the door, threw her backpack on the kitchen table, and did a full body stretch. “It’s only Thursday, but it’s the weekend,” she said.

“That’s right – you have study days on Fridays till exams start.”

Taylor’s lips curved in a smile. “Just because it’s a study day doesn’t mean I have to study every single second. And Declan’s coming to the lake Saturday night and Ed and Barry are getting married on Sunday, so it’s going to be great.”

It was just a little after five when Zack came in. He had his trial bag on his lap, and he looked beat. “Bad day?” I said.

“I got shellacked,” he said.

“You didn’t win your case.”

“Nope. You overestimated my charms, Ms. Shreve.”

I bent down and kissed him. “No, I didn’t.”

The creases that bracketed Zack’s mouth like parentheses were deep. He rubbed his hand over his eyes – a sure sign that he was tired. “Well, win or lose, the lawyer always gets to come home. But the good news is that I haven’t got anything urgent on for tomorrow, and now that Taylor’s prepping for finals, and you, Ms. Shreve, are a retired lady of leisure, we can head for the lake tonight.”

“That sounds so good,” I said, “but are you sure you’re not too tired?” I stood behind his wheelchair and massaged his shoulders. “We could stay here tonight and drive to the lake in the morning.”

Zack covered my hands with his. “No. You like waking up at the lake, and I like waking up with you. We can pick up steaks and whatever else we need for dinner at that store on the point.”