Provider's Son (2 page)

“You knows Barnaby cant swim!” Frank says.

“I didnt mean to push him overboard,” Levi says, but he isn't sure if that is true.

“Im glad you will quit if youre going to be at the likes of that,” Frank says, but Levi knows it is another excuse. They want him to quit.

Before Anita had a chance to pull out of the driveway Levi was at the driver-side door telling her to shift over. He had decided to go to Gander after all. He needed to talk.

“Jesus, Levi, you never even changed out of your work clothes.”

“I didnt know we was going to a wedding.”

“Oh wear what you wants. I dont care,” she said, and lit a cigarette.

They drove for a half hour in silence before Levi spoke.

“Ive been ever since trying to convince myself that they whudnt trying to get me to quit, but I cant come to any other conclusion. I asked Mom what she thought and of course she said Barnaby wouldnt do that. Not her little Barnaby.”

Levi expected his wife to enforce his words but instead she was silent. It was a conversation they already had dozens of times since he quit. They scrutinized every facet of Frank's and Barnaby's personalities, wondering what side of the family Barnaby got his cowardliness from, or which parent Frank took after for his greed and bossiness. Analyzing family, friends and enemies had always been one of their favourite pastimes, a ritual they used to do over tea in the evening, or while lying in each other's arms at night. That was until Anita bought a laptop. Their daughter Sinead had owned one first, and eventually taught her mother how to use it before she went to college. It was the chat lines that had caught Anita's attention. Now it seemed like the only time he saw his wife was in the truck, or for supper, if he was lucky. Sometimes she didn't come to bed until three in the morning, even if she had to get up to go to work at six am. The truck was the only place they seemed to have long conversations any more. Now even that was ending.

Bills

Charges totalling seven thousand five hundred and seventy three dollars and twenty one cents was owing on Levi's MasterCard bill.

“They got something wrong here,” Levi said, slapping the bill on the table.

“Its no mistake,” Anita replied. “Ive been telling you about it for months. That eighteen percent interest rate aint helping. I told you about racking up the card with all the lumber youre after buying.”

“I thought Id still have a job instead of getting screwed over by me own family.”

“Do you have to be sending away for them expensive kinds of lumber? The shipping alone costs a fortune. I wouldnt mind if you was making a lot of money off the chairs.”

“I will when I starts up me own business at it.”

“Go on Levi, youve been saying that for years.”

“Maybe if you showed me some support I would.”

“Support! Sure I went out and bought the business plan software that time. Paid over a hundred dollars for it. We were both going to sit down and figure it all out. And you never did. If you whudnt fishing you was out in the shed.”

“I was making the chairs. I figured you was going to do the business plan seeing as youre face and eyes in the computer all the time. Sure them computers does all the work anyway. Thats what theyre for.”

“You got to take part in it, you fool. It was going to be your business after all. The computer only sets up the categories. It speeds up the process but you still got to do the research.”

“Forget about all that. The problem now is this seven thousand dollar bill we got here.”

She shrugged and went into their bedroom.

“Going in on the computer,” Levi said. “Here we is with a bill we dont have a clue where to get the money, and youre going on the computer. I hope youre going in there to find a way to pay this bill. If we dont Ill be cutting off that internet pretty soon.”

“Try it.”

“You think wer going to be paying luxury bills like that when we got a seven thousand dollar one here staring us in the face?”

“Whatever,” she said coldly, “its your bill,” and headed into their bedroom.

Levi stomped in the room behind her. “My bill? I thought we was married?”

She placed the laptop on her legs and adjusted the three pillows behind her head on the bed. “Im sick of having to deal with your fuck-ups. You can solve this one. ”

“I cant believe what youre getting on with! This bill is
our
problem, not mine. You didnt put any groceries on the MasterCard?”

“No, as a matter of fact I didnt. I only uses the debit card. The only time I uses the credit card is for emergencies.”

“Speaking of emergencies,” Levi said, and went out to the kitchen and began searching for his last Employment Insurance pay stub. He pulled out each drawer next to the sink, and eyed the top of the fridge. He stood in the middle of the kitchen, cursing. He did not want to ask Anita where it was, but the more he searched the more frustrated he became, and the more frustrated he became the more he wanted her help. Instead of giving in, however, he went to the living room and flopped down on the couch.

“Its up in the cupboard under the pill basket,” she shouted from their bedroom.

Levi stared up the hallway, then got up and crept to the cupboard. “I already found it,” he shouted back, carefully opening the cupboard and gently lifting the pill basket. There it was. He tore off the useless end of the report and threw it in the garbage.

Every month Employment Insurance sent him this Report Card. He could fill it out and pop it back in the mail or phone it in.

As a fisherman his E.I. was seasonal and only lasted twenty-six weeks, whereas regular E.I. lasted almost a full year. His life would be a lot easier if his Employment Insurance lasted that long.

His daughter, Sinead, was a safety advisor in Alberta, and she was clearing five thousand a month, along with a free flight to Newfoundland every twenty days for an eight-day break. Barnaby's son Ronny was a pipefitter on a site an hour north of where Sinead worked, clearing almost a third more than she was. Levi could work for twelve hours a day for a year or so and get his inevitable layoff when whatever project he was on slowed down, then come back home and relax for a few months. Not that his nephew did that. No, Ronny had too many toys, and with each toy came a big hand that reached into his bank account every month and took whatever it was owed. Ronny's brother, Bobby was working out there as well, as a labourer. Every time one brother bought a truck or some such thing the other brother would have to get one just a little bigger. The problem was that a labourer didn't make the money a pipefitter did, so Bobby was quickly driving himself so far in debt trying to keep up with his brother that bankruptcy would soon be his only option.

But Alberta wasn't the only place there was money. For some the crab fishery was downright lucrative. On the right boat a crew member at the crab fishery could easily make twenty thousand dollars in a month's work. And if a seventeen-year-old crew member was making that kind of money you could imagine what the skipper was pulling in. But with three men, a mid-sized boat, and a small quota, which was how Levi and his brothers had operated, making the big bucks was not as easy. In fact it was impossible.

And as easy as it was to be jealous of the crab skippers who made it rich, some even millionaires, Levi would not allow himself. Partly because of the satisfaction it gave him to smell the jealousy off some of the landsmen in Gadus. “The fishermen got it made,” was their favourite line — only when there wasn't one in the room of course. He wondered which fishermen they were talking about? Those who were brave enough to stay in the tattered and mismanaged industry, or the thousands who were forced to find work elsewhere? And after five hundred years of poverty, if those that were left did have it a little easier, didn't they deserve it?

Levi stared down at his E.I. report card. Maybe this time he would phone it in. Dealing with one of those automatic voice machines didn't thrill him, but he was getting annoyed with filling out his card and putting it in the mail. Frank claimed phoning it in was easy, but according to him everything was easy. Levi read the number on the report card and thought about it. If Frank could do it he could.

Levi picked up the phone and dialed the number.

A monotone female voice answered.

— Hello, this is the Employment Insurance Call-In System. If you would like a demonstration of how the report card Call-in System works please press one. If you would like to go ahead and file your E.I. report please press two.

Levi pressed two.

— Please enter your Social Insurance Number followed by the pound sign.

Levi cursed softly.

“Anita.”

“Anita!”

“What!”

“Whats my Social Insurance Number?”

— Please enter your Social Insurance Number followed by the pound sign.

“What?”

“My Social Insurance Number?”

She yelled out his number.

— Your allotted time is over. Good-bye.

“Goddamn it.”

Levi started over again and when he was asked to type in his Social Insurance Number he did but didn't press the pound key. He moaned and tried again.

— Please enter your Access Code followed by the pound key.

“What the hell is my Access Code?” Levi shouted into the phone.

“Its written on the tear-away part that was attached to your report card,” Anita shouted from their bedroom.

Levi scrambled over to the kitchen table to get the report card, but he remembered that he had already thrown the tear away part in the garbage. As he ran for the garbage the monotone voice told him his time was up.

“You bitch.”

“What did you call me?” Anita shouted.

“Im not talking to you.”

“Oh, youre talking to a machine.”

“Thats right. Even a recording is a pain in the ass when its a woman.”

“Asshole.”

“One more time,” he said through clenched teeth, fishing through the garbage.

He managed to enter his Access Code and actually get to the report questions.

— Answer yes or no to the following questions. One represents yes, Nine represents no. After you answer the question your answer will be repeated to make sure it is correct.

— Did you work during the period of this report; including work for which you will be paid for later, unpaid work or self employment? Levi pressed one.

— You answered ‘yes' you did work during the period of this report. Is this correct?

Levi groaned and hit nine.

— You answered ‘no.' I will repeat the question. Did you work during the period of this report?

Levi pressed nine.

— You answered ‘no,' you did not work during the period of this report. Is this correct?

Levi pressed one.

— Did you start a full time job during the period of this report? Levi pressed nine for no. The voice repeated his answer and he entered that it was correct.

— Did you attend school or a training course during the period of this report?

Levi pressed nine for no.

— Were you ready, willing, and capable or working each day?

Levi held his finger over nine for a second, almost accidentally telling the truth, then checked himself and pressed one. He was ready and capable, but he wasn't willing. Work would take away from his woodworking. The machine repeated his reply.

— Did you, or will you receive money other than already reported in question one?

Levi pressed nine. The machine repeated his answer.

— Your report is now complete. If you wish to hang up you may now do so.

Levi hung up with a loud sigh and hoped he did everything right.

The truth about setting up his own rocking chair enterprise was that he felt he was too slow building them. Besides, no one around would pay the kind of money he wanted for his pieces. He didn't even realize they were “pieces” until he heard an American tourist call them that. She and her husband had pulled into his driveway in what looked to be a house on wheels, looking for directions to
Dryden's Whale Tours
. Her license plate said Texas, The Lone Star State. As Levi was explaining the directions the lady peeped into his shed and put her hand on her chest.

“My Lord,” she drawled. “Did yall make that? That is a beautiful piece.”

It was a rocking chair Levi had completed the year before. After he told her yes her next question was, “How much?” For a joke he replied three thousand dollars. Then to his utter amazement he found himself negotiating with her. When they finally settled on twenty-five-hundred Levi realized that as astonished as he was that she was actually willing to pay that amount, parting with the chair wasn't easy. There was so much of him that went into every rocking chair he made, and to see someone take it away was like losing a small part of himself.

That was almost ten years ago. The rocking chair she had bought was half as good as the chairs he could make now. The problem was that it took him weeks to complete one. He had sold a few for far less than they were worth. The rest he either kept, or gave to family and friends.

To be able to support himself financially building chairs was a dream, but without the fishery, the fastest way he could see to make money in the real world was out west. He liked the idea of working twenty on and eight off, like his daughter. According to her everything was accommodated. Not exactly five star, but accommodated none the less. It sounded like a good deal to him, if Anita was willing to go twenty days without seeing him. He had a feeling it wouldn't break her heart.

Levi went back into the bedroom. Anita glanced up at him and he felt he was intruding on something. Intruding in his own bedroom.

“We needs money,” he said.

“I already told you I was done talking about that bill.”

Levi clenched his teeth. “I was thinking the best way to pay it off is to try and find a job out west.”