Provider's Son (22 page)

In some of the interviews Jon mentioned Levi's name, but many times he didn't. Considering they were both employed by Erbacor, Levi wondered if this might be a good thing. He had half expected Erbacor to find some excuse to get rid of Jon, even if Bill Smith was his father, but it didn't happen.

The only media to contact Levi were from Newfoundland.
The Evening Telegram
was one of them. Reporter Sean Paldon interviewed him over the phone, but unlike many of the newspapers that called him, Sean's questions weren't all easy, or emailed to him before the actual interview, as one had done.

“Jon Smith had some harsh words to say,” Sean said. “How much of it do you agree with? Do you agree that the Alberta government has an, and I quote, ‘ideology of capitalistic greed?'”

“Theres no shortage of greed. But you cant have an economy without greed.”

“Do you think the Alberta Premiers statement about there being no cancer connection to Pimitan Lake in Provider is accurate?”

“Well theres no doubt that all the cancer in Provider is related to the pollution. Thats only common sense. From what Jon tells me young and old is dying in that town. Something got to be done.”

“What do you think should be done?”

“Well, they should clean up that lake if they can, right?”

“Do you think there should be stricter measures put on Erbacor? Some people believe the oil sands should be shut down altogether until they can figure out a way to extract the oil more efficiently. How do you feel about that?”

“No. No, we cant shut her down by. Too many jobs. They needs to find a way to do it clean though.”

“But they say right now there is no alternative. So should we, shut her down, to use the expression?”

“No. We shouldnt.”

“But what about the residents of Provider?”

“Well, if it hasnt been proven…”

“Youre contradicting what—“

“I know, I know. Listen young fella, I dont have all the answers. Im just a welder.”

“And a very gifted artist.”

As the interview continued Levi gave shorter answers. He wished he had not agreed to it at all. He knew how many of the men at work felt about environmental activists. After all, the bread these men put on their tables came from the money made in the oil sands. He had to tread lightly, or he might just find himself ostracized from the people he was working so hard to be a part of.

Brand

As the media attention on Jon grew, so did the requests for more of their artwork. Levi felt more pressure, but he had been making chairs for years, and his confidence had grown stronger with each one. On the next chair Jon carved flowers and trees and leaves from the west to the east coast of Canada, from the pitcher plant on the bottom runner of one side of the chair to the wild rose on the other. On the crest rail was a female hand with the fingers pointing downward and adorned in jewels, being held by a weathered male hand in a position of submission, extending from a buckskin sleeve.

Levi stood back and stared at the chair. “We made the chair look so nice. Why did you have to stick that on the top?”

Jon sighed. “You still dont get it? Everything thats so beautiful at the bottom is supposed to be an ironic counterpoint to whats being said on the crest rail.”

“Youre the boss by.”

Jon stood there.

“I dont tell you how to make the chairs.”

“I suppose I didnt realize that Id be making something that makes people feel bad.”

“This is not just furniture any more. This is art now. I dont care if it makes people uncomfortable. I hope it makes people uncomfortable. The truth usually does.”

“The truth how you sees it.”

“Thats the only truth I know.”

The chair sold in a week, and Jon's other work was selling much better as well. It seemed his name was finally being mentioned in the right circles, but whether Levi was included in those conversations was hard to say. Jon certainly gave that impression when they spoke about it, but the few times Levi was in Jon's presence and Edward called, it was as if Jon tried to get away by himself. He always had the excuse that it was about his other artwork, but the guilt on his face told otherwise.

There was also the art show, the show in which their second chair had sold. Levi found out through Sinead that there was to be a show. Not through Jon. Jon said he never had a chance to tell him before Sinead, but Levi wondered if this was true. Levi said he couldn't attend anyway, because he couldn't ask for more time off, and even though Jon acted disappointed, he didn't put up much of a fight.

“I was only being sarcastic before,” Levi said one day, “when I called you the boss, but Im starting to think its really the case.”

“I am the boss on my end of our work. Youre the boss on your end.”

“Come on now, dont try to pawn me off. You acts like Im just as much a part of this as you are, but from what Im starting to see, Im more like a part-time helper.”

“You know thats not true. Your craftsmanship is essential to these chairs. I couldnt replace you.”

“Listen Jon, I might not be as educated as you, but I knows when someone is lying to me. Whats on the go?”

“I dont know what youre talking about,” Jon said, and that was the end of it.

Highway

The price of crude had reached $130 a barrel. Every time in the previous months that the experts said it had peaked, it continued to rise. The price of fuel was climbing to new heights as well of course, but the cheques that were being handed out to those who were lucky enough to work in the oil industry more than made up for it. There would be no end to the prosperity it seemed. Yet, although the Canadian government's finance minister flatly denied it, some critics said that the economy had dipped into a mild recession. Newfoundland, however, had become a Have Province, thanks to its richest resource, oil.

One night Anita called Levi.

“Guess youre a bigshot now.”

“I dont know if Im a bigshot, but I hears enough about it. Everyone around here got me drove off the head.”

“Do you like it, the attention?”

“No. I dont know.”

They chatted for another ten minutes, and finally Levi had to ask, “Why are you calling me all of a sudden?”

There was a long silence before she answered, “I dont know.”

“You just about tears the heart out of me, and now youre calling me again. I dont know what to make of it.”

“I dont know, Levi. Im not with him anymore.”

Levi had to catch his breath before he spoke again, but he tried his best not to reveal his excitement, “Well where is you?”

“That dont matter right now. Im okay.”

“After all this is you thinking you made a mistake?”

“No. I didnt make a mistake with you. But I did with him. Hes a good man, but our background is too different. Different values. I should have taken some time by myself instead of jumping right into another relationship. I used him as a bridge to get away from our marriage, when I should have just jumped.”

“Had your bit of fun?”

“Thats just a dumb thing to say.”

Levi wanted to yell, but instead he talked. “Im thinking about getting a computer.”

“Yeah? You should.”

“Think I could meet someone?”

“Why not.”

“No. I wouldnt be foolish enough to go with someone I met on the internet.”

“Im going to go now Levi.”

“No. Im sorry. Dont. Lets just talk about something different.”

So they talked about Sinead, and when they finished he decided he really would go to Fort McMurray the next day and buy a computer. He despised the very idea of Facebook or any other social media, but lately he was curious about what woodworking websites were out there. He was always trying to better his skills, so the thought of all those videos and information that might be available was exciting.

There was also so much porn on the internet that most of the men didnt even talk about it anymore. It was a foregone conclusion that everyone would be watching someone having sex on their laptop before they went to bed. When Levi was a teenager all he had were the fantasies in his own head. There was the occasional tattered Playboy magazine in rotation, but the boys who got their hands on those had them for months before they gave them up.

Sinead drove to Fort McMurray and picked out a laptop for her father. And like everyone who went in to town, it was expected that she bring back some sort of fast-food. Mary Brown's was the usual go-to. Because of the abundance of Newfoundlanders there were actually two in Fort McMurray.

“I cant believe after everything youve said about the internet, now you have a computer,” Sinead said when they got to camp, and she began setting it up for him in his room.

“Finish your book yet?”

“I stopped last week, and havent written anything since.”

“What for?”

“Why are you so interested all of a sudden?”

“If Im not allowed to ask you about your book then I wont.”

There was silence for a moment as she plugged in his internet modem.

“I knew it would be hard, but not this hard,” she said. “The self doubt I mean. Ive never felt so much in my life. I think Ive second-guessed every word Ive written. Yet, I keep going back at it.”

“Sure I felt the same thing when I first started at the rocking chairs. But I kept at her. Cant get any good at anything if you dont keep at her. Sometimes when I thought I was doing a shit job of it Id still keep at it. Day after day. Then Id see something to improve it, and the chair would turn out all right in the end after all. Most times anyway. Just keep plugging at it is all. Even if you thinks its no good it dont matter, keep going. If you whudnt meant to be at it you probably would have give up a long time ago.”

She was silent, as if surprised by his advice. She brought up Google's search engine and typed in “Levi Conley.”

“Look at this,” she said, smiling. Over and over he read his name linked to newspaper articles concerning his and Jon's artwork, and links to the video of Jon verbally attacking Janice MacNeil.

“Dont you feel special?” she asked.

“Yeah, special and afraid. If the boys at work starts thinking Im a tree-hugger I might as well quit. Why have everything got to be so goddamned complicated? Id like to get out of here and go to town for an evening. You think Jon would go?”

“The beer in this camp not wet enough?”

“Whats wrong, cant let your man go anywhere by his self or what?”

“I just dont see the point if theres a bar right here in camp. Jon dont drink anyway.”

“He looked like he did when he was downing them tequila shots the first week I was up here.”

“You know what I mean. Rarely. That was the first time I ever saw him drunk.”

“Well there you go. A night out on the town wont hurt him. You cant smother the poor fella. Youll drive each other off the head.”

“Dad youre not really in a position to be giving relationship advice.”

When Levi didn't respond Sinead apologized, but Levi milked her guilt long enough that she even asked Jon herself to go have a night out with her father. He volunteered to be the designated driver.

Jon and Levi met unintentionally at the bar later that evening. They were both teased by the regulars about being a celebrity, and they both pretended to be modest, but soaked up the attention. Jon was staring at the news on the television over the bar.

“Harper is really going to apologize.”

“For what?” Levi said.

“For white people,” Caprice said.

“Hes going to apologize on behalf of the government to all First Nations for the reservations schools,” Jon said. “Said hes going to apologize next week. For sure its some kind of political move, but I never thought Id see the day...”

“Hes got an awful lot of apologizing to do,” Caprice said. “I wonder will he start with Gram? Although that might be hard to do now.”

Levi looked confused.

“My grandmother,” she said. “She died fifteen years ago.”

“Oh.”

“But she was dead a long time before that anyway. When she was twelve she watched three of her younger brothers die of tuberculosis in a reservation school. Along with all the beatings she took besides that. And, well, the shit that went on in those schools is old news now.”

“Were you close to her?” Jon said.

“Fuck no. She was a mean old squaw, but she had a good reason.”

Jon sighed. “Do you have to use that word?”

“Do you own it?”

“Youre perpetuating a word and a stereotype thats basically evil.”

“Oh fuck off, Jon. Youre a real drag you know that? Do you ever stop judging people?”

Levi smiled.

“What are you smiling at, white boy?” Caprice said.

“I was eighteen before me grandfather Conley did anything but growl at me.”

“In Grams house everyone had to speak Cree. I guess it was revenge against the school or something. If we didnt speak Cree we would probably only get a slap, if she was in a good mood. But most of my generation are only good at understanding it. A lot of us arent good at speaking it. So one day when I was about eight or nine years old wer eating at the table and I want my cousin to pass the lard. But I cant remember the word for it. I keep taking stabs at it though, and every time Im wrong those black eyes bore into me more and more, which makes me even more nervous, and even more unable to remember the word. But my cousin knows what Im getting at so she tries to pass the lard anyway. I can see it now, Grams bony hand reaches out and grabs my cousins wrist like a snake. She squeezes it so hard that my cousin starts crying out. Everyone around the table stares at me, but Im so nervous that I cant remember my own fucking name anymore, let alone the word for lard. So I give up. Then she gets up from the table with the lard and walks around to my side. She slams it down in right front of me and tells me, in our language, if I so much as look at it shell never let me eat lard again. But she still makes me eat the crackers with nothing on them.”