Provider's Son (30 page)

“Yesterday,” Jon said.

“Come yourself?” she said, as she slowly checked him in.

“Nope.”

Jon laughed when he got back in the SUV with Levi. “She tried her best.”

“Think everybody knows already?”

“For sure.”

“I got to ask. What do people think here of your father? Seeing as he wouldnt come here.”

“I dont think a lot of them really give a shit. I mean they give a shit whats happening, but they dont blame it all on him. Half the people here work at the tar sands anyway. What else can they do?”

“Well, why wouldnt he come here last night?”

“He hasnt been here in years. And to be honest Im partly to blame. Ive kind of given him the impression that everybody here hates him.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him everybody here hates him.”

“Why would you do that by?”

“Working in the field is one thing, but being in his position... he can influence decisions on things, and he does nothing.”

“Hes not the CEO.”

“No, but he knows the CEO, Jordan Hosh. The last time he was here he was at a town hall meeting that was requested with Erbacor. Dad set next to Hosh who fed everyone nothing but bullshit for nearly two hours. Dad didnt say a word. And what made it even worse was that I could tell he was embarrassed.”

“Was he hard on you growing up?”

“How could he be hard on me when he was never around?”

“Well there you go. You cant be shittin on your old man for all his faults. Hes just a man, by. Long as he put food on the table and a roof over your head. I made me fair share of mistakes too as a father. Im only starting to realize how many here lately.”

“You and Sinead got a lot better relationship than me and Dad.”

“Thats only because shes a girl. Believe me, she and her mother had their ups and downs. They still do.”

When they got back to William's house the moose roast was in the pan, but the heat wasn't turned on yet. William peeled the onions and Levi chopped them up.

“What are you going to do with the rack?” Levi said.

“I dont know. Theres a piece missing anyway. Another bull probably did that.”

“Its only a small piece cracked off. Youre not going to replace the one over the shed?”

“The one over the shed was my first. Over seventy years ago. Do you want this one?”

“Me? No, I wouldnt take it. You should keep it. Stick it up somewhere. I wouldnt be able to take it back on the plane anyway.”

Jon asked his grandfather how long the roast would take, and he estimated about two hours.

“I should show you around,” Jon said.

The first place they went was to a long wharf overlooking Pimatan Lake. They got out and walked along the shoreline.

Levi skipped a few rocks.

“No matter how big a lake is it never looks like the salt water,” Levi said. “I got no more interest in lakes than the bottom of me boot.”

“It means a lot to us,” Jon said.

“No no, dont take it the wrong way. I mean, I likes trouting, but the fresh water just dont give you the same feeling. Theres shit all in it sure. A few trout, a few bass, or pike or whatever you haves in lakes around here. The salt water is full of everything from whales to lobsters to stuff they havent even found yet. And most of all lakes dont have that smell. Nothing beats the salt water by.”

“This lake is two hundred miles long and in places, four hundred feet deep. I imagine theres mysteries in the bottom of it too.”

“Could be. Any good places to fish on it?”

“Lots of good places.”

“Your grandfather got either boat?”

“Yeah.”

“When do the season open?”

“We dont have to go by seasons. Wer Injuns. We got it made.”

“I keeps forgetting about that. You should take me out sometime. I havent been on a big lake before.”

“You just said you had more interest in the bottom of your boot!”

“Well, compared to the salt water, yes, but I still likes the outdoors no matter where it is. Not like you city boys.”

“Im no city boy,” Jon said. “I didnt figure you the type to be into catch and release anyway.”

“Catch and release! I dare say. I eats what I catches.”

“Well you know you cant eat them here.”

“Why not?”

Jon stared at him. “I told you. Mercury. The fish in this lake are now basically poison.”

“Jesus...” Levi shook his head and stared out at the islands in the distance. A two hundred mile lake, and not allowed to eat from it. All of its bounty, filled with poison.

“We thought we had it bad in Newfoundland that wer not allowed to catch a fish to eat, except a few days a year. You can catch all you want but theyre not fit to eat.”

“They dont have to worry about the fish. The cancer is getting them anyway.”

“Im sorry,” Levi said.

There was a long silence before Jon spoke. “In what way?”

“What?”

“You said youre sorry. In what way?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you mean you feel general sympathy, or do you mean you feel a certain amount of personal guilt?”

“Im sorry that you cant eat from this lake anymore. Take from that what you wants.”

In the middle of the town, on a hill, was a small church. On the top of the bell tower was a cross. Levi could see it from where he was standing.

“Do you go to church when youre here?” Levi said. A sardonic gaze was Jon's reply.

“Do anyone go?” Levi said.

“Yeah. Quite a few actually. Grandfather usually goes every Sunday.”

“What church is it?”

“Anglican.”

There was a light breeze and the waves of the poison lake pushed endlessly against the shore.

“We should build another chair.”

“Yeah, Ive been thinking about the theme for our next piece.”

“No, no themes. No politics. Just a nice chair for Johanna and the baby.”

“But yet you dont want to visit her.”

“We should do something nice.”

“Some pretty flowers?” Jon said sarcastically.

“There you go.”

The next place that interested Levi was the Fur Trade Museum. Jon had not pointed it out, but Levi spotted it as they drove past. It was closed, however, and according to Jon, only opened in the summer months. A Tourist Attraction. It was a restored trading post, a long, one storey building with a wooden boardwalk under extended eaves. There was not a single decorative element to the design of it. Levi wondered if the original had been this utterly practical.

“I dont know why they would want that place to be restored,” Jon said. “It was the beginning of the end for us. I guess it gives someone a summer job.”

“So that was really the first fur trade place in Alberta?”

“In the west, period. Thats a restoration of a later building. The original was a lot smaller. It was in that exact spot though.”

“Yes by. I wish it was open.” Levi got out and walked up to the building. Jon sat in the SUV for a moment, and then followed him. Levi cupped his hands against one of the windows and peered in. He could see a few barrels on the floor and furs strung up on the wall. Everything else was hidden in shadows and behind the reflection of the town in the glass.

Jon lit a cigarette. “This place depresses me. Even more than the churches.”

On the way back Jon got Levi to take a different route, where they passed the nursing station.

“Levi, we have to go in.”

Levi sighed. “I know.”

Johanna's father, Robert Bear, met them in the hallway of the nursing station. He hugged Jon. “Johanna explained everything. Thank-you, man. Thank you. I have her back. And a beautiful little boy. She wants to see both of you. Shes been asking about you all day.”

Some of Johanna's relatives were in the room, sitting around her bedside. Levi wished he had not thrown away the vodka.

“Hey,” Johanna said. She looked as if she had been running for three days.

“How is you?” Levi said.

“Im good. I guess you already met David. But meet him again.” She pointed towards the crib on the other side of the bed.

Levi and Jon went around.

“Levi,” Johanna said, “could you give him to me?”

“No. I cant. Im too nervous.”

“Ill do it,” Johanna's father said.

“No. Levi can. Put him on my chest, Levi.”

There was silence in the room.

Levi picked up the boy and was about to hand him quickly to Johanna, but the dark eyes caught his attention, and he found himself gazing into them. Was the child looking back at him? He didn't know if babies could actually look at anything at all. Sinead had been so beautiful to him when she was born, though almost all other newborns were ugly. Yet this baby was not. He held him for a moment longer, and then carefully placed him on his mother's chest.

She smiled down at her son. “Our little miracle.”

Levi found himself getting overwhelmed after he put the baby down, and as everyone fussed over the baby, he slipped out of the room. As he made his escape from the station he called his wife and told her the whole story about Johanna Bear and him, and everything that had happened the night before.

“You did a good thing,” Anita said. “More than I would have done.”

“Do you think Im a good man?”

“In general. Yes.”

“In general.”

“Are you still in Provider now?”

“Yeah.”

“When is your next turn-around?”

“Why?”

“I might be home.”

“Where you going to stay?”

“I dont know. Moms probably.”

“You can still stay at the house.”

“Levi.”

“What. Im just saying. We should at least get together and talk.”

“Maybe. I dont know what I could say that I havent already though.”

“I know what I could say that I havent. And no matter what you say I dont think its too late.”

She was silent, and this gave Levi more hope than he had felt in a long time.

On the way back to William's Levi switched on the radio, curious as to what channels, if any, they would pick up in Provider. They picked up more than he expected, including CBC Radio, where a reporter was stating that there had been high levels of mercury found in the moose around the town of Provider, south of the Erbacor Energy project.

Jon sighed. “Motherfuckers. Theres just no end. Until its the end of us.”

Levi looked at him and back at the road again.

William had the table lined out with the dark roast as the centerpiece. Steam rose from it in curling waves and the aroma permeated the small home, making Levi's mouth water. The smell bought him back ten years into his own kitchen, with Anita checking the meat in the oven, and Sinead curled up on the couch reading a book.

Surrounding the roast were onions, roasted light brown. Gravy bubbled softly on the stove, and next to it a pan held oven-baked potatoes, browned and crispy. A pot of steamed wild rice waited with the lid tilted to one side. On the table were three plates with a fork, spoon, knife, and glass. William had a jug in his hands and the ice clinked off the sides as he filled each glass with water. A grin was on his face he could not hide.

“Ive got Coke, but I figured we might have something more healthy with a nice meal of moose.”

Jon smiled sadly at his grandfather.

“Whats wrong?” William said.

“Theres mercury in the moose now,” Jon said. “We just heard it on the news. Theyre poisoning everything we love.”

The smile fell from his grandfather's lips. He stared down at his beautifully cooked meal.

“At my age it doesnt matter,” William said. “Im eating this meat.”

He sat to the table, stuck his fork in the full roast, and slapped it on his plate, drippings splashing up over his shirt.

“Yes by,” Levi said, sitting down as well, “Ill eat it too, if you want to share.”

Jon shrugged and sat down last. “Im sure one roast wont hurt us. Im not going to be the odd man out.”

William looked at his grandson. “No, Jon.”

“If youre eating, Im eating.”

William then took hold of the tablecloth, and dragged everything off the table onto the floor. The dishes crashed loudly against the silence. He then went out to the shed slamming the door behind him. Levi and Jon stared at the mess on the floor in silence. Levi was the first to begin cleaning it up. Then Jon joined in.

“I shouldnt have come here,” Levi said.

“None of you should have,” Jon said.

After they finished cleaning up the mess they went out doors. Levi went to the SUV.

“Where are you going?” Jon said. “I didnt mean it like that. Youre welcome here, man. I just meant...you know what I meant.”

Levi climbed into the driver's seat.

“You realize thats not your car,” Jon said.

“I dont care. Its not yours either. I drove it here. Youre not allowed to drive anyway.”

“Im sorry okay? I didnt mean it like that.”

Above the house a straight line of dark smoke rose to the sky. Levi looked up at it.

“Whats he doing now?” Levi said.

Jon turned around. A thick aroma of charred meat blew across their noses.

They both went to the back yard and there were the moose quarters they had worked so carefully on, blackening under a flame. William stood to one side with a small jerry-can in his hands, staring at the fire, his deep eyes distant and wild.

Levi and Jon stood next to him, and watched everything burn.

Back To Work

William was sullen and hardly spoke for the rest of the evening. Levi would have left but Jon said it would be wrong to leave his grandfather in this state, and convinced him to stay for another night. But the next morning when Levi was getting ready to leave Jon told him he wasn't going.

“I made up my mind last night. I cant go back to that place. I cant be a part of it.”