Provider's Son (6 page)

“Calm down young fella. That other Indian works with you let me through.”

“No he didnt. I saw the guy lending you his card.”

“That time, yes. But when I went the other way that old fella you works with let me through.”

“That doesnt matter. Come with me, please. You have to sign in.”

“Oh for the love of Jesus, by. I works here! Im a welder.”

“Youll have to come with me.”

Levi didn't like to be led anywhere, but he followed him down the hallway, back to the security office.

“Youre one of them fellas does everything by the book is you?”

He didn't respond, and stepped into the security office. Levi followed. The young man turned around, surprised that Levi had followed him inside. “Step outside, sir. Youre not allowed in here.”

Levi said he didn't realize and stepped back outside the door.

“Your name, please,” the young man said.

“Levi Conley,” he said with a sigh of annoyance.

“Excuse me?”

“Levi Conley. L. E. V. I. C. O. N. L. E. Y.”

“Youre fine,” he said.

“But you didnt even type it in!”

“The computer isnt working. Youre fine.”

“Then why did you bring me back here? Jesus, buddy, is you off your head?”

“Forget about it. Just remember your card the next time.”

Levi stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, then shook his head and headed back to his room, angry that his coffee had cooled somewhat. He hated lukewarm coffee.

At supper Levi was amazed by the amount of food that was available, and all of it free. He loaded up his tray with a medium striploin steak, three baked potatoes, corn on the cob, glazed carrots, two buns, Caesar salad, bowl of ice cream, slice of cherry pie, three glasses of coke, and a cup of coffee.

Sinead was supposed to be at one of the tables, but he didn't see her when he came in. The dinner hall was huge, and with its plastic folding tables and blue chairs, it looked like a larger version of the college cafeteria where he did the welding course. He stood with the tray in his hand, and just as he was about to sit in the first empty space, he saw her halfway down the hall, waving him over. It was a relief seeing Sinead, even though he only saw her last night. It made him smile to think he was feeling a sense of motherly protection from his own daughter.

“You looked lost,” Sinead said, as Levi sat down.

“I got lost in the choices of food, thats about it.”

“Thatll get old quick. Trust me. I can barely stomach the food here anymore.”

Levi shook his head and tucked into his food. “I daresay the ol man was eating rougher grub when he was working in the woods down in the Badger.”

“How was orientation?”

“Id rather get me colon checked than do that again.”

“Yeah, thats the usual consensus.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes.

“You know…I cant believe Mom went after money. I thought she had more sense than that. Its disappointing when a woman realizes that her mother is just another screw-up like everyone else.”

Levi stared across the table at his daughter and his voice unconsciously resumed that old fatherly authority. “Dont get on like that about your mother.”

Sinead blushed and looked away. “Im not a kid anymore, Dad. I just meant that because she was my mother I never realised what her biggest flaws were until lately. I guess it takes a while to realize that your parents are human.”

“When did you figure out I was human?” Levi said, grinning.

“A long time ago.”

Levi laughed. “Why?”

“I dont think you want me to start naming your faults.”

“Sure why would that bother me? We all got faults. Only women is offended by stuff like that. A man can take it as well as he gives it.”

Sinead took a sip of her orange juice. “Well, you just showcased one of your biggest faults, male chauvinism. And youre untidy — in the house anyway. Youve got a temper, stubborn, youre selfish sometimes, and...”

Levi couldn't deny the truth in some of what she was saying, but he noticed she paused on the last one.

“And what?” he said.

“Nothing.”

“Do I look like a woman?” he said on purpose. “Tell me, I can take it.”

“Well, I think you drinks a bit too much to be honest.”

This he was not expecting. “Is you joking?”

“No Dad. Its just that sometimes, well...you get drunk every weekend.”

“Its the weekend! Why wouldnt I? Pretty bad when you cant have a cold beer on the weekend.”

“But dont you get sick of it? Im only in my early twenties and Im already sick of it. I dont even like the feeling of being drunk anymore.”

“No, you likes the wacky-baccy too much to like being drunk.”

Sinead blushed.

“You think I dont know?” he said.

“Thats different.”

“How is it different? You was probably toking up before you came to dinner for all I knows.”

“Are you crazy? I was never into it that heavy, Dad. Besides, if I got caught out here Id lose my job.”

“Im just saying. To go getting on me nerves for drinking when you likes the dope just as much.”

“I shouldnt have said anything.”

“I cant understand why youd be so pissed off at your mother anyway, when youre just like her.”

“Lets change the subject, shall we?”

Levi shrugged and dug into his supper.

“So where do your boyfriend live?” Levi said.

“Hes not off work yet. They work twelve-hour shifts.”

“He works here? Your mother said you was dating a artist.”

“He is. But he works here with Security too.”

“Security. Do he work at the front gate?”

“Yes.”

“I think I already met him then.”

“Really? Did you tell him who you were? I told him your name and that you were coming in.”

“Yeah. I told him my name. He seemed to recognize it too, come to think of it.”

“What did you say to him?”

“I told him he was gone off hes head.”

Sinead was obviously confused, so Levi told her what had happened at the security gate. She thought it was hilarious.

“He certainly sticks to the rules, dont he,” Levi said.

“When hes in the mood.”

“He looked different than on the picture. Is he so serious as he seems?”

“Not really.”

“But hes still a artist. What is he, a painter?”

“No. Carving. Hes getting well known too, in Edmonton. Hoping to be able to do it full time eventually. You should see some of his work. Itll blow you away.”

“Yes by. Certainly all them Indians is good at carving.”

Sinead laughed and shook her head. “Oh Dad.”

“What? They is.”

“Please dont say that to him. I told him you were into woodworking. He didnt seem to be that interested until I showed him some of the pictures Mom has of your rocking chairs on Facebook. I guess he didnt realize what a real rocking chair could look like. He was blown away.”

“Facebook. The man who come up with that should be shot.”

Sinead explained to him how all his rocking chairs had been in a picture gallery on her mother's page. He asked if it was still there because it gave him hope. Maybe he shouldnt give up quite yet. Without trying to sound desperate he asked Sinead if she would show it to him after they were finished supper. He couldn't go to her room because she was in the women's dorm where no men were allowed. She had to bring her computer to his room.

“How long have them pictures been there?”

“A year for sure. I thought you knew about it.”

“I remembers her mentioning something about it,” Levi said, “but I never did see it.”

A Wolf in the Clearing

The first day on the job and Levi was so nervous that he could not eat breakfast. Instead he went to the Lunch Room and packed his bag with cookies, sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, and juice boxes. He was going to grab a coffee at Tim Hortons but the lineup was so long he feared he might miss the bus.

He couldn't believe his bad luck. Literally thousands of Newfoundlanders worked in the oil sands and not a man here did he recognize. There were a few young faces that looked familiar, probably sons of men he knew, but no one he could strike up a conversation with.

Four yellow school buses arrived and picked up Levi and the couple of hundred men that were waiting. Levi found a seat and a beautiful young woman sat beside him. He wondered if she might be a secretary, but her brown coveralls proved that wrong. He supposed he should not be surprised that a woman was working as a tradesman these days, but a woman so beautiful... He didn't mind, however, he didn't mind at all.

He was too nervous to really take in the land and forest as they made their way to site, but he still noticed the difference in the trees. The firs in Newfoundland were short, broad, and thick with limbs. Unlike these, which at forty feet were at least a third taller, with scattered limbs no more than two or three feet long. He wondered why they grew that way. Then he saw, in a small clearing, a wolf, no more than forty feet from the side of the road. It was white and grey, and looked about the size of a large German Shepherd, although it was hard to tell with nothing to scale it by except trees in the background. Seeing a wolf in the wild for the first time was amazing enough, but the way it was sitting there, watching the bus go by, it looked like a dog waiting for its master. But this canine had no master, and never would. It watched a bus full of primates pass by in a machine it was probably used to seeing and hearing in the distance since it was a pup.

When Levi walked into the six-wide trailer for the Toolbox Meeting he was lost. He managed to find a seat at a table where three Asians were sitting, and he sat down with a cup of coffee and nibbled on one of the cookies he brought. The room was filled with the rumble of men chatting and laughing. Then Sinead showed up, and as she came to his table he saw dozens of eyes glancing and ogling her body. It irritated him to think what was running through their minds, because he knew what went through his when he saw an attractive young woman.

“You made it,” she said.

“I made it. Dont know how long Im going to last though.”

“Youll be fine once you get with your crew and whatnot.”

“I hope so.”

A half hour later the morning safety Toolbox Meeting began. Sinead went to stand with the general foremen, supervisors, superintendants, and other safety crew along the wall just before the meeting started. He was proud of her, the way she stood there confidently, joking with one of the men next to her. There were only three women among the fifteen or so along the wall, and she had guts enough to be one of them.

First, one of the general foremen walked the floor and discussed various important safety issues of the day. He was young and nervous, but he managed to get through it. Then he called on each person standing against the wall, to see if they had anything to add. When he got to Sinead she nodded and stepped out. She spoke about how the bird's nest they had found the previous day was empty, one left over from the year before. Apparently when a bird's nest was found on site it was not allowed to be removed, and a squared off section of up to ten meters had to be made around it until the eggs hatched. It was funny. Thousands of acres of wilderness had been flattened in the making of this project, and here they were worried about a bird's nest? “All politics,” as his father used to say.

Last was the superintendent. He walked back and forth in the center of the room with an air of self-importance that Levi loathed. This whole idea of a hierarchy of dozens of men from the CEO right down to a lead-hand was hard for Levi to accept. He had never been a fan of authority, and it made him nervous. He was pleased to hear, however, that at least half of the foremen and general foremen had a Newfoundland accent, along with the majority of the room.

To Levi's surprise the meeting went on for almost a half hour, by the time everyone had spoken, and a few people had asked questions. Most of the men got up to leave but the welders and their helpers stayed at their tables. They would have yet another meeting with their supervisor. This was when Levi was assigned to work with a rig welder named Patrick. He was a squat, blocky man with arms so long it made him look like an ape.

“Youre getting into this racket late in life,” Patrick said after the meeting was over and they headed out to his truck. He had an English accent and Levi was intrigued by it. Levi's great great grandfather Josiah Conley had been from England. Josiah had been a fisherman, as was every generation after him. Levi explained that he had been a fisherman all his life, but he had done all the welding when it was needed on the boat.

“Still, itll be four or five years before you get your red seal at this.”

“I dont care. Im browned off with fishing.”

Patrick chuckled. “'Browned off.' I havent heard that since I was back home.”

“Why did you come across the pond anyway?”

“Work. Everything went down the shitter in the eighties under Thatcher. I was in the union and they treated us like criminals. Decided to get the fuck out. Moved to Toronto. Been there ever since.”

They parked the truck near the racks and Patrick began to fill out a Safety First Card, or SFC as they were called. In this SFC they had to note all the steps of the job they were about to start, the hazards, and the precautions they would take to make the job as safe as possible. One that was listed on the SFC was a fire extinguisher.

“You mean we got to drag around a fire extinguisher up through those racks?” Levi said. “Whats going to catch fire? Sure its all steel and aluminum.”

Patrick scoffed. “Dont think about logic when it comes to Safety. The last site I was on some guy cut himself with a cutting disk, so Safety banned cutting disks! We had to cut steel with one-eighth grinding disks! Fucking wankers.”