“No,” she said. “I left the truck running. I’m late.”
Gerald looked at her and then at me. “Bear, we’ve got to go. We’re MCing the third hour for the Walk for the Cure. You’re welcome to join us. We’re all going. The whole town shows up. It’s basically one big party, except you walk all night and visit.”
I shook my head. “I’ve got to get back. Rob needs my help first thing.”
“Sweetie,” Stanley looked to Norma, “why don’t you go with the lovebirds and I’ll drive Bear back.”
I stood. “I’m okay.”
He held his hand up. “I insist.”
Norma nodded and walked to the closet. “Gerald, can you get those cookies? They’re all ready—with your shoes off please.”
Gerald walked across the room and grabbed two huge Tupperware bowls filled with cookies that I had missed completely. This was why the house smelled so good.
“So,” Donna said, “how big is that Bingo tomorrow night?”
Norma pulled out a light jacket. She walked over and gave Donna a huge hug. “The jackpot is five grand.”
“I have a good feeling,” Donna nodded. “We’ve got water bottles in the truck, right?”
“Yup,” Gerald’s dad said. “Your folks there?”
“Already walkin’.”
“Wow,” Stanley said. “I’ll be right along.”
I caught Norma giving Stanley a look, like, What are you up to?
He puckered his lips really quick and smiled. They had their own sign language.
“Okay,” Donna said and looked at me. “It was nice meeting you. Welcome to Fort Simmer.” She looked at Gerald. “We have to go. What grade are you in?”
“Twelve,” I answered.
“Us too.” She rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe school starts next week.”
I nodded. She was actually beautiful.
Gerald walked to me and held out his hand. “It’s good to meet you. If you want to talk, call me: 2888. We’ll be there for the sentencing. We’ll see you, okay?”
Norma came and gave me a big hug. “You come here anytime you want a good supper. They say your problems never seem so big after a good meal.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
She kissed her husband and patted his bum. “No hockey. Come walk.”
“Ho. Not even,” he smiled at her. “I’m going to drive Bear around. Show him the town.”
With that, Norma, Gerald and Donna made their way out of the house and I was left alone with Stanley. He started clearing the cups and plates. “Want some more tea?”
I shook my head. “I’m good.”
“Take some cookies with you,” he said.
I shook my head.
“Come on,” he said. “Don’t be cheap to yourself. Rob would probably like some.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
He handed me a Tupperware. “Fill that skinny little bannock leg of yours.”
There was a pile of cookies. I could bring some to Sue before she left.
“You never answered Norma’s question,” he said as he put the dishes in the sink.
I knew what was coming. “Which one?”
“What are you doing here?”
I looked at my hands. It seemed stupid now. I’d come here to cripple the principal. I didn’t know where he was. I was a lousy ninja. Was the principal in jail? Did he sleep in his house? Was he at a hotel? I’d read that his house had been seized.
“School,” I said.
“You’re in grade twelve, right?”
I nodded.
“You came here last year, right?”
I nodded. Shit.
“Well, welcome back,” he came and sat down. “You’ll graduate with my boy.”
Our boy, I could hear Norma correct him.
“You two can help lead the caribou hunt.”
I winced and he caught that.
“So if you’re here coming to school, what’s with the knife?”
I was stunned. How did he? How did he know?
He pointed to the bathroom. “It was poking out when you went to the bathroom.”
I blushed.
“I know why you’re here, Bear. I can see it in your eyes. You want revenge. I’ve been smelling blood in the wind for the past week and now you’re here.” My face was on fire. He sat back and eyed me. “That’s pretty arrogant of you, don’t you think?”
I glared at him. “What do you mean?”
He fanned his hands out and made them move like the wind across the table. “The Great Spirit moves in many different ways. Don’t you think the man upstairs has a plan already set in motion for the principal?”
I shrugged. This was basically the same stupid speech Marvin gave me.
He leaned forward. “Are you really going to throw your life away when the best is yet to come for you?”
I shrugged again. Tears started to well up again.
“I’m sorry about your grandma and your cousin. You’re too young to be carrying a load like that, but I’ll tell you what. My son—our son—we’re so proud of Gerald. I seen you checking out his hair.”
I smirked. His hair was huge. “He looks like Elvis.”
He grinned and took a bit out of a cookie. “Well, you know why he’s growing his hair like The King? He and his best friend Jonathan made a pact in grade seven that when they graduated from grade twelve they’d have mullets as they walked across the stage for their diplomas. They wanted the whole town to laugh at them. Then they’re going to donate their hair for cancer research. Wigs… for people fighting the big C.”
I looked at him quickly. His eyes were so caring. “That’s my boy.” He stopped and considered something before he spoke softly. “I read your letter, Bear.”
I looked down and swallowed hard.
“I’m on that committee, too.”
I shot up and went for my jacket. “I have to go.”
“No!” his voice boomed and I froze. “You’ll sit and you will listen to me. You brought a knife into my house around my wife and son. Sit and listen.”
He meant it. My body went weak with fear. I sat back down and looked at my hands. I wanted to vanish.
“It’s not your fault, Bear,” Stanley said calmly. “You wanted your cousin to hear and speak. You wrote that letter out of love. I was the one who approved it. Sue seconded it.” Sue? My heart froze. She must know why I’m here.
“I got a copy of it in the next room. All the committees and boards I’m on, that was the one that touched me. You and I and the rest of the board had no idea what would happen.” He took a big breath. “No one. We all trusted the principal and his wife.” He touched my hands with his once, softly. “Bear, listen to me.” He held his hand up and showed me his watch. It was big and beautiful: polished silver with a face that had many cool dials on it. He then took it off and placed it in my hand. “I’m going to make you a trade.” He patted my hand. “Put it on.”
I’d never owned a watch before. The watch’s bracelet was silver and the face—or dial—was beautiful. It had a moon on it with three small circles: one for the day, one for the month, one for the date. I could feel it ticking. “Whoah.”
“This is the last watch my father ever gave me. I was in grade twelve when he did. Try it on.” He then stood and made his way to a small room by the fridge. I fumbled with the watch and folded the bracelet. I thumbed it shut and it clicked. It fit. It was heavy and huge, but it fit.
Stanley came back holding two boxes. They were wooden. “Put it on your left hand.”
“Oh,” I said. I couldn’t find the clasp. He sat down next to me and put the boxes to his right. “Na.”
That was Dogrib. I looked at him and he smiled. “Bet you didn’t know we were related, hey?”
I beamed. “How?”
He
put the watch on my left wrist and clasped it shut. “Your grandmother was Melanie.”
I nodded.
“I met her once. Very powerful and gentle. A midwife.”
I nodded and teared up. He was making me miss her.
“Bear, you are now wearing a Citizen Chronosphere. You can’t get these in Canada. My dad was a watch fanatic. Those little circles in the dial are called complications. That little doo-hickey is called your moon phase dial.”
I looked at it. “Are you giving this to me?”
He shook his head. “I’m trading it for your knife.”
I looked at my jacket. “I can’t. That was the only thing of my Grandpa’s that I kept.”
“Hear me out. Remember I talked about Gerald’s best buddy Jonathan?”
I nodded.
“Ever since my son called Social Services to investigate the principal, the town has turned his back on him. Thank God for Donna. We were worried about Gerald. Last year was tough on us. All of us. Jonathan never spoke to Gerald again. For some reason, people here turn their backs on people who call the cops or Social Services, even when it means they save lives or protect children.” He then pushed two boxes towards me and opened each one. They were two of the most beautiful watches I’d ever seen. “These are Citizen Campanolas. You also can’t buy these in Canada. I bought two: one for Gerald and one for Jonathan. This was months ago, before it all happened—and I saw the crime scene.”
I looked at him and realized I could not know anything more about what Wendy had been put through. I know she needed stitches after. I closed steel doors around any more emotion or images and totally focused on these watches. They were big with designs I’d never seen more and they had sun faces in the dials. “Here’s your deal, my man. I want you to reconsider your quest for revenge.”
I glanced at my hoodie where my family knife was.
“I want you to focus on your schooling. I want you to come over here whenever you want. Heck, we’ll feed you any time you want. I want you to be a friend to Gerald. He’s never known any of his Dogrib cousins. You get your grade twelve and when you walk across your stage you can have one of these watches and return my dad’s watch to me. I will then return your knife to you.”
My jaw dropped. “Why?”
He took a big breath. “Because you deserve your own family. You deserve a house filled with memories and laughter and great cookin’. You deserve to hunt for the people and cut wood for those who can’t cut it themselves and know the pride of serving your community. You deserve to see the world. They say the best revenge is living a good life.” His voice then lowered. “Don’t get in the way of the Creator’s plans for the principal. Always remember, the Great Spirit moves in mysterious ways.”
He had tears in his eyes when he spoke. “Trade your family knife for the last watch my dad ever gave me, Bear. I trust you with it. I can tell you’re a good person.” I glanced again at my jacket. I then looked at the two watches in front of me.
“Get your grade twelve. Then go on to college or university and return home and help the people. Have you ever hunted caribou before?”
I shook my head.
“Neither has my boy. You two can learn together.”
I needed to blow my nose. “That would be nice.”
“Have you ever made dry fish?”
I shook my head. Gerald’s dad handed me a box of Kleenex and I grabbed a bunch and looked away to honk my nose.
“What you’re feeling now will pass,” he said. “I promise. What the world has in store for child molesters is not kind. Wait. You’ll see.” He tapped my hand and touched his father’s watch. “Think about it.” He rose and showed me the watches one more time before gently closing the lids. “I’ll drive you home.” He walked back to the room where he’d gone to get the watches. I didn’t know where to put the used Kleenex, so I tucked it into my sleeve just like my Ehtsi used to.
I suddenly realized I had the most beautiful watch around my wrist and something like a wish inside of me. I marvelled at the watch, the weight of it, the spell it cast. I felt giddy. I tapped the Tupperware filled with cookies and rose to get my jacket. There was Grandpa’s bone knife in its sheath. I handed it to Gerald’s father as his father’s watch hung wonderfully from my wrist. He placed it on the table and pulled the blade from the sheath and whistled. It was razor sharp and jagged at the same time. I’d sharpened it on the stove coils back home. “This ain’t no killin’ knife,” he said with a low voice.
I put my jacket on. “What?”
He slowly ran the blade across his thumbnail before turning it over and running his thumb over the blade. “Knives with grooves near the spine are called ‘blood gutted’ blades. It’s so the muscles can’t grab the blade after you stab someone. You can just keep stabbing. If a knife isn’t blood gutted, well, you get one punch with it.” He put the blade away and tapped it gently.
I nodded and looked again at my watch. Who was this man?
“Looks good on you,” he got up and took the walkie-talkie from the top of the fridge. It beeped when it came off its charger. “We’ll take my truck.”
“I’ll walk,” I said.
“I need you to do something for me,” he said as he grabbed his jacket.
I frowned.
“Come on. Don’t cheap out on me now.”
He pointed with his lips to a small ledge by the porch. “Grab those cards for me.”
I looked. There was a deck of cards still shrink-wrapped sitting there. I took them. He put on his runners and so did I. He pulled on a dark jacket that read Coroner on the back. He also grabbed a DPW vest, the kind they use for Highways work.
I handed the deck to him and he put it in his inside jacket pocket. He then picked up a tiny remote that looked like a car starter and clicked it. Music suddenly rose through speakers all over the house. It was a sweeping chorus of voices. It felt like praying and it was like something you’d hear at mass or at Christmastime.
“It’s Enya,” he said as he locked the door behind him. “The plants love it.”
We got into his fancy truck and he started it up. “There’s a subclause in our trade: I’m going to ask you to do one thing but you must never, ever tell Norma or Gerald.”
I looked at him. The cookies were still warm in the Tupperware. “What?”
He backed out of the driveway. “Man to man,” he said. “I need your word you won’t tell.”
“Well, what is it first?”
He raised his hands. “Ischa! Where is the trust?”
I nodded. I couldn’t tell if he was being serious. I didn’t know what to say.
He looked at me with the biggest smile. “Nephew, I need you to set the clock on my truck.” I looked to the dashboard. The clock read 10:39. “Ever since that frickin’ Daylight Savings Time, that sucker’s been off an hour and it drives me crazy. Every day when Norma and Gerald ride with me, I gotta hear…”
There were many buttons: some for the radio, some for the CD player. I looked at my watch: 9:39. It was getting dusky out. I pressed down on “Clock” for a few seconds while he talked and the time started flashing. I turned the knob on the left to the right and the ten started flashing. I went right but that made it eleven so I turned it left and that made it nine.
“So,” he said. “I’d be eternally grateful if you—”
“Done,” I said.
He stomped on the brakes. “What?”
“All done,” I said, pleased with myself. I hadn’t smiled in a month and there I was: grinning, amazed.
“Holy shee-it,” he said. “You did it.”
I nodded.
“How the heck? Nephew, you are a miracle.” He reached over and messed up my hair. I flinched but then let him. I wasn’t used to anyone touching me. He pushed me gently. “Holy Moses,” he said. “Do you know how many frickin’ hou
rs I have spent trying to solve this mystery?”
I beamed as he drove me down a new street. As we made our way together, I could see the moon. I held my watch up. Stanley had set it so the face on my watch was the exact shape of the moon in the sky. “That watch is solar powered. You’ll never need a battery.”
“Take it easy,” I said.
“It’s called an Eco Drive.”
I looked at the moon above the trees.
“Now lookee here. Our annual Walk for the Cure.” There were at least one hundred people walking on the track. On the sides of the track, there were tents and a few small fires. People were walking and laughing. There were kids. Around the track, on the inside lane, there were small lanterns with candles glowing inside.
And there was Marvin, my buddy, walking with his mom. It was so great to see him. I bet he’d love the cookies I had. He’d lost weight and he was smiling. To think he’d been a bully to me when I first met him.
Stanley continued. “We got a lot of cancer here. Gerald never knew his grandparents. There’s something about this town. Maybe it’s the Tar Sands. Maybe it’s the uranium they used to make the bombs.”
I looked at him. “What?”
He nodded. “The uranium used to make the bombs that were dropped on the Japanese came from up here.”
“No way,” I said.
“Yes, sir. Rayrock Mines and Port Radium. They transported it right through town. They’re still finding rocks of uranium in people’s gardens.”
He shook his head.
I watched the people walk together. A few had flashlights. “Tonight, I’m going to walk with half the town: friends, my family. You sure you don’t want to join us?”
I shook my head. I was tired. Tired and full. Maybe I’d call Marvin tomorrow.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll drop you off and head back. Have you seen the renovations to the school yet? They put solar panels on it and a heat conversion wall.”
“Nice.”
He came to a four-way stop. “Let me show you.”
It was a beautiful night. Dusk was settling in. No stars. No pelicans. Not a cloud. I could smell the spruce and pine.
“Let me give you your official welcome back. Fort Simmer is still population 2,500. Our town is still mostly Dene, Cree, French and English. They say we’re the third-best place in the world to see the northern lights, but that’s for marketing purposes. If you say you’re third, no one ever questions you where the first two are. Keep that under your hat. Right now, our town is being hit hard economically. Numbers at the college are at an all-time low. The thing about Simmer is she’ll never boom and never bust. If you’re okay with that, you’ll do just fine. Our town used to be a trading post during the fur trade. There was a time when you could get eleven hundred dollars for one lynx pelt. Those were the good old days. I’m on the Chamber of Commerce. Next time I see you, I’ll give you a mug, okay? I’m on the Tourism committee.”
Night Moves Page 8