Rescue at Fort Edmonton

by Rita Feutl

  “Where’re ya going?”

  “Uh, yeah. To my grandmother. She lives at...ummm, I mean... Oh no.” Great, she thought. I’m standing here like a fool slapping myself silly and I don’t have a hot clue where I’m going. He must think I’m a dork.

  “What’s her name?”

  “Whose? My grandmother’s?”

  “Well, I’d ask you for yours, but you’re a little confused at the moment...”

  Janey stopped swatting for a second and eyed him. What did he mean, confused? Who did he think he was? “I’m Janey Kane, and my grandmother’s...”

  “Old Mrs. Kane, right next to my piano teacher! I know who you are. My mum knows her. She said her granddaughter was coming out.”

  “So who are you?”

  “I’m Mike. Mike Wegner. We live a few avenues away from you.”

  “Well, Mike, can you show me the way up and out? If I stay here, I’m going to be devoured.”

  “Sure.Your grandma makes the best popcorn cake. You should ask her to make it for you. How’s she doin’ anyhow?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Janey, following Mike and Sammy out of the ravine.

  “I know she’s been sick. My mum’s been over a few times.And I know your dad was out a few months back.”

  Great, thought Janey. The whole world knows Granny’s been sick except for me.“Yeah. She’s supposed to be better now. I’m kinda out here to help her.”

  Janey hadn’t even noticed they’d stopped in front of Granny’s house until the screen door opened. “There you are, Janey. Oh, you’ve met Michael. How’s your mum, dear?”

  “She’s fine, Mrs. Kane. Are you gonna make Janey your popcorn cake?”

  Granny grinned. “When I do, we’ll have you over for some, okay?”

  “It’s a deal. I’ve gotta go. Sammy’s desperate for the rest of her walk.”

  He raised a hand to Janey and then headed toward the ravine. Janey turned up the path.

  “Granny, I’m sorry.”

  Granny came down the stairs and hugged her.“You didn’t know, kiddo, and it’s awful having news like that sprung on you. It’s been my fault, really. I’ve been a bit of a coward.” She released Janey and lowered herself on to the stair. “I asked your parents not to tell you, and then I wasn’t quite sure when I should.”

  The light from the porch fell on Granny’s upturned face, harshly accentuating the tiny lines radiating from her eyes and mouth. She’s old, Janey realized, as a wave of emotion swept over her. She sat down beside her grandmother and gave her a squeeze.

  “It’s all right,” said Janey. “I don’t suppose there is a right time for anything like that. Are you okay? What’s happening with you?”

  “Well, I’m finished my treatments and I have another appointment at the end of the week. I felt pretty crummy last winter and spring, but your dad’s visit helped.And now things seem to be better. Except for my hair, of course.” She looked at Janey. “Did you guess it was a wig?”

  “Granny, I really, really thought it was your own hair. And it looks pretty good on you. In fact, I kinda thought you were, you know, looking for a new husband.”

  Granny’s roar of laughter could probably be heard clear across the ravine, Janey thought. “Me? A husband? In this state?” She wiped tears from her eyes.

  “Oh, kiddo. I knew you’d be the best thing for me. That’s why I didn’t want your parents out here, hovering over me as if I was going to keel over the next instant.” She was still chuckling when Mike and Sammy strolled by in the darkness.

  “Aren’t you two getting eaten by the bugs?” Mike called out.

  Janey stood up suddenly. I can’t believe it, she thought. I’m only here for a day and I’m already sitting out on the front stoop in the evening. She hoped the tinkling she heard was from Sammy’s collar, and not some dumb cowbell in the distance.

  AS JANEY PULLED THE QUILT OFF HER BED that night, an avalanche of tiny items clattered to the floor. Amidst the coins and candies was a crumpled ticket to the historical park. Granny must have emptied the pockets of her shorts before she put them in the wash.

  But when Janey reached under the dresser to pick up the last object, goosebumps crawled up her arm. A small, bone-white button, perfect for a pinafore, lay in her hand – the one Anna had given her to keep on the wagon ride.

  It was true! She had been back! She hadn’t dreamt the whole thing, thought Janey, clutching the proof in her hand as she slipped into bed.

  What had that old woman said? That she was supposed to stop a disaster? Well, she certainly hadn’t stopped anything today. About the only thing she’d prevented was having her grandmother hate her totally for calling her a sick old woman.

  Maybe the thing she was supposed to prevent was in the past, thought Janey. What’s-her-name...Mrs. Black Bear...hadn’t she said something about meeting again? But how?

  And she’d said something about remembering the mines. What mines? Janey hadn’t run into any mines around here. Mines were supposed to be underground and she hadn’t...wait a minute! The construction site! Maybe it was on top of an old mine like the one Anna’s dad worked at – maybe that’s what those tunnels were!

  But Janey’s excitement quickly died out. Jump back into that sinkhole again? Risk being smothered and slimed? Maybe she should just ignore the whole thing. Forget about it. After all, what could one twelve-year-old girl do to stop something bad from happening? Not much.

  Janey stuffed the button under her pillow.The last image in her mind before she drifted into an uneasy sleep was of Anna, carefully cradling her china doll.

  STUMBLING FROM HER BEDROOM the next morning, Janey was jolted awake by the sight of her grandmother sitting at the table with a kerchief wrapped around an otherwise bald head.

  “Oh Granny...” She paused, dumbfounded.

  “You’re supposed to say,‘What big ears you have,’” said her grandmother, grinning at Janey over the rim of her teacup.

  “It’s actually not the ears – they’re fine,” said Janey, coming closer. “But you have no eyebrows.”

  “It’s true, it’s true. There’s not a single hair on my head.Yet.”

  Janey studied her grandmother’s face. “How come I didn’t notice the eyebrow thing yesterday?”

  “It’s amazing, the stuff they teach you to do with makeup. I think I might be able to take you up on last night’s suggestion and find myself a husband yet.”

  “Yeah? So where are you looking?” Janey sat down across from her and poured cereal into a bowl.

  “Here and there. I turn a lot of heads when I’m out with Marilyn, you know.”

  “I bet you do. How about we take Marilyn out today, say maybe over to that big mall with all the cool stuff inside it?”

  The look of amusement in Granny’s eyes dimmed.

  “I don’t think so, kiddo. I’m afraid yesterday took a bit out of me.Today will have to be a quiet day.”

  Janey pushed the flash of disappointment away. Of course. She couldn’t be dragging her sick grandmother all over the city. But what was she supposed to do? “You could always spend the day down at the pool,” said Granny. “Give Michael a call and see what he’s up to.”

  Call up a strange boy? She HAD to be kidding.

  “Maybe I’ll just spend the day reading. I brought a lot of books along.”

  SEVERAL QUIET DAYS FOLLOWED. Janey read, watched TV, and gently took the hoe from Granny when she caught her out in her garden. Together they planted a row of sunflowers. By the second day, Janey figured Granny cheated at gin rummy, but couldn’t grasp exactly how. She managed to catch Becca one night on the telephone. Her pal assured Janey that life in Toronto was just as boring for her at the moment. Janey didn’t tell her about Anna and her tent and her doll.

  One morning, as Janey headed into the backyard with a book, Granny suggested she haul down the lounge chairs from the garage rafters. “Just don’t kill yourself on any of the other stuff in there.”

  The garage sm
elled of weathered wood and packed dirt floors. Marilyn sat regally in one half, but the other side was stuffed with an old stove, an ancient one-speed bicycle, a push mower, and various garden implements. Janey found a rickety ladder and set it under the rafters where the lounge chairs were stored. As she pulled them toward her, she caught sight of a spattered blue trunk under the eaves. “Hey, Granny,” she bellowed through the side door. “What’s in here?”

  “Just stuff that belonged to your grandfather,” said Granny, coming into the shadows of the garage. “Funny. I’d forgotten about that thing. It’s been parked up there for decades. Be careful, kiddo.There can’t be anything in there worth breaking your neck over.”

  Janey was already yanking the trunk toward her. “How can you have this here and not know what’s in it?”

  “Did I say I’d forgotten? Really, my dear...” Granny’s voice dropped as she stepped close to the ladder, “you’re about to uncover the deepest, darkest of our family secrets. When your grandfather was young he was...a great train robber. That’s where we kept the gold and stolen jewellery.”

  “Stop teasing, Granny,” said Janey. Still, she couldn’t help the tiny surge of excitement that raced through her as she dragged the trunk into the garden and lifted the lid.

  Naturally, the disappointment was twice as big. Nothing but clothes – an old blue jacket with brass buttons down the front, some overalls, and a soft flannel shirt. About the only thing of real value was a silky white scarf. Big deal, thought Janey. Why would anyone want to save this stuff?

  Granny pulled the jacket out.“I can’t say I remember Grampa wearing this pea coat; he was a much bigger man. I’m not sure why he had it packed away.”

  Overcoming her disappointment, Janey slipped into the jacket, which hung, overlarge, on her shoulders. She put her hands on her hips and sashayed down the garden path. “For the well-dressed man of the season, this coat has everything,” she said, swivelling her hips wildly in imitation of a model.

  There were snickers from the back gate. “Guess that means I’ll have to have one,” said a voice. Janey froze, clutching the coat around her. Mike’s eyes were on her, as were those of a girl just a little taller than him, who grinned at Janey.

  “Hi, Michael,” said Granny. “And is that Nicky with you? Come on in, you two.”

  If ever there was a time when the ground should have opened up and swallowed her, it was now, thought Janey. How embarrassing. She stuck her hands into the jacket pockets and pulled it around her, trying to hide.

  “Hi, Mrs. Kane. We were wondering if Janey wanted to go to the pool with us.”

  “I, uh, um.” She felt something crackle and drew her hand out. In it were several folded sheets of newsprint with pictures on them. They looked strangely familiar, like...exactly like the paper Anna had given her yesterday for the outhouse. She stared at the pages, entranced.

  “Janey?” Her grandmother looked at her quizzically.

  “What? Oh.Yeah. Um. Thanks, Mike. But I think I’m going to spend some time with my granny right now...”

  “Sweetheart, you don’t have to...”

  “It’s okay, Granny. But maybe tomorrow.” She looked at Mike. “Thanks.”

  “It’ll probably be hot tomorrow too,” said Mike, turning away. “C’mon, Nickster.” Janey hardly noticed the girl’s narrowing eyes, or the pair’s departure. She was staring at a page of china dolls and prices. One of them looked remarkably like Anna’s doll, Henrietta. Guilt laid its clammy hand on her again, but with it, came an idea. What if Janey just went back to buy Anna a new doll? Even if she didn’t complete her mission about a disaster, at least she wouldn’t feel so guilty.

  “Granny, is it very far to Fort Edmonton?”

  “Well, no, not that far, but –”

  “Could you please take me there again? You don’t even have to come with me.You could just drop me there. I didn’t get to see everything when I was there with you.”

  “But sweetheart! I just got myself settled...”

  “All right then.This afternoon. Or could I take the bike in the garage?”

  “Oh, I don’t think I want you racing through the city on your own.What would your parents say?”

  “Oh, but Granny, it’d be fun! And I’d get some exercise and everything.” The exercise thing always worked with her mother.

  “I don’t think I can let you go on your own.” Granny watched the disappointment register on her granddaughter’s face.“How about this. After lunch, I’ll drive you over and then meet you again at five o’clock at the gate. But don’t go having naps in any construction sites, okay?”

  JANEY CAREFULLY CONSIDERED HER WARDROBE. Back in Toronto, she hadn’t really packed for sliding down sinkholes; nor was anything she had suitable for wearing in 1907. Hanging next to an ancient, scratchy, black-and-gold basketball uniform at the back of the closet was Janey’s one dress. A sleeveless number that ended above the knee, it would probably make the Mrs. Hendersons or Mrs. Murphys of the time pop a gasket. Janey smiled at the thought, but realized she had nothing in her closet that a girl of almost a century ago could wear strolling down Edmonton’s boardwalks.

  But there was no way she was going to borrow some other girl’s dress and apron and – oh, man – stockings. Boys had it so much easier.They just put on pants and a shirt and off they went. Simple.

  Indignant, Janey’s eyes roamed over her wardrobe, and rested on her own pants, which consisted of two pairs of jeans. Well...? Why shouldn’t she wear jeans, and just go as a boy? Anna would freak, but Janey could handle her.And it would make it so much easier to wander through the crowds.

  But as she eyed her choices, Janey realized both her pairs of jeans were too tight, too decorated, and just too modern looking. What she needed was an old, baggy, inconspicuous pair that a little (or a lot) of muck wouldn’t hurt.

  Grampa’s overalls! She dashed out to the garage and pulled them out, as well as the flannel shirt, and even, oh joy, a kind of a cap she was sure she’d seen Anna’s brother wearing. Back in her bedroom, she tried on her costume, tucking her hair under the cap. She inspected herself critically in the mirror. Not bad. She could pass for a friend of Peter’s. The shirt’s collar buttoned high enough that you’d never even notice the silver chain of Granny’s locket. She changed back into shorts and a top and tucked her wardrobe into a backpack.

  “I’m ready whenever you are, Granny.”

  ONCE JANEY WAS THROUGH THE PARK GATE, she found a washroom and pulled her costume on over her clothes. The pinafore button and the money for Anna’s doll tucked safely in her pocket, she checked her watch. She had four hours to rush into the past, find Anna, buy her a new doll, save the world, and get back. Realizing her cap wouldn’t stay on her head while she tumbled into the past, Janey stuffed it into her overalls.

  She made her way to the construction site, stashed her backpack by a fencepost and, when no one was looking, jumped over the fence. It was awkward with the extra clothing, and Janey stumbled as she landed. It didn’t help that she was trying to keep her hands clasped protectively over her face.

  Nothing happened.

  She crouched, waiting. Not a tremor, not a movement. Cautiously, she removed her hands. Maybe she’d landed at the wrong place? She climbed back out, studied the fence and leaped again. Still nothing.

  Janey straightened. Wonderful. Now what? How was she going to get to the mine if she couldn’t get under the earth? Was she supposed to dig her way through the decades? And with what? She hadn’t thought to bring a shovel. Maybe she had invented the whole thing in her head.

  Granny’s locket swayed against her as she moved back to the fence. Janey paused, trying to remember something. She peered at the dirt, noticing that it wasn’t as muddy as it had been several days earlier. But there was something else...to do with the locket. When Granny woke her up the last time, Janey remembered, she had moved her foot and the chain had rolled off her leg and the earth...had shifted.

  That was it! The lock
et! She had to let go of the locket! Janey dug the chain out from under the coveralls, and pulled it off her head. Briefly she watched the silver ornament sway in the sunshine, then stretched out her arm and dropped it onto the dirt.

  Instantly, the ground started shaking. Janey hardly had a chance to cover her face before the earth swallowed her up.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  IT SEEMED TO JANEY THAT THE PLUMMETING, suffocating feeling didn’t last nearly as long this time, perhaps because she wasn’t quite so terrified. But when her body stopped sliding and the earth settled around her, she pulled herself out of the mini-landslide and felt like smacking herself.Why hadn’t she thought to bring a flashlight? She fumbled for her watch and breathed a sigh of relief when its small glow fought back the darkness.

  There were the tunnels; three dark and dank passageways heading off in different directions. But which one would get her back to Anna? The last time...yes, the last time a light had led her to the girl. Janey released her watch and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark.A faint, comforting glimmer pointed Janey to the tunnel on her left.

  The extra layer of overalls must have given her added padding, thought Janey grimly, because the passageway seemed narrower and harder to negotiate than before. She was hot and sweaty by the time she reached the opening, but she yanked her cap out of her pocket and jammed it down over her head. No sense letting those stupid Jameson boys take advantage of her again.

  Reaching sunlight, the dank, earthy smell gave way to a mellow, dusty scent of leaves long past the vibrant pulse of early summer. Janey caught sight of a stand of poplar, blazing yellow against the blue of the prairie sky, and realized that even if she hadn’t fallen back into history, she’d at least time-shifted a whole season. She squirmed out of the hole and got to her feet.

  Instantly, a heavy weight crashed against her back and pitched her forward. The sound of an explosion rocked the air behind her and something whistled over her head.