by Lee Stringer
“My Jesus, dont be saying things like that. If poor Jake was alive to hear this he wouldnt know what to think of it.”
“You thinks Dad would be surprised? How many times did Dad say no one in the world would get along with Frank.”
“Sure Frank was here yesterday talking about you,” she said.
Levi straightened up and laughed. “I dare say.”
“He said that if you talked to them about it sensible instead of going off your head you probably could have come to a better agreement.”
“Havent you got it figured out, Mom? It had nothing to do with figuring out percentages. They cut me down because they knew Id quit. They wanted me to quit.”
“Now Levi, you knows the difference of that. Frank said he was trying to be fair. I dont believe everything comes out of his mouth now, but Barnaby said the same thing. Barnaby dont lie.”
“Barnaby is a gambling addict! He wanted me out so he could have more money to throw in them slot machines.”
“No hes not no gambling addict. That thing thats married to him is the one with the problem.”
“No Mom. Hes just as bad. Or Worse.”
“No. No. He told me she cant handle money.”
“Whatever Mom. Im finished with the two of them.”
“You still should talk to Frank.”
Levi hung up the phone. It rang again and Levi ignored it. It rang and rang. He decided to go for a drive because God only knew how many times she would call back. She was a stubborn woman.
Driving felt good. The old novelty was there, if only for a few minutes, that particular brand of freedom and power only an engine on wheels can bring. Even if the motor was under the hood of a rusty old truck.
He prayed Barnaby, or especially Frank, wasn’t at the store. Yet, it was inevitable that he would bump into them there at some point. If he saw either of their vehicles he would simply turn around...unless of course they came in behind him. Barnaby wouldn’t, but Frank would purposely come into the store if he knew Levi was there. And perhaps even try to start up a conversation.
But neither of his brother’s vehicles was in Missy’s parking lot. Instead it was a new crew cab Dodge Ram he didn’t recognize, and he knew who owned every truck in Gadus. Regardless, he found himself feeling good pulling into the pumps. Even if he was driving the same old beat-up truck he had been for the last eleven years. Not for much longer, he thought, then caught himself. It would be for a lot longer perhaps. After all, he wasn’t going back out west...not likely anyway. He got out and stuck the nozzle in the truck, proud that he didn’t have to think twice about the price of gas. When it was full he strolled into the store. Missy’s was the only convenience store left in the five outports from there to the Trans Canada Highway. When he was a boy there had been three general stores in Gadus alone.
Missy’s daughter was often behind the cash lately, but not today. Missy herself was checking in local fisherman, Bryan Collet. And behind him his brother Calvin was waiting in line with a sub sandwich and Diet Pepsi in his hand. They both greeted him and asked him what he was up to.
“Oh not much by,” Levi said, heading to the glass cooler. “Pick up a few beer I suppose.”
“Sounds alright,” Brian said. “If I whudnt on me way to Catalina Id be doing the same.”
“Whats the price this year?” Levi said.
Bryan and Calvin looked at him.
“Yes,” Calvin said, nodding. “Youre out west now. I forgot about that sure.”
“You never heard the price wer getting the year?” Bryan said.
“To tell you the truth by, Ive been closing me ears to it all since...”
“$2.50 a pound,” Missy said, checking in a can of sausages.
Levi was dumbstruck.
“Jesus...it havent been that price in years. What happened?”
“Market demand,” Missy said.
“No one really knows,” Bryan said.
“Sure youre making a fortune out west now anyway. You dont have to worry about this shit anymore.”
“Yes, the money is not bad I must say,” Levi said.
“What shift you on?” Missy said. “Me boy is out there now.
Cory. You see him around?”
“No,” Levi said. “Theres dozens of oil camps out west.”
“Hes a pipefitter. Whats you doing?”
As if the nosiest woman in Gadus didn’t know. “Welding.”
“Hard work?” Calvin said.
“No by, its pretty laid back.”
“I heard the scaffolders is the only ones who breaks a sweat on them big jobs,” Bryan said.
“Not my son,” Missy said. “Cory works like a dog sure.”
The three men said nothing. If Cory was anything like his father he didn’t work like a dog at anything.
Levi paid for his beer and left the store behind the two men.
“I didnt want to say it in front of that nosey thing in there,” Bryan said as he climbed up in his truck. “But I knows you got done dirty. From what I heard them oil camps gets old pretty quick. If you gets sick of what youre at and youre looking for a berth, you can come on with us. I was going to call you the other day, but I remembered you was gone out west.”
“I still cant believe the price.”
“Yes, its good to see that price again. How long is you off for?”
“A week.”
“You should dart out with us for a run,” Bryan said, grinning.
Levi laughed. “I only got off the plane yesterday. Im beat to a snot.”
“Oh. Well, Ill give you a couple hundred dollars. And if you likes it you can stay on. Ten percent share.”
“Fuck that oil racket,” Calvin said over Bryan’s shoulder. “You was raised up on the water by.”
“The water havent done me much good for something I was raised up on.”
“Sure Im giving you a chance now,” Bryan said. “You might never see prices like this again.”
“Nah. Im into this now. I might as well stick with it.”
Bryan nodded. “Alright by. But give me a call if you changes your mind. That number I quoted is negotiable by the way. I knows theyre your brothers, but you got done dirty by. Nobody likes to see that happen to a fella.”
“Who you got with you now anyway?”
“Don Inleighs two boys, and the wife might dart out with us for a run. Larry Melodie too.”
“Well Ill see you around,” Levi said, getting aboard his truck.
“Here,” Bryan said, passing over his cell phone number on the back of the store receipt. “Just in case.”
Larry Melodie? Wasn’t that Karen’s boy that was going in to be a teacher? How desperate was Bryan to say that the share percentage price was negotiable? Or, for that matter, to even offer him the job in the first place? The boat was full of greenhorns, and to top it all off, a woman too. Levi never saw a woman on the water in his life that was worth her salt.
“Fisherpersons,” Levi said, and rolled his eyes.
The worst thing about a greenhorn was that even if he was the hardest worker that ever laced up a pair of steel nosed boots on land, on the water he might be utterly useless. Working on the water when the wind was up was like trying to do a job with an able mind but blind-drunk legs. Even simple things were difficult, like putting on your still wet oil clothes while falling against the walls of the cabin from the roll of the waves. Throw in a good bout of sea-sickness, three or four hours sleep, microwaved food, and the constant danger of capsizing, and there you have it. Needless to say, the more experienced men a skipper could get for his crew the better. Unfortunately, the dropping price of crab in past years — except this year — along with the lure of the big bucks out west, kept drawing away the capable young recruits from what was left of the fishery.
The best crab prices in years, meaning Frank and Barnaby were going to make more money than ever. It was almost unbearable to think about.
Levi took the receipt with the cell phone number ou
t of his pocked, rolled it up in his hand and threw it on the truck floor.
Maybe he could get a loan to start up his woodworking business. Goddamn it, he was in his fifties, but he wasn’t stupid. No sir, he was an...artist.
“Believe me, what you make is art,” Jon had said.
He was an artist. Why shouldnt he sell his rocking chairs? He could start up his own shop and work on them all day long. There wasn’t anyone in Gadus that sold rocking chairs like his. There probably wasn’t anyone in Newfoundland for that matter. Or maybe he could sell them on that website, the one Sinead talked about all the time. eBay. No matter how, he was going to work at it, and the chairs were going to be unique. They were going to be unique because Jon was going to carve them. Levi would convince him. He would find a way.
Levi pulled in the driveway, hopped out with the case of beer in his hand, and went straight to his shed. He cracked a beer, and as always the quick hiss relaxed him just a little. He took a long, slow mouthful, the cold froth soothing the back of his throat. That relaxed him more.
After he savoured the first mouthful he laid the beer down on his bench and picked up a fresh piece of sandpaper. He began at the top, the crest rail, and forgot about time.
The Ocean
Thirst woke him up. Levi had stayed up until three in the morning sanding the chair, and drinking. Even as he was sanding he had felt the doubt creeping back in. He couldn’t even remember what kind of wood Jon said he carved with, and if he did, he probably didn’t have the wood in his shed anyway.
“Who in the fuck were you trying to kid?” he said.
He wasn’t bothered about getting drunk in itself. After all, it was his time off, but he didn’t like being drunk when he worked on a chair. At one point he remembered almost wasting his sixth beer over the arm. Three beers would be the limit from now on when working. Three beers relaxed him. So did a dozen for that matter, but so much that it made him sloppy.
Gulping a cold glass of water, he gazed out at the day. If he wasn’t going back to Camp Wisti what choice did he have but to call Bryan? It was a stroke of luck that he even met him at the store. But perhaps Bryan had already found someone.
Levi sipped a cup of tea and gnawed on a piece of peanut butter toast. Damn, the house was quiet. Even bickering with Anita was better than this. He got up and went out to his shed for the radio. The chair was waiting patiently for him, but he resisted the urge to go near it, and brought the dusty little radio into the house. There was a time when he had a lot of friends he could visit, but the older he got the less patience he had for socializing.
Levi considered heading over to his mother’s for breakfast. If Frank’s truck was there he would turn around. If Barnaby’s was there he would go in anyway, and have fun ignoring him.
First things first. Levi called Bryan and told him that he wouldn’t mind coming out for a trip, but he made no promises that he would join on. Two hundred dollars for a trip would be a ridiculously small amount of money compared to what he was used to, but he wanted to see if he still had the stomach for it before he made any promises to stay on and take a percentage.
“When you coming back ashore?”
“Youre in luck there. We got to come in tomorrow I dare say. Rons young fella is sick. I should have known better but we was desperate. Ill call you.”
“Hows the other boys doing?”
“We might get our quota,” he said, then laughed.
“Youll do alright by.”
NLLive was also playing in his mother’s house when Levi stood in the porch. Delilah looked up and smiled at him.
“There you is,” she said.
“Here I is.”
She got up and went to him and kissed him on the cheek.
“I was only gone three weeks Mom.”
“Did you have anything for breakfast?”
“Not really.”
“What do you want?”
“Anything to have here with a cup of tea, besides that bakers fog you buys?”
“No I dont buy no bakers fog. I buys the good homemade bread at the store.”
“Yes, I daresay its homemade. Mind now it whudnt baked in a woodstove. Id give anything now for a slice of your bread.”
“I cant make it. Me back cant take it anymore.”
“I know, Mom. What have you got there besides bread?”
“Lemon Creams, and there might be a few Tip Tops left in the box.”
Delilah placed the table as Wade Wallace, the host of NLLive, debated with a caller over the state of the oil industry in Newfoundland, not failing to mention that it was not a renewable resource.
“So what do you think of it out in Fort McMurray?” she said.
“The money is good.”
“You dont like the job?”
“Who likes their job?”
“What do you be at out west? What do welders do?”
“Weld. High up too. Up over a hundred feet sometimes.”
“Oh my Lord! You better mind yourself.”
Levi regretted telling her about the heights, even though he had done it on purpose.
“Poor Jake was always afraid of heights.”
“Was he?” Levi asked, but she didn’t catch the irony in his voice as she shoved his elbows out of the way and put a placemat under them. He had once seen his father’s legs trembling on a six foot step ladder.
“Sure back in the fifties when he was helping build the church he got right giddy and nearly fell off the roof. Your Uncle Abe just caught him, and nearly fell off himself.”
The kettle whistled and she poured up their tea.
“Poor thing,” she said. “At least he died quick when he went.”
“Hard to believe its been twelve years. How much did he and Frank argue.”
“Youre a lot like your poor father. Neither one of you could get along with Frank.”
Levi laughed. “Frank used to try to boss the ol man around aboard the boat when he was sixteen.”
“Frank was always a leader.”
“Franks no leader. Franks full of shit.”
“Well most leaders is full of shit isnt they?”
Levi buttered a biscuit.
“I might be taking a berth on Bryans boat.”
“Now there you go. Yes. You dont need to be flying back and forth out there. Id be worried to death. Sure did you hear about that plane that caught on fire?”
“How come Im the only one didnt hear about that?”
The next morning Levi was running late. Something he had never been when it came to fishing. A tangle of clothes sat in the middle of the kitchen floor, half of which was still damp from the washer. His rubber clothes were scattered about the porch and he tripped over them looking for his cell phone. Anita would have had his lunch, changes of clothes, and whatever else he needed, ready for him. Bryan called and told him that he was leaving at twelve o’clock, and if Bryan was anything like the boys said he was then Levi better be there by twelve on the dot or earlier.
His cell phone rang. It was Anita.
“Got a berth with Bryan,” he told her.
“Bryan? I thought you was working out west?”
“Fuck out west.”
Anita laughed.
“You loves to hear me say that dont you. You never believed in me.”
“Oh shut up, Levi, and let me talk. Its important.”
Levi felt a flutter in his chest, and for the moment Bryan and his boat didn’t exist.
“What about?”
“We were together for a long time...”
“Yeah...”
“I left you with almost everything, but theres a few things in the house I feels like I deserves.”
Levi dropped the hand holding his phone down to his side and stared up at the ceiling. His eyes blurred, and he lifted the phone again.
“You left me with the goddamn bills too! That credit card bill was bad enough,” he screamed into the phone. “That was the deal, remember? I gets everything, and all the
debt that comes with it. You gets nothing, and you dont have to worry about nothing. Remember? Remember that?”
“Youre not capable of discussing anything with me are you?”
Her calm demeanour was maddening.
“What did you think you was going to get?”
“Well one thing I definitely wants is me chair.”
“Why do you want that?”
“Its a good chair. Im used to it. You cant buy chairs like that.”
“Theres a lot of things you cant buy. I made it for you and my little girl. Why would you want that chair now?”
“I...”
There was silence on the phone and Levi hoped she was crying. So far in the separation she had hardly showed any emotion at all.
“Anita?”
“...yeah.”
“Do you understand what Im saying?”
“Yes...but maybe there are things...I dont need to forget.”
“Well why are you with him? If you dont want to forget.”
“I cant live with you anymore, Levi. There is a part of me that will always love you, but theres a part that doesnt. And you did it. I know Im no angel, but you did it. You took me for granted. You cut yourself off from me. You did it, Levi. Its your own fault.”
“Hows it all my fault when you was the one who was fucking around?”
“Oh my God, you just dont get it,” she said, and hung up.
Levi called back her number but she wouldn’t answer. He called back three times with no success. A picture of Anita and him stared down from the wall. Levi tore it off and threw it face down across the kitchen table. It slid onto the floor and the glass shattered.
Once he got on the road and reached the Trans Canada Highway the speedometer hovered between one-hundred-and-thirty and one-hundred-and-forty km. There was a time when that was his regular cruising speed on the highway, but he didn’t have the nerve for it anymore, and his neck and shoulders were tense. He had forgotten to drop in to Missy’s Convenience and pick up a half dozen Hungry Man microwave dinners. So he would have to run into the Sobeys in Catalina, which would slow him down even more. There were convenience stores close to the government wharf, but he couldn’t remember what frozen foods they carried, so that would be even more wasted time if he was wrong.