by David Haynes
The engine quietened. Behind his own truck, Draper heard a door slam and footsteps walking around the side.
A moment later a figure appeared. Draper gasped.
“Meg?”
“Dad?”
They stared at each other for a second and then both looked at Mercer, who had his lopsided grin firmly pinned in place.
“Mercer!” they both shouted.
*
The other three had gone back to their campers, eager to be away from the explosive atmosphere that was generating between Mercer, Draper and his daughter.
As they walked away, Draper heard Puckett whispering to Flynn. “Man, that’s his daughter? She’s hot.”
Fortunately for all of them, Puckett wouldn’t be going within a hundred yards of his daughter.
“I guess you two have some catching up to do?” Mercer winked and started to walk away.
Meg grabbed him. “Not so fast. What’s going on?”
Draper couldn’t take his eyes off her. He wanted to put his arms around her and hold her tight. He had a feeling from the tone of her voice that she didn’t feel the same way.
“What’s going on,” Mercer replied, “is that you’ve been pestering me for a job for the last two years and now I’ve given you one.”
“With him?” She pointed at Draper.
She looked at him like he was a bum on the street. A dirty, stinking bum with dog crap all over his face. Where had it all gone wrong?
“Well, yes, with your dad. I reckoned it was about time you two got along and what better place to make that happen than a gold mine in Alaska.”
Mercer looked like he was enjoying himself. Draper was still shocked at the sight of the daughter he hadn’t seen for more than two years. She was beautiful. Her hair was shorter than he remembered but it was still the same chestnut color it had always been. She was also very angry.
“You bastard, Mercer. I’m not working for him.” She turned her back but didn’t move.
“I am here you know, Meg. Talk to me?”
She turned on him. “You’re here? Well that makes a change. Let me see now, where were you when I broke my arm playing soccer at school? Where were you when our dog got run over and died in my arms? Where were you when Mom was crying out with the pain in her stomach? Where were you when they told her she had cancer?” She put her hand to her mouth. “That’s right, you were here. Right fucking here, Dad.”
Draper didn’t know what to say. She was right about everything. He hadn’t been there for any of it. And he regretted it. All of it. All he could do was offer excuses. Excuses she had heard before. Instead he kept quiet and waited for the next barrage.
None came but she turned away from him and fixed Mercer with a stare. “If I wasn’t so damn tired I’d leave right now.” She walked away, out of sight. A moment later, Draper heard her camper door slam.
“Well, that went well.” Mercer wandered away, leaving Draper stunned and silent on his own.
He felt like his insides had just been ripped out and thrown in the creek. He could go and try to talk to her, try to explain everything. About how it had all been for his family, to support them and make sure there was food on the table. But he had been down that road so many times that it was just white noise now, to both of them. He finished his beer and stepped back inside the camper.
What the hell was she doing here anyway? Since when had she been able to work or drive anything that belonged on a claim? He opened another beer and fell on the bed.
Just a couple of feet separated the two of them; just an inch of aluminum and some Alaskan pine-scented night air between them. Yet he felt as far away from her as he had ever done.
8
Gray light filtered in through the window. Draper checked his watch. It was just after 3.30am. It had been nearly 1am when he had finally got to sleep but he didn’t feel tired. There were twenty hours of daylight to play with, twenty hours in which to get up to Black Pine Creek, set up and get started. If all went well, he could be sluicing the first run of dirt by this time tomorrow.
Then his heart sank. Megan. All those telephone calls, all that wondering what was on her mind and how she felt became crystal clear in those few short seconds last night. Maybe it was better when he was still wondering.
When she was just a toddler, her mom Claire had brought her to the various claims he’d been working at. She’d spent the summer months in Alaska, Canada, down in Oregon and one summer closer to home in California. Claire hated it, she hated the cold, the heat, the bugs and the relentless way Draper went about extracting the gold. He’d had gold fever since Grandpa told him the stories on their road trip. Having a family hadn’t been the medicine she’d hoped it would be.
Meg had loved it though. She had her own pan and sat sifting through the dirt until her fingers turned black and little flecks of gold gathered in a beautiful strip, sparkling in the sun.
That was why Claire had taken her back home. They could both see the illness in her eyes. The same illness that Draper had in his. Gold fever. It looked like Claire hadn’t managed to cure her either.
He rolled off the bed and brewed a pot of coffee. He wanted to be on the road as soon as possible and no later than five. He knew the others would be chomping at the bit to get started too. Every day they weren’t mining was lost gold.
When the coffee was ready, he filled a mug and opened the door to the camper. He sat on the step. It was cool but not cold. He could hear the creek bubbling and scratching its way down from the mountains. To the east, a thin strip of gold stretched across the horizon and above it the sky rose in colored layers, moving from a pale azure to a beautiful rich indigo. A few stars still clung to what was left of the darkness but soon they would be swallowed up by the day. His spirits lifted to see the signs of good weather.
He finished the coffee and stretched. Before they went anywhere, he wanted a word with Mercer. He slid the cup back inside but before he could move, he heard Mercer’s van door slam shut and his heavy footsteps come around his truck.
Draper opened his mouth to speak but Mercer didn’t pause, he continued toward Meg’s camper without breaking stride, without noticing Draper at all.
A moment later, he heard their muffled voices.
“I’m not going to stop you leaving, Meg, but you need to think about a couple of things first.”
“Oh I do, do I?” Meg replied. Draper could imagine the pair of them standing looking at each other, Mercer towering over her. But from what he’d seen and what he knew, she wouldn’t be cowed by him.
“Yep. Jobs aren’t exactly growing on trees for greenhorns, female greenhorns at that, and you know I’m right about that. This is where you start, okay? Now, you might not like your dad but there’s gonna be a whole lotta people you don’t care for in life, and some you outright want to kill, but as long as you’re pulling gold out of the ground you can get along together.”
“But you lied, Ray.”
“Nope, no I didn’t. I just didn’t tell you who the boss was, just like I didn’t tell your dad who our newest crew member was.”
“He didn’t know?” Her voice softened. Did Meg think he was behind this? That somehow he’d arranged it with Mercer? Christ, he didn’t even know she had a license to drive a car let alone an excavator.
Mercer laughed. “You think he wants to take his little girl to a place where there’s gonna be bears, wolves and bugs? Think about it.”
Mercer was right about that. Accountant, lawyer, teacher or doctor, they were the careers he would have picked for her. Gold mining came just below career criminal.
There was silence for a while. Draper was torn. More than anything he wanted to be near her, to kiss and hold her. He wanted to make up for everything he’d missed. Yet he didn’t want to take her to Black Pine Creek, he didn’t want her mining. He didn’t want her to live a life like his.
“If I forget he’s my dad and just my boss then I might be able to stay.”
The words s
tung him. But it seemed she had forgotten he was her dad a long time ago.
“You’ll stay then? I’d have trouble finding a replacement as cheap as you anyway.”
“You’re a shit, Ray.”
“It’s been said before.”
Mercer’s footsteps came around the camper. “My god-daughter is staying.” He didn’t stop to deliver the news, he just kept walking.
Draper nodded. “One hour, we’ll leave in an hour.”
Mercer waved a giant paw in acknowledgment.
*
At just after 5am they left Chicken RV park in convoy. Draper drove at the front with Mercer next. Meg was at the rear but Draper could feel the weight of her stare on the back of his neck. She hadn’t spoken to him this morning which meant she also hadn’t launched another tirade at him. That was something.
On the last three occasions he had driven along the track, any view had been obscured by the fog. The sense of claustrophobia hadn’t been lost on him. This time the weather was different but the gloom was the same. The track had been carved right out of the forest and the pine grew tall and thick on either side. It was a tunnel and even though the summer sun attempted to slice through the branches, it could only manage a sliver or two on the dirt. That might change later when the sun climbed higher into the sky, but for now it was almost as dark as the few hours of night they’d just had.
He knew every bend and every crevasse-like rut in the road, but some journeys just had to be taken at the pace set by nature, not man. Leaving the claim and getting back down the track, if they left it too late in the season, would be impossible. Once the ice and snow came, he would shut down and get out before options were removed. It was a consideration easily overlooked but one worth its weight in gold.
Nevertheless they made good time, and soon enough Black Pine Creek claim opened up in front of them. The road was wide enough and stable enough for one of the smaller tankers to bring fuel to the site. Unlike Draper, it had driven through the smaller trees and flattened them, opening up the site.
Draper drove down toward where the vehicles were still waiting, swung around and reversed his truck. He stopped few feet away from the treeline and climbed out. Mercer pulled in beside him and the others followed suit. He noticed Meg pull in as far away from him as she could.
Mercer patted him in the shoulder. “I got her here. The rest is down to you, buddy.”
Draper nodded. “Well, there’s a route to failure if there ever was one.”
“Give her three months up here and she’ll either come round or put a bullet through your skull.”
The latter was probably a better bet than the former.
Puckett walked toward them, whistling and whooping. He had his eyes on the collection of vehicles.
“Would you look at that!” He turned to Flynn who was a few steps behind. “It’s a D-9. A D-fucking-9. Two of them! And that there is a 420 excavator, Jimmy.” He stopped where Draper and Mercer were standing. “And there’s a spare for when you break it.”
Jim Flynn studied Puckett for a moment, his mustache working overtime.
“And I doubt if either of ’em could break through that thick skull of yours.”
Vinson came next, exhaling loudly. “You won’t need me. Those things look practically new.”
Meg followed behind, her arms folded across her chest.
Draper replied, “They might look that way but they’ve been sitting out here for a while. Let’s see if we can start them up. Six of them, six of us.”
He knew that each vehicle had a key and that key had been left in the ignition for the last two years. He hoped they would start. If not then Vinson would earn his share straight away.
He looked at Meg. “Which can you dr...”
She marched past him. “Any of them. I can drive them all.”
She walked past and climbed in the biggest one. The D-9 bulldozer. She looked tiny in the cab but when she turned the ignition it roared into life, belching black smoke into the air. She turned to them and gave the thumbs-up. She was smiling.
“I’m taking the other one!” Puckett was already off and running. It took a certain type of man to have such desirous thoughts about a 110,000-pound piece of equipment. Puckett was just that man.
Only one of the trucks wouldn’t start. Vinson got onto it straight away. Draper showed the others the Black Pine Saloon. It was where they would spend most of their downtime, where they would talk about anything and everything that was on their minds. By the end of the season, they would know each other inside out and be glad to get away and go back home. Puckett was excited by all of it but it was impossible to see what Flynn thought. His expression didn’t change. Not once.
Mercer nodded his approval but was quiet. Draper knew he was chewing it all over, thinking the very same things he himself had thought a week ago. Questioning why it had been left as it was. He wouldn’t raise those questions yet though. He would wait until later, when they were alone.
“What about power? Where’s the genny?” Mercer asked as they came out the back door, past the wave table.
Draper pointed at the container on the treeline. “There you go.”
“Works?” Mercer asked.
“I’m sure it does. It’ll be new like everything else around here.” He walked down the slope toward the creek road. “Let me show you the plant.” He heard their steps following behind.
After an hour of examination, Mercer was happy. The plant’s generator fired up after a bit of cajoling. Flynn topped it up with fuel and it ticked over beautifully. Draper and Mercer left Flynn and Puckett to check on the plant’s component parts before they tried to start it up. Meg was already walking back up to the camp.
They stood on top of the existing cut. Draper unfolded the drill-hole map. He indicated to Mercer where they were and where he intended on going next.
“We’ll finish up what they’ve started. Run what’s already waiting then we’ll open up the ground along that stretch.” He tapped the chart and then pointed further down the claim. “The samples are better there, and it’s closer to the creek so it should be thawed.”
Mercer nodded and swatted away a cloud of mosquitoes.
“You okay with that?” Draper asked. He could see there was something bothering Mercer. He had expected the concerns to come later, not yet.
“I don’t know, Scott. Anything seem a bit off about this to you?”
“Off?” He knew what Mercer was talking about.
“Like, too good to be true. I mean, look at the plant, the trucks, the camp, nothing’s been run for more than a season. Might not even be a full season at that. The boxes have got gold in them, for Christ’s sake. Could you walk away from something like this? I know I couldn’t.”
Draper patted his friend on the back. “Maybe, but isn’t it time we caught a break? We’ve been shoveling dirt for most of our lives and we’re not exactly rich, are we? We’ve done okay, don’t get me wrong, but perhaps this is our time. We’ve seen some of those other guys come up here and hit the mother lode and shrugged it off. Why not us?”
Mercer turned to face him. “It’s never been about the money though, has it? That’s not what drags us back year after year.”
He was right. It had never been about how rich they got. It had been about the endeavor, the toil and the adventure. Finding gold was a bonus. It was a drug. It was also what made his daughter despise him.
“Here’s what I think happened,” suggested Draper. “Someone with deep pockets thought it might be a good way to spend a summer vacation… live the American dream for a while. But they realized it was hard work. So they left. All this means nothing to some folk. Ten million bucks is just a drop in the ocean. They’ve got money to burn.”
“So why hasn’t it been mined for two years? If the samples are as good as they say, someone would have been up here last summer, for sure.” Mercer bent and picked up a rock. He hurled it into a shallow pond at the bottom of the cut. It splashed, sending glitt
ering water into the air.
“There’s only me desperate enough to go to Burgess. And he wants twenty-five percent. Most guys wouldn’t touch it for those two reasons. Burgess and twenty-five is enough to put anyone off.”
“You’re probably right.” Mercer picked up another rock and hurled it across the cut. It arced and then dropped fifteen feet to the pond.
“So, you gonna take a swing at me for bringing Meg?” Mercer was smiling again. Dark stubble was growing thick on his face but his lopsided grin was there.
“I thought about it, but as far as I can tell you’re the only reason she stayed. Anything I do right now is going to make her madder at me, including taking a swing at you. I’m being selfish but I want her to stay. I want to see her in the morning, and the morning after that and the morning after that. Even if she hates me, I want her with me.” He paused and looked away. “How long have you been in touch with her?”
“All last summer. She kept ringing, asking me for a job.”
“And did you get her one?”
“Nope. Didn’t feel right. Told her to go get her permits and some experience. Thought it might put her off. Didn’t do the trick though, did it? She came back stronger than ever this year. Reckon she’s got some of her old man to thank for that.”
“Maybe.”
The pair stood in silence for a minute, just staring across the wilderness. The Yukon-Tanana uplands stretched north toward the horizon where they rose into the snow-tipped Brooks Mountain Range. Their peaks were distant, icy beacons, reminders of the short time they had before winter claimed Black Pine Creek back again.
Mercer shoved him hard enough to make him stagger. He started walking back toward the camp. “Come on, let’s get the genny going, nobody likes warm beer.”
*
“Man, my gran’s got more beef than you!” Mercer shouted encouragement at Puckett. His face was red and veins stood out all along his neck. They were attempting to prize the container’s door open with a crowbar and Puckett was the last to try before Draper. Then, when he failed, which having tried before he knew he would, they would have to pay Mercer ten dollars a piece to watch him succeed.