The Eclipse of Moonbeam Dawson

by Jean Davies Okimoto

  It didn’t die down until 10:00. Reid chopped the last of the shallots and skewered the shrimp. Next to him Gloria sprinkled powdered sugar on plates that would hold Claude’s signature dessert, a dacquois, layers of baked meringue filled with buttercream and topped with shaved chocolate.

  “Is it always like this?” Reid arranged the skewers on a large stainless broiler pan.

  “It has been since I started, but I’m only here on weekends. I’m not sure about the middle of the week.”

  “This is a lot harder than I thought.” He carried the pan to the line cook and came back over to her.

  “First day’s always the worst.” She sprinkled the shaved chocolate over the dacquois.

  “Who knows what I would have brought out if you hadn’t pointed to the stuff they wanted in the fridge. I never heard of half of this stuff.” Reid leaned back against the counter. “Thanks,” he said, genuinely grateful.

  “I look out for my friends,” she smiled. “But remember, I’ll collect when you get your dessert.”

  Friends. There it is again. But this time it’s loud and clear. She only wants to be friends.

  “When do we eat?” he asked, trying to hide his disappointment.

  “I think Claude has your entree ready now. We eat at the corner table by the sideboard after the last guests leave.”

  By 10:15 the dining room was empty and Reid got his food from Claude and sat next to Gloria at the corner table. Friends was a lot better than nothing, he decided as he pulled his chair next to her. A lot better.

  “This is incredible.” He tried to eat slowly so he could remember each bite forever, because he had never tasted anything like this food.

  “My turn.” Gloria picked up her fork and started to go for his plate.

  Reid put his hand on hers and laughed. “Just a minute! Are there any rules on how big the bites are?”

  “Yes. As big as I want.” She took her hand away from his and cut into his dessert. “Mmmm … yum.” Gloria half closed her eyes, relishing the scrumptious chocolate torte.

  “I feel sort of bad eating this great stuff.” Reid looked at the cake.

  “Why? You worked your butt off in there, you sure earned it.”

  “I was just thinking about all the boring stuff my mother eats.” He finished the dessert and then stood up and began clearing their plates. “Guess I’ll turn in. Jim has to catch a ferry at Nanaimo so he’s going to take me to the Co-op first thing in the morning.”

  * * *

  Reid was so tired from his first day at work, he fell asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, but instead of sleeping soundly until his alarm went off at 6:30, he woke up at 5:30. He thought he’d heard someone crying. He sat up in bed, not knowing where he was for a minute. Groping for the light, he turned it on and looked around the room. His apartment. Stere Island Lodge. No sound of anyone. He’d been dreaming.

  He had been sitting at a huge table covered with food, plates and plates of incredible food, like a feast in a palace. He was so excited to eat it, he hardly knew where to begin. He decided to start with dessert, a beautiful chocolate cake. But just as he took a bite, he noticed a grungy person locked outside, peering in the window. He tried to give the person some food, but the window was stuck.

  Reid tried to go back to sleep, but after a few minutes of tossing and turning decided it was hopeless. He showered and got dressed and headed over to the kitchen for some breakfast. Except for the lobby and the lights in the kitchen, the lodge was still dark. Jim was having breakfast when he got there.

  “Your mother called last night, Reid.”

  “She did?” He got some cereal and sat next to Jim.

  “Wanted to make sure you’d know how to get to her new place today. In case you decided to stop in after the Co-op.”

  “It’s on the edge of town on Ellis Lake, right?”

  “Right. She said it’s at the end of the north fork of the road that goes into Palmer’s Land from the highway. You can walk there pretty easily.”

  Reid couldn’t finish his cereal. He had that stupid knot in his stomach again. He wanted to ask Jim how she’d sounded, but he didn’t dare. The truth was that he really didn’t want to know. Judging by how she was yesterday, she probably sounded bad.

  * * *

  When they got to town, Jim went in the Co-op with Reid and signed for the slacks and shirt on the lodge account, then he left for Nanaimo while Reid was trying the clothes. By the time he’d finished at the Co-op it had started to rain. It was coming down hard and the idea of his mother alone in the cabin in the rain made him feel terrible. The rain was relentless, and by the time he walked out to Palmer’s Land there were strong gusts of wind hammering the rain down in vast sheets. It was more like a winter storm down from Alaska. There were few cars on the road between Tofino and Ellis Lake, not even a dog in sight in the rough weather.

  Reid pulled the hood of his parka lower over his head as he turned into Palmer’s Land. The narrow dirt road was muddy with thick, deep tire tracks and he thought someone could easily get their car or truck stuck here. He was picturing her in their truck, the tires almost submerged in mud and no one around for miles to hear her, when he spotted some lights through the trees. It looked like there was a cabin back in there.

  As Reid rounded a bend in the road, he saw their old pickup parked next to a small cedar structure, an interesting modern design with a roof of large solar panels. Reid noticed the truck’s tires were muddy and the faded bumper sticker, ARMS ARE FOR HUGGING, was so mud-splattered you could hardly read it. But the truck itself didn’t look any worse for wear, and to his surprise it was completely unloaded. Through the window he could see a cozy fire in the fireplace. As he stepped up on the porch, about to knock, the door swung open.

  “Moonbeam!” Abby squealed and threw her arms around him.

  “Hi, Mum.”

  “Well, come on in. Let’s have a look at you!”

  “I don’t think I’ve changed. I just saw you yesterday.”

  “Well, it seems a lot longer.” Abby closed the door behind him. “Have a seat. Here’s the rocker, right by the fire. Are you hungry? Can I get you anything, Moonbeam?”

  I have a new name now and it’s Reid.

  “Maybe later.” He sat in the rocker and looked around the room. It looked like she’d been living in the cabin forever the way everything had been put away. Even the loom was in the corner. “How’d you get that up?”

  “Harvey helped me. By midmorning yesterday we had the entire truck unloaded. He was great.”

  “Oh.”

  “Then he chopped a cord of wood for me and stacked the whole thing by the side of the cabin. He was really wonderful.” Abby went to the small kitchen at the end of the cabin and took the hot water off the hot plate. “Want some tea? Harvey’s got this wonderful spice blend he let me have.”

  “Maybe later.” Reid picked up a pamphlet on the table next to the rocker and looked at the title. “Bear Alert!” he read aloud. “What’s this?”

  “Artis Palmer’s part of it and I’m going to get involved, too.”

  “Involved in what?” Now what is she up to? he wondered as he looked at the pamphlet.

  “Bear Alert wants to stop the slaughter of black bears in Clayoquot Sound. Also the poaching that’s part of the illegal trafficking in bear body parts.”

  “Who wants bear body parts?” Reid frowned, skeptical.

  “It tells all about it,” Abby said from the kitchen.

  Reid sighed and read the pamphlet.

  BEAR ALERT!

  Currently in British Columbia, guide outfitters conduct hunts which can hardly be called hunting by any sporting definition. So-called hunters from the United States and Europe pay outfitters three thousand dollars for a guaranteed kill. This “sport” takes place in the spring, the time when unsuspecting bears head for the beaches to feed on crabs and other seafood.

  Easy targets, the bears, animals known to have poor eyesight, are groggy from
hibernation to the extent that they are rendered practically blind. The “hunters” cruise the shore in boats and shoot the nearly blind bears while they’re feeding on the beach. This practice is currently legal in British Columbia.

  Educating the public regarding the illegal practice of trafficking in bear body parts is also the aim of Bear Alert! Bear body parts, particularly bear gall, the bear’s gall bladder, have proven medicinal value and can be worth up to eighteen times the price of gold in Asia and Asian communities in North America. However, there are synthetic and herbal alternatives every bit as effective. Using these alternatives and stopping the demand for bear body parts will save this unnecessary slaughter of bears.

  Bear Alert! is working in the Asian communities to present the herbal and synthetic alternatives to bear gall. Asian bears are practically extinct, and unless the slaughter is stopped here, bears will become dangerously close to extinct in North America.

  “So what are you going to do about it? Hand out these pamphlets to warn the bears?” Reid put the pamphlet back on the table.

  “It’s not funny, Moonbeam.” Abby carried her tea in from the kitchen.

  “Just a little joke.”

  “Well it’s serious.”

  “Okay, okay,” Reid muttered.

  “And for your information Bear Alert does try to warn the bears by intercepting the trophy hunters and poachers. Making a lot of noise to warn the bears that the so-called hunters are coming.”

  “So you and these people run around in the bushes blowing whistles and stuff.”

  “I’m not going to talk about this if you think it’s so bloody funny.” Abby went back in the kitchen. “Listen, how ’bout some lunch? I’ve opened a jar of that blueberry jam we put up last spring.”

  Reid grinned at the mention of blueberry jam. He hadn’t come out here just to argue with her, and at least blueberry jam was something they could agree on. He followed her into the kitchen. “There isn’t any jam at the lodge as good as yours.”

  Abby reached up and tousled his hair. “Pretty soon I won’t be able to reach the top of your head.”

  “Just don’t do that in public,” he warned, with a slight smile.

  “I’m coming out to the lodge next week. I’m getting some samples together to take to Anne Depue at the shop. Harvey’s going to take me over.”

  “I can show you my apartment.”

  “Great. Say, how’s the food?”

  “It’s fabulous.”

  “A lot of meat, I suppose.” Abby spread jam on the bread. “Is there anything I can say to convince you not to eat it?”

  “No.”

  “Nothing, Moonbeam?”

  “I’ve heard your meat speech my whole life.” And it’s Reid now, too.

  Abby looked upset as she handed him the sandwich.

  “Thanks.” He took a bite of his sandwich.

  “Sure.”

  “Hey, what’s the name of that wolf?”

  “What wolf?”

  “The wolf from that story you used to tell me. The one about ‘Lois the Rabbit and the Magic Ingredients,’ where the rabbit and the wolf ate the leaves with the magic ingredients.”

  “Acceptance, courage, and love, and then they were friends and ate veggies.”

  “Yeah, that wolf.”

  “Clarence.”

  “Oh, right. I remember. Lois the Rabbit and Clarence the Wolf.” Reid stuck his knife in the jam and spread some on another piece of bread. “Wolves are supposed to be endangered, too. Are you trying to protect them?”

  “Not in an organized way like with the bears.”

  “Well, just be careful,” he warned, in his parental voice. “When the logging roads were blockaded in ninety-three, the whole world was watching. But trying to scare off redneck trophy hunters out there alone could be dangerous.”

  “We don’t go out alone.”

  “Listen, Mum,” Reid set his knife down. “Just be careful.”

  Chapter Seven

  Reid was getting dressed, getting ready to go to the kitchen to set up for breakfast, when he heard a knock on the door.

  “Just a second,” he yelled, pulling his T-shirt over his head.

  Reid ran to the door. It was Jim Goltz. “I need you to fill in for one of our bellhops. Brad Wellman’s out with the flu.”

  “So I shouldn’t report to the kitchen?”

  “Not until tonight. Claude will have you bus tables. At three-thirty we need you down on the dock to meet a float plane. Just greet the guests, take their bags to registration, then show them to their room.”

  “That’s all?”

  “In the room, open the cabinet and show them the TV and VCR and tell them we have complimentary videos at the front desk. There’s a small refrigerator that’s stocked with drinks and snacks. You’ll have the key to it, and you just open it to show them and then give them the key. It’s pretty straightforward.”

  “Okay. I’ll go down at three-thirty.”

  “Right.” Jim turned to leave. “Say, how’d it go with your mum? You didn’t say much on the way back yesterday. She like Palmer’s Land okay?”

  “It was fine.” Reid tried to sound casual. “She seems to be all set there.”

  Actually, his visit had left him sort of mixed up. It was a relief to see that she was doing fine, that he could just live his life and not have to worry about her so much. But she hadn’t asked him to do anything to help her. Not a single thing. That Harvey guy seemed to have just taken over.

  * * *

  Down at the dock Reid heard the engine of the float plane. He looked up and saw the sun gleaming against the wings as it glided toward the marina. The black-and-white Wickaninnish Air logo, an orca whale, shone against the silver fuselage as the big pontoons touched down, sending arcs of salt spray cascading across the water. From the cockpit, Joe Martin waved to Reid as he brought the plane within inches of the dock. A perfect landing.

  There were just two passengers. A guy with silver hair who looked like he was in his forties. And right behind him, just about the most beautiful girl Reid had ever seen. She didn’t look anything like the girls he and Meadow saw in Port Alberni, or even like Gloria, who was very pretty. This girl was dazzling. Like a movie star or something. He stared at her, holding the door of the plane as she climbed down to the dock. He felt immobilized, completely forgetting for a minute why he’d been sent there in the first place. Joe motioned to their luggage: two medium bags and a fishing rod case. Reid put a bag in each hand, then got the case up under his shoulder, and prompted by Joe, blurted, “Welcome to Stere Island Lodge!”

  “Oops!” As he turned away from the plane, pivoting with the luggage, the fishing rod case whacked the silver-haired guy in the back. “Oh, no! Sorry!”

  “Watch it.” The guy put his hand on the case. “Maybe I’d better carry that.”

  “No, sir, I’m really sorry. I’ve got it. Just lost my balance. Sorry, sir. Just follow me, sir.”

  Great first impression. Here’s this beautiful girl and the first thing I do is ram her old man with his fishing rod. Reid led the way up the stairs from the dock, convinced they were smirking at him behind his back with every step.

  When Reid got to the main entrance he set their luggage down, then opened the door. “The registration desk is to your right.”

  “Thanks.” The girl smiled as he held the door. Then she followed her father inside. Her face was only a few feet from his as she passed through the doorway. He felt his cheeks get hot. Her smile was radiant, the kind of smile you’d see in a toothpaste commercial, and she had these incredible eyes, like a cat’s. They were light brown or maybe light green with gold flecks sparkling in them and along with her long, thick, honey-blond hair, she looked like she probably really was a model.

  Reid got their bags and the fishing case and carried them to the registration desk where Jim Goltz was checking them in.

  “Reid.” Jim motioned to him. “This is Robert Lamont and his daughter, Michelle. They
’ll be with us for the week. This is Reid Dawson, he’s a bit of a jack-of-all-trades around here.”

  “Yes, he welcomed us at the dock.” Mr. Lamont winked at his daughter.

  Jim handed their keys to Reid. “Show the Lamonts to Room 426.”

  “Just follow me.” Reid tried to sound like he did this every day.

  He had a little trouble getting in the elevator with their stuff. They got on first and then he followed. He decided to back in, with two bags under one arm and the fishing case in his other, straight up. When he was halfway in, the door started to close on him. Michelle jumped over and stuck out her hand to stop it.

  “Thanks.” Another great impression. Bellhop gets squished in elevator door. He put his head back and looked up at the numbers over the door, hoping she’d look up, too, the way people did in elevators, so she wouldn’t see him blushing again.

  They got off the elevator, and Reid trotted down the hall with the Lamonts’ luggage with the Lamonts following behind. At least he knew where their room was, he thought as he opened the door to 426, and then tried to hide his surprise when he saw it. Jim Goltz had showed Reid and Abby one of the rooms when he gave them a tour of the lodge, but it had just been one of the regular rooms. Reid had thought it was unreal, but this was not to be believed.

  The room looked like a fancy house. It was actually a suite; two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a huge living room and dining area on the top floor of the lodge with a deck overlooking the marina. One of the bathrooms was bigger than Reid’s entire studio apartment in the employee building.