Always a Brother

by Michael Shenk

  A larger aircraft was already at altitude, swiftly closing the distance between Toronto and its destination. The first-class section was dim, its westbound occupants on track to reach their destination within the four hours promised earlier that day. In a first-class window seat, a passenger lounged, face obscured by the hood of his immaculate track suit. A soccer match was ending on his small screen.

  Johnny woke in time to see the Rocky Mountains, marveling at the huge expanse of rock and snow, the incredible cloud formations. Mary was leaning on his shoulder, a flimsy blanket tucked around her. The thrum of the engines was a sound Johnny enjoyed, the flexing of the wing outside his window pleasing to his machine-oriented eye.

  Lift, gravity, thrust, and drag. His uncles had been fascinated with the principles of flight, and together the three Amunds had built several gas-powered remote-controlled airplanes. The construction had gone well on both occasions, the first as an exhibit for a science fair when Johnny was in elementary school, the second a few years later because they had enjoyed building the first.

  Flying the airplanes had been a different story. Each plane had suffered a swift demise, the science project, piloted by Uncle Lars, bursting into spectacular flames on the roof of the tool shed. The second project had barely flown, smashing squarely into a tractor, young Johnny unable to handle the unfamiliar controls

  The attendant came by, and seeing Johnny awake, asked if he would like something to drink. She brought him a cup of coffee as requested and seeing the humor in his eyes when he took the small cup that looked miniature in his grasp, she returned quickly with a larger paper cup of airline brew. He thanked her for the coffee and for bringing Mary a blanket.

  As they approached Calgary, Johnny thought back to the previous weeks. After the push to bring the logging equipment home, there had been some real problems to deal with. The heavy rain, following a winter of exceptionally high snowfall, had caused flooding unprecedented in the valley’s recent history. The un-melted snow collected water and sponge-like, doubled and tripled in weight. Many buildings had been damaged severely, including the grocery store where Mary worked. Local building contractors worked together, combining their crews and resources, with an army of volunteers. The story of this community effort had been nationwide news, but more importantly, had saved many buildings and their contents from serious damage.

  Students worked beside members of the town council to fill sandbags and pump water from basements. Churches set up stations for food and shelter. Coffee was free at Charlie’s, for anyone who was helping, needed help, traveling through, or reporting. The complicated message on Charlie’s sign on the highway once again brought a needed shot of compassionate humor to the community, and gallons of liquefied caffeine were dispensed freely.

  Chet was seldom seen in town, spending his time, and a considerable amount of money, helping those he called “my favorites,” the elderly people who lived out of town. Once again, Chet and Melissa were taking care of business. He had brazenly hauled his thirty-ton excavator through town despite the weight restrictions in place on the roads.

  They had been pulled over by an angry commercial vehicle safety officer, who demanded Chet park his truck immediately and wrote up an excessive, if deserved, fine. Melissa had stormed down from her side of the cab, and through tears of anger and despair, explained the situation to which they were going. The ice-covered Nechako River had risen quickly, and large ice jams had scoured the trees, fences, and anything else off the lower deltas in the valley. At a farm down the river, a herd of cows had been trapped on the far side of a now-raging stream. The rancher had been unable to move hay across the water, and the cattle were starving. Worse yet, they were calving, and over twenty newborn calves had already died, either by drowning, trampling, or by wolves and grizzly bears preying on the herd.

  Chet hoped to divert the floodwater from the trapped herd, and at least get some hay to the hungry animals. To the credit of the harried officer, he escorted Chet to the farm, and later when his shift was over, came out to the farm where he and his two teenage daughters spent six miserable hours helping Chet and the hastily assembled crew.

  Johnny was glad the ordeal was over but knew that many good things had taken place because of the crisis. He settled against the side of the plane and thought about Mexico with Mary.

  At thirty-thousand feet, Joseph was on his way out of Canada and was pleased to have encountered no difficulties. He would be landing in Calgary, waiting several hours, then planned to buy a ticket for the next stage of his trip. If anyone happened to see his name on the manifest, he reasoned, they would think he was staying in Canada, coming back to Calgary. In his mind, departing from Toronto or Vancouver to points south would cause more alarm than a simple flight within the country. Plus, there had been no interest showed in him at all. This was disconcerting, as his self-imposed exile may have been unnecessary.

  A basketball game was now playing on the small screen and he ignored it, looking forward to warm weather. He smiled. Being smarter than the other guy had served him well, had always resulted in successful ventures. Who knows what sort of leverage he could build to get back into the scheme without being the grunt, the one who took the risks? He dozed, almost relaxing.

  Chapter 49

  Their exit from the connecting flight was almost as rowdy as the entrance. Isaac insisted on waiting to escort his elderly new friend from the plane, and enjoying the attention, she told everyone squeezing their way down the aisle. “thanks to my new boyfriend, I know how to Snap Chat and Twitter!”

  Terry had changed places with the lady during half of the short flight, and Isaac had found her to be a fast learner on her new phone, purchased just before her trip.

  In the terminal, Terry and Mary hurried directly to the ladies’ room, while the men followed the signs to collect their luggage. A restless throng waited at the baggage carousel, a flight must have been late. After several minutes, Johnny’s phone pinged in his shirt pocket, and he read a text from Mary aloud to Isaac.

  We stepped outside for some fresh air its warm here lol and no snowbanks! Tell me when you get our bags. The words were followed by a string of heart emojis.

  “Must be some delay on the tarmac.” Isaac looked at his watch.

  There were three tired suitcases making a continual circuit, but the luggage from Prince George had not yet appeared, and their fellow travelers were still waiting, some of them grumbling, checking the time.

  “You sure made that older lady’s day!” Johnny turned. A young woman holding the hand of a toddler was talking to Isaac. “It was so nice to see her have a good flight.”

  She paused, the toddler doing his best to pull her toward the vending machines nearby. She leaned back good-naturedly, smiling at her little boy. “I was talking to her in the Prince George airport. She was very nervous, I guess she doesn’t like flying.”

  Johnny nodded toward the vending machine, pulling out some change. “I need to get rid of these Canadian coins. Could I buy your big guy here a drink?”

  She nodded, releasing the toddler, the four of them following his haphazard trot and cries of “Appa joose! Appa joose!” Johnny had enough coins for two drinks, and he squatted down to open the matching bottles of apple juice with his new buddy.

  The young woman said. “You know, if I hadn’t seen the way you were so kind to the old lady, and the way you guys were so nice to your wives, well, I would have been afraid of you! It’s too easy to simply look at someone and decide what they are like.” She became flustered. “I mean, um, you guys just look tough, not bad, but…” She gave up, flushing.

  Isaac fed some coins of his own into the machine, leaving Johnny to answer.

  He just grinned. “We know what you mean, it’s fine. We’re a couple of big guys, and we don’t mind if we look a little scary. Just don’t tell our wives.” He grinned over her shoulder at the look of genuine panic on Isaac’s face. “They would tease us and probably make us cry.”

 
She still looked embarrassed, so he went on. “We’re on the way to Mexico for a couple weeks of vacation. We work for a timber harvesting company and have been going hair-straight-back for a few months, need a break. Where are you going?”

  She lit up. “My brother’s getting married. Tyson here is the ring bearer.” She smiled at the little boy who was slurping his drink. “Our whole family is getting together!” Her phone rang, and excusing herself, they drifted apart, travelers enriched by the short connection.

  An agent from the airline came over, apologizing for the delay. Johnny missed the reason but did hear “ten minutes.” As they were in no hurry, it didn’t really matter, so they chatted as they waited, discussing the fishing they hoped to do, and the weather forecast at their destination.

  Isaac’s phone rang. “Terry,” he mouthed unnecessarily. He replied a few times and turning away, muttered something that sounded a lot like “love you too” eyebrows squeezing together at Johnny’s snort.

  “Shut up. They’re hungry, so she said to meet them at the food area when we get the bags.”

  They were not in a hurry for the first time in months, but both men were impatient, not used to the slow pace over which they had no control.

  “So, how’s Terry doing, you know, with the whole thing?” Johnny asked, glad for the chance to talk with Isaac in private.

  “I don’t know, man. She goes up and down.” He drank from his bottle of iced tea, grimaced, and tossed it in the nearby garbage can.

  “You know, I’ve actually been praying for a quick conclusion. I mean, how much can a person take?” He shook his head, drawing attention to his Canucks hat. It had seen better days.

  “How can people do stuff like that, and get away with it?”

  “Isaac, do you know that my mom disappeared? No one knows what happened, where she went, nothing.”

  Isaac reached for a smoke and remembered he’d quit a long time ago. This was a conversation he had never wanted any part of. He’d heard the rumors of a disappearance, and also heard about what happened to a few guys who had made disparaging remarks about it in Johnny’s presence.

  He looked at Johnny, realizing they had become friends, the real deal. Johnny looked grim.

  “You know, Terry could have disappeared just like that. But she didn’t. And I think we are basically the only friends she’s got. Besides her family, we’re it, right?”

  Isaac nodded, wanting to hear this out.

  “She likes you, Isaac. And you need to make sure you don’t get yourself or her hurt.” He held up his hands, palms toward his friend.

  “I’m not telling you what to do. It’s just that I care for both of you, Mary does too, and we want things to work out, you know?”

  His chest felt tight, throat dry, hoping Isaac understood.

  “I get it, Big Guy. You are right, and you’re not out of line. We’ve had this conversation and are trying to be careful. We think it will be okay.”

  “But how do you live with this unresolved problem? I grew up living with the fact that my mother is probably dead. But maybe she isn’t. What if she hated my father for leaving, hated having a baby, whatever? She could’ve been a victim, or maybe she’s a bad person and I’m the victim?”

  They sat on a bench silently, watching the carousel turn, a variety of suitcases now sliding down the chute onto the belt, people collecting their luggage and leaving. Their own bags were coming by again.

  Isaac stepped up to collect their bags, and rejoined Johnny on the bench.

  “You know, Isaac, I will probably never know what happened to my mother. It’s tough, man, and I didn’t even know her. But I’ll keep on waiting. I doubt if I will ever give up. I’ve been angry, sad, gotten into fights, was a jerk to my uncles and Mary sometimes. I have been mad at myself. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a son or daughter, or someone you’re close to.”

  He looked over at his friend, his face bleak.

  “And none of it has helped. I used to make up stories when I was little, about who my parents were, and how our lives could have been perfect. I won’t even get into what I know about my dad, although recently I found out it’s maybe not as bad as I thought for years.”

  Isaac leaned forward slightly, eyebrows raised.

  “I can tell you about that another time. But while we are in Mexico, why don’t the four of us have a good talk about the whole thing? I think I’d like to tell you what I know of my background, and how I’ve been learning to live my life in the right way. I know Mary would like it if I did. We’re sure a lot happier than we were a year ago.”

  Isaac nodded. “That’s straight-up obvious and we all like it, I really mean it. Charlie has been bragging about you guys. He’s always liked you, says he always knew you were a winner. Liked your uncles too, you know.”

  Johnny deeply appreciated the compliment from Charlie. When Johnny was young, the teenage Charlie had worked for Lars and Nelsson on the farm. He had always guessed they had financed Charlie when he started his restaurant. After the accident that claimed the lives of the Amund brothers, Charlie had been there for Johnny with kind words, many meals, and a few deserved reprimands.

  He stood. “Let’s go join the ladies. We’ll talk more later. You and I are going to figure something out, and we need to plan to do it soon, for Terry’s sake, and for yours too.”

  Chapter 50

  Mary couldn’t stop smiling. Her normally optimistic attitude was at its peak. She was so happy. The short flight from Prince George had gone by quickly. She felt rested after the brief nap on the plane. It had been a late night with the final preparations of leaving her horses in a friend’s care. The unexpected fun on the first leg of the trip was a good omen, at least in her opinion.

  The weather in Calgary was different from the winter landscape west of the mountains. A Chinook had blown down several days before, and the snow was almost completely gone, at least what she had seen from her brief walk into the bright sun outside.

  Now, sitting in an airport cafe with her husband and friends, she only had a few nagging worries. There was that order at the store, but no, Justine would cover that… her horses, well, they would be taken care of… The only other thing was the underlying sadness Terry couldn’t hide, the way she was always looking around, staying close to Mary while in the airport.

  But they were sitting in a circular booth, the men in the middle, using Isaac’s tablet to look at new pickups. “Mary Rip-n-tear” was Isaac’s new nickname for Mary, and she was no longer bothered when they talked about Johnny’s wrecked Silverado, although she had moved it behind the shed, so she didn’t have to see it in the driveway.

  She grinned across at Terry, who like herself, was leaning on her man’s shoulder, not paying attention to the talk of aftermarket turbos and which exhaust system would be the best. She toyed with her sparkling water, a luxury she had discovered while avoiding liquor, and mouthed, “They’re just little boys. When will they grow up?” her words just loud enough to penetrate the fog of guy talk and cause a few distracted protests.

  “Used or new?” This was the discussion of the moment. She didn’t care. Johnny would choose well, and as long as the new truck pulled her horse trailer better than the old GMC that Isaac had quipped “needed to go back to its ‘rustful retirement” she would be happy. They had several hours to kill before catching their next flight and relaxing in the unfamiliar atmosphere of a large airport was a treat.

  She and Terry stirred from their relaxed state when the boys suggested catching a cab to go look at a used pickup near the airport, horrified at the possibility of missing their flight or having to leave the guys behind. Idea nixed, the online shopping and comparisons went on. The tablet disappeared magically, however, when the food arrived, and the conversation turned back toward their resort and activities of the week.

  The quiet meal was interrupted as a large group of people flooded past the lounge; a large flight had arrived, and several hundred people were moving to their next ga
te.

  “Terry, where did you say you’ve travelled before?” Mary looked over when her friend didn’t answer, instantly alarmed when she saw Terry staring at the crowd, pale and drawn.

  Mary unconsciously reached for Johnny’s hand, watching Terry’s pretty face turn fierce, nostrils white, lips parted slightly.

  She was shivering. “Guys, I just saw Joseph.” Her voice was strained, quiet.

  “Where, what does he look like?” Johnny’s voice was calm. He reached out and held Isaac from rising and blocking his view, motioning for Mary to move out of the booth.

  “White coat with green stripes, Adidas shoes, too, I think. About five foot ten or so, slim, walking ahead of that group. Looks like a soccer player.”

  Johnny was standing, but Isaac was still seated, craning his neck around, trying to see. What the heck did a soccer player look like?

  Johnny leaned down, hands on the table. “Terry, are you sure?”

  She looked up, serious. “One hundred percent, absolutely sure.”

  “Okay, Terry, call your RCMP contact, right now. Isaac, let’s get him.”

  Mary slapped his arm as he pushed by, realizing her gesture was identical to the way she sent her horses into the pasture. Terry fumbled for her phone. Mary sat and dialed 911, then motioned for Terry to stay in the booth, and followed the men, phone to her ear.

  Joseph was hungry and decided to eat in the international departures area after he purchased his ticket. He was walking with the crowd into the familiar terminal, the exhilaration of success filling his thoughts, his whole person. He could see sunshine pouring into the huge building. There would be a lot more of that where he was going. He straightened his jacket; one sleeve had caught against his leather duffle bag. He loved expensive things, couldn’t resist buying a new jacket and shoes to match, delivered to his apartment door.

  The bag he had bought in the Toronto airport, overpriced for sure, but the smell of leather was worth it, and from the appreciative glances of a few business travelers he felt good about his purchase. A few more hours, then he would be out of Canada. Time to hit the reset button, make a plan.