Olivia's Mine (24 page)

“Well no,” Frank said sheepishly. “But go
easy on the God stuff because her sister is a nun and there is an
Attorney General and a C.E.O. of the Bank of America tucked into
the limbs of the family tree for good measure.”

“I wouldn’t be smirking too much if I were
you,” McMichael snarled. “Unless I can figure something out, your
wife is about to become your boss.”

Sarah gave Akiko a big hug.

The two women were standing outside the
Beachcomber store around noontime on a sunny Wednesday. Sarah had
scooted away from the mining office on her lunch hour to spend some
time with her friend. She knew how important this day was to
Akiko.

“You look beautiful,” she encouraged the
older woman.

Akiko was dressed smartly in a new
navy-coloured dress she had ordered from Eaton's only a month
before. It was western style, but its free flowing form suited her
maturing figure well. It had been a little more expensive than
Akiko originally planned to spend, but she figured she owed Eaton's
a thing or two.

“Now I want you to go inside,” Sarah began,
“and do it just like we practiced. Go on, you can do it, I know you
can.”

Akiko glanced nervously at the sign in the
window.

Wanted: Part Time
Sales/Bookeeping-Apply Within

She patted the back of her head. Her hair was
perfectly coiffed without a strand out of place. Beautiful pearl
combs kept her hair upswept. As she slowly opened the door, she
could barely hear the door chimes, the sound of her own heart
beating so loudly. She was certain everyone else in the store could
hear it as well, but they were blissfully going about their
business, her level of her anxiety known only to herself.

“I’ll let you know,” Olivia was saying to
Mary Alice. “We still have a few more people to interview for the
position.”

“Well remember,” Mary Alice said. “I have a
new line of floral dresses coming out this season, if you’re not
afraid of a little competition for your Eaton's business.”

“Like I said, I’ll let you know,” Olivia
said, barely containing her smile.

Mary Alice nodded to Akiko as the local
seamstress left the store. Akiko in turn nodded to Natsu Miwa, a
Japanese friend of hers, who was looking at some shoes on display
in the store.

“Can I help you with anything?” Olivia asked
Natsu.

Natsu, understanding enough English to know
what Olivia meant, started to explain to Olivia in Japanese that
she was looking for a size seven shoe, in brown. Natsu pointed to
the shoes she liked, and Olivia went to the storeroom to get a pair
for her to try on.

“She can’t be much bigger than a seven, or a
seven and a half,” she thought to herself, reaching for the correct
shoebox.

Akiko and Natsu talked together for a moment.
When Olivia came back into the store area, she noticed a quizzical
look on Natsu’s face.

“What is it?” Olivia asked, not expecting an
answer. She looked to Akiko. “Where’s Jimmy when I need him?” she
asked herself rhetorically. Jimmy would be able to translate for
her.

“Excuse me,” Akiko began nervously, “Mrs.
Olivia, she wants to know the price. I told her, ladies shoes,
$9.95, like the sign says.”

Having just heard the woman she had known for
a several years now utter her first words, her first sentence, so
perfectly in English, Olivia was flabbergasted.

“I don’t know what to say, Akiko!”

“Say yes, the price is right,” Akiko
said.

“Yes, yes it is.” Olivia nodded taking
Natsu’s purchase to the counter.

Akiko shrugged. “I told you,” she said to her
friend in Japanese; “$9.95, no discount. Not on sale now.”

Natsu smiled at Akiko and thanked her in
Japanese. She paid Olivia for her purchase and left the store.

“Thank you for your help,” Olivia said to
Akiko.

Akiko bowed.

“Mrs. Olivia,” Akiko began, “I come about
job. I can help yes? I can make signs in English and Japanese. Make
everyone happy. Your sales go up.”

Olivia thought about this for a moment.
Never in a million years would she have thought that Akiko Yada
would apply for the job she was advertising in the window. Never in
a million years did she think that Akiko Yada
could
apply for the job she was advertising in
the window.

“I have resumé,” Akiko said, handing Olivia
some papers.

“Did you do this yourself Akiko?” Olivia
asked, astounded.

“No, Mrs. Olivia,” Akiko admitted humbly.
“Miss Sarah, she helped me. But my work history is true. I worked
for my father’s silk factory back home in Japan. I can do simple
bookkeeping. Arithmetic is arithmetic, no? Four plus four is eight.
Even in English. I would work very hard, Mrs. Olivia. I studied
your merchandise. I know a lot. I could work any hours you need.
Even nights and Saturdays.”

Olivia could not believe the extent of this
woman’s English vocabulary.

“Akiko, your English is excellent. Wherever
did you learn it?”

“Miss Sarah helped me.”

Akiko looked out the window and waved to
Sarah, who was watching everything from outside. Sarah quickly
pretended to be reading her book.

“Ladies dress. $8.95,” she said proudly. “I
will make sure Jimmy makes his deliveries for you on time. No
stopping to talk to the girls.”

Olivia’s informal arrangement with Jimmy had
lately become a part-time job for the lad, her customers liking the
new after school delivery service the Beachcomber was able to
offer.

“Jimmy’s no problem Akiko, not to worry. He’s
bringing more girls in than he’s chasing away. My penny candy sales
have gone up and it all seems to be selling after school lets
out.”

How would Jimmy feel about his mother working
at the store as well, Olivia wondered?

“He’s growing quite tall now,” Olivia added,
trying to relax Akiko.

“He will turn 13 soon.”

“I know. He’s been talking about it quite a
bit...about becoming a teenager.”

Olivia had also noticed that his voice was
changing, becoming deeper, sounding more like his father’s. He had
grown quite a bit this past year, favouring the height his mother
had. If he weren’t taller than Harry was now, he soon would be.

Akiko smiled.

“Mr. McMichael, I heard him say to Miss Lucy
that you employ child labour. I don’t want you to get into any
trouble.”

“Oh he did, did he?”

“Yes. Miss Lucy talked back to him. She said
that she had seen him break a few child labour laws in his day, and
to go away please.”

“Oh she did, did she?”

Olivia could only imagine that conversation.
She laughed. She had recently given Lucy a promotion at the store;
she was now a manager, and apparently Lucy liked the new
responsibilities. It was true though; she had seen some young
Chinese boys, much younger than Jimmy, working in the mine upon
occasion.

“I have never seen anyone talk back to Mr.
McMichael,” Akiko said.

“Well, stick around here,” Olivia jokingly
said. “I’m sure we’ll have reason to do so again. I wouldn’t worry.
Jimmy is certainly no child, as you know better than anyone.”

She could see by Akiko’s eyes that this was a
very serious matter for her.

“He is powerful man. You do not want to
displease him. No one in your family is safe from him. I should
know.”

Akiko’s head was bowed once again, but she
was not immediately raising her head. She had hoped she had not
pushed her potential employer too far by reminding her it was
Jimmy’s involvement with the Beachcomber that eventually led to
Akiko losing her cleaning job with McMichael at the mining office.
It had been a calculated choice of words that Akiko had thought
about for days on end while she was trying to gain the courage to
ask for the job. She did not yet know how that calculation would
pay off, and she was afraid to look Olivia in the eye.

It was a gamble for Olivia to consider as
well. McMichael would probably laugh his head off if he heard Akiko
was a salesperson in the store. Cow-towing to the foreigners, oh
she could practically hear him snickering. But Akiko had a very
good point. The community was made up of many different cultures
and there was something to be gained on a lot of levels if this
worked. Who else would employ this woman and pay her a fair wage?
And she had inadvertently gotten her fired.

“Well,” Olivia said. “It looks like I’ve
solved one of my problems, Akiko. Why don’t you come back at five
when the store is closed so we can talk?”

“Mrs. Olivia?”

“Yes, Akiko,” Olivia said firmly. “I would
like to offer you a job. I’m going to need someone to help in the
store in the mornings. Would that suit you?”

Akiko smiled and bowed.

Olivia offered her hand.

“We shake hands in Canada,” she said. “No
bowing. We don’t want Lucy getting used to that, do we? She’ll have
us bowing all day long.”

Akiko shook her hand as she had seen her
husband do.

Outside the window, Sarah clapped her hands
in delight. She opened the door and stuck her head inside.

“Come along Akiko,” she said. “It’s time for
a celebratory piece of cake from the café. My treat! I’ll save mine
for my dinner, but you’ll know I’ll be thinking about you all
afternoon!”

The two friends walked arm in arm down the
street, giggling like two schoolgirls.

Olivia thought about the decision she had
just made. It really wasn’t any crazier than the position her Uncle
Aaron had just put her in. He had insisted that a blood relative
look after the new fire-proof cement concentrator going in at the
mine until it was fully bought and paid for and legally no longer
his. He had asked her to look after it for him and agreed to pay
her wages to McMichael while she was there on a part-time basis, in
the mornings, supervising the installation. Not that she knew
anything about concentrators, but she would learn very quickly.

“Funny how things work out,” she thought to
herself.

Olivia walked into the mining office that
first day with great apprehension. Frank, of course, was furious
with her when he heard the news but said nothing to her. Nothing at
all. He hadn’t carried on a civil conversation with her in weeks.
She supposed he had heard the news directly from McMichael. She had
heard McMichael had been very vocal about it. But with Frank it was
a conversation she didn’t know how to begin and preferred just to
avoid.

“Let sleeping dogs lie,” she told
herself.

Perhaps he felt the same way, she thought.
Frank’s face had held no emotion.

McMichael met her with the same stone-faced
expression.

“So,” he said matter of factly. “You’re here
are you?”

“Yes sir. I thought I’d start with Sarah
today. I’d like to go over the re-billable expenses for the
installation and sign off on them before they are sent to Mr. Bower
for final approval.”

“You thought you’d start off with my personal
secretary did you? Sarah is quite capable of looking after the
books herself, I can assure you. It’s month end and she’s a little
busy to be teaching you.”

“I’m sure she is, Mr. McMichael. But I’m also
sure my signature on those bills to authorize their payment will
ensure that David Hearn’s cheque is on time for him back home for
his family, while he is here supervising the construction. And as
for teaching, I do run my own business Mr. McMichael, as you are
well aware. I can read a ledger.”

Hearn was an engineer Aaron had sent up from
one of his companies in the United States to ensure the
concentrator was installed safely.

“My Uncle certainly won’t pay him for hours
he hasn’t actually worked. I am to keep an eye on him. When Hearn
signs off that the concentrator is fully operational, we will be
done here. That should satisfy your bosses and the insurers, not
that there will be any more fires.”

“I see,” McMichael said.

He looked at Olivia, standing determinedly
before him. Her eyes pierced right through him, and he found
himself unable to look away from her.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I don’t want
you to be here, make no mistake about that. But since you are, I’ve
had Sarah set up a desk for you across from hers. I expect you’ll
find everything you need there.”

“So she can keep an eye on me?”

“In as much as a fashion that Sarah could
ever secretly keep tabs on anyone, yes. Your Uncle isn’t the only
one keeping an eye on things. You have limited access to the office
and concentrator area. That’s it. I catch you anywhere near a
tunnel and you’re out of here, Aaron Bower or no Aaron Bower.
Understood?”

He watched as she removed a strand of hair
from in front of her eyes.

“Yes sir,” she said. “I do believe you have
made yourself quite clear.”

McMichael found himself gazing at her. She
was truly beautiful. He had heard all the rumours of how Frank was
treating her, and he wondered how he could possibly do that to such
a lovely woman. He had had his moments with his wife while she was
alive; both of them having heated tempers, but the silence between
them had never lasted until the morning, let alone for months.

“Is there anything else sir?” Olivia asked,
noticing McMichael was staring at her.

Caught off guard, McMichael raised his
voice.

“Just keep out of my way,” he said. “Then
we’ll all be better off. And let Sarah get her work done. You can
have her for a half-hour in the morning, once she gets me my
coffee, and that’s it.”

So it began that Olivia started each day over
at the mine with Sarah, ensuring that her Uncle’s payments were met
on time by the mine and his fixed costs did not run overboard. She
found herself having a whole new opinion of Sarah, who she had
always thought of as a likeable yet somewhat silly woman. She had
attributed that to Sarah’s youth and sheltered upbringing here at
Britannia. While it was certainly true that she was clumsy and
often spoke without a thought towards what she was about to say,
Olivia quickly learned that at least part of it was an ongoing act
she played with McMichael.