Provider's Son (26 page)

“Oh yeah. They know. Youd be surprised how many are turned on by it. Weird huh?”

Levi was disturbed.

“So youre going to help me?” she said.

“Sure why dont you just call your family to come get you?”

“No. No. I cant do it that way. See, I was saved last night. Angels came to me in my dreams. I woke up crying. I havent cried in a long time. I mean I bawled my eyes out. But it felt good, you know? I thought I forgot how. Then I let Jesus into my heart.”

Levi sighed and hung his head. “Jesus...”

“Yes, Jesus. But it was angels sent from Jesus in my dream. They told me everything was going to be okay. And they told me a stranger would help me.”

“I already helped you, didnt I? You got me wallet and me phone.”

“Thats not what I need.”

“So listen. When is you going to drop it off?”

“Im not going to no cop shop.”

“Okay. Heres what Ill do,” Levi said, trying to feign sincerity. “You drop off the wallet and Ill see what I can do about helping you.”

“Youre lying,” she said. “I dont want you to just give me the money. It will be a loan. Youre making good money if youre working in the oil field. You can afford it.”

“Im not lying,” Levi lied, catching himself from yelling. “The credit card company told me theyll cover it, so its no odds about that anyway. I just wants the wallet back...with the picture.”

“I dont believe you. I dont believe you. I need money bad. I owe it to Damian. Then I can go back home. Back to Provider. Im going to put my life together. I said I was going to clean myself up before, but I can feel it inside my chest this time, like...like Im lighter. Did you ever feel that?”

Levi could not lie to himself about the happiness he heard in her voice, but this only made him angrier.

“How can you owe him a thousand dollars, owe him anything?”

“I was his best girl. I owe him at least that much. Its my own fault.”

Levi stopped trying to understand her obviously damaged mind. “I wants that wallet.”

“I can hear the anger in your voice.”

“Im not angry.”

“Why is the picture so important?”

“It means a lot to me is all,” Levi said, on his last nerve.

There was a moment of silence as she went away from the phone and came back, “Awww, hes cute. Is he your boy?”

“Dont touch that fuckin picture!”

“Im sorry! Relax. I wasnt touching it. I was just looking at it.”

“Close it. Close the wallet right now and bring it to the cops. Right now! Thats enough of this foolishness. ‘Lend me money,' she says. Is you off your head? You pissed on me! You fuckin pissed on me, knocked me out a cold junk, ripped me off, and now you thinks Im going to lend you money? My dear youre cracked. If that wallet is not at the cop station in fifteen minutes Im calling the cops myself.”

“You wont call the cops,” she said, her voice breaking. “The angels told me you would help me.”

“Theres no such thing as angels! Whats a native doing believing in angels anyway? Dont you got your own stories?”

“I dont know our stories. It doesnt matter anyway. I believe in Jesus Christ.”

“Id say you was on something.”

“Im sorry about peeing on you. Just tell me your PIN for your bank card. All I need is a thousand and Ill pay it back to you. Every cent. I swear...I swear on the Bible. Ive got one right here. I bought it this morning. Ill put my right hand on it and swear.”

“I promise you Ill give you some money.”

“Well, tell me the PIN number and your address so I can get it.”

“No. Goddamn it, no. The wallet first. Ive got a lot of money in that account. How do I know you wont just wipe me out?”

They argued a while longer and finally she compromised and said she would meet him where they had first met, The Pied Piper.

Sinead, Jon, and Levi went to Fort McMurray the next evening. Sinead was driving.

Johanna was sitting on a bench outside The Pied Piper and Levi made Sinead park about fifty feet away from her among other cars so she wouldn't notice them. Levi wanted to feel anger, but he didn't. He felt tired. The girl looked surprisingly pleasant and calm in that same oversized leather jacket and tight jeans.

He got out of the Ford and approached her. She looked at him and smiled.

“Hey, buddy.”

He hoped she would have the wallet in her hand, but she didn't, so he sat next to her.

“Whudnt long cooling off,” he said.

“No, it wasnt.”

“So do you have the wallet?”

“Right here,” she said, taking it out of her inside pocket. She looked at him as she passed it along.

“So what bank are you going to?” she said.

“Bank of Montreal. Ill be back in twenty minutes.”

Her eyes filled. “Youre not coming back.”

“Yes I is,” he said, knowing that the tone of his voice was betraying him.

“Damian was the one who used your credit card,” she said. “Not me.”

“It doesn't matter now.”

She took a small blue Bible out of her inside pocket, where the wallet had been.

“Swear on it, on this.”

Levi looked down at the Bible. He got up and walked back to the Ford.

“But you
promised
me,” he heard her say as he was half way back to the Ford, but when he glanced over his shoulder he saw she wasn't talking to him.

When he got back in the Ford Jon was staring at her as they pulled out of the parking lot. “She looks upset.”

“Yeah. She really believed I was going to give her the money.”

“After what she did,” Sinead said, shaking her head. “Did she even admit to stealing the five thousand?”

“She says it was her boyfriend,” Levi said. “Or pimp. Whatever he is.”

“Maybe it was,” Jon said.

“Oh dont be naive, Jon,” Sinead said.

“Why would she give the wallet back then?” Jon said.

“She gave it back because Dad cancelled the credit cards, remember? And then when she was talking to Dad and he explained how much the picture meant she thought she could bribe him for more money. I know she might not have had it easy, but people like her are just selfish.”

“Shes just surviving,” Jon said, as they pulled onto the main street.

“Well go back and loan her the money if you feel so bad,” Sinead said. “Youve got no shortage of it.”

“I find it odd that you cant sympathize with someone like her, considering what youre writing about.”

“Thats it. Youre not reading it anymore. If you want to read it youll have to wait until its in a bookstore.”

“Counting our chickens arent we?”

Sinead looked at him with hurt on her face, then back at the road.

“Relax, Im teasing,” Jon said.

“No you werent.”

“I forgot the phone,” Levi said.

“Do you want to go back?”

“No. Ill cancel it and get a new one. I needed a new one anyway.”

Levi opened the wallet to check if everything was there, especially the picture. The smile on his nephew's face helped sooth the guilt lingering in his stomach. Even if it did sadden him.

Adawe

Levi stood in the middle of the room at The Hilton. He was in awe, and found it hard to believe it was his alone, considering the size of it. He flopped down on the beige couch and stared out the window at Lake Leamy. Jon and Bill were in a room down the hall.

When Levi went down for a smoke he passed by the dining room. He wished he had packed at least one pair of casual pants. All he had were jeans, and he had a feeling jeans weren't appropriate for the Arome Lounge.

But they didn't go to the Arome anyway. At five o'clock Jon popped by and told him they were taking him to “the best burger joint in Ottawa.” Apparently Bill had to go there every time he visited the capital city. Fresh ground beef patties made right behind the counter while fresh Kaiser buns toasted on the grill.

“It dont happen to be called Barnys Big Burger do it?” Levi said.

“How did you know?” Bill said.

Levi laughed and shook his head. God had a cruel sense of humour. Not that he believed in him.

The burgers were good but Levi couldn't admit that to himself. He asked the manager if the owner, Ted, was around, but apparently he lived near one of the other restaurants in Toronto. He only came to Ottawa once a month. Over the napkins and condiments there was a picture of Ted with his arm around the manager's shoulder, and a big goofy smile on his face. He was bald, short and dumpy, and Levi could not understand what Anita saw in him.

“Good burgers eh?” Bill said as he took a bite. “I lived in Ottawa for five years after I left Provider. I used to come here at least once a week. I was sick of it after a while, but now that Im in Alberta I miss it like crazy. One of the very few things I miss about this town. I like to visit once in a while. This is where I met Dianne.”

Jon held a fry over his gravy. “Dad, if you tell the How I Met Your Mother story Im leaving.”

“Eat your fries and shut up,” Bill said, smiling. “To make a long story short, Levi, I met her on campus at Ottawa University. She was a young law student and I was a young pain in the ass.”

“And they lived happily ever after,” Jon said. “The end.”

“Nobody lives happily ever after,” Levi said.

“And they managed to get along ever after,” Bill said.

“What did you do in university?” Levi said.

“Civil engineering.”

“How come you dont like Ottawa?”

“Its hard to put my finger on.”

“Maybe because it holds the head office for the decision makers that are trying to destroy our culture?” Jon said.

“No one is trying to destroy our culture anymore,” Bill said.

“Youve been hanging around big shots too long, Dad. Theyre just more subtle about racism now. Theyve wised up.”

Bill waved away his son's comment and continued eating his burger.

On the way out of the restaurant Levi spotted a young man wearing an Ottawa Senators jersey.

“Theyre playing Montreal,” Levi said.

“I know,” Bill said, taking tickets out of his pocket. Box seats, courtesy of Erbacor Energy. Levi had not felt such a surge of excitement since he was a boy.

“I dont think this is the time for watching hockey,” Jon said.

“Well me and Levi and can go,” Bill said. “You can stay in the hotel room and meditate on the solemn affair well be attending tomorrow.”

“You dont think The Apology is important?”

“Wer not the ones apologizing, remember?”

On the way out Levi noticed a comments box near the exit. He took a slip of paper and wrote, “To the owner: the food and the service was shit, and by the way, your new girlfriend is out of your league you bald fat ugly bastard,” and stuffed it in the box.

The stadium was full. Levi felt like a king when he walked into the box and realized this area was just for the three of them.

A perfect view of the game, a table and chairs, and a half a dozen leather seats in the front.

“Nothing wrong with this,” Levi said, grinning.

“I like it better in the crowd,” Jon said. “More exciting.”

“You would say that,” Bill said.

A waitress came by and offered drinks right away. All on the company bill of course. Snacks would soon follow. Levi was giddy with excitement, even though he tried to hide it. The rumble of thousands of voices became a single voice, taut with anticipation, vibrating through the arena, a cathedral of bright advertisements and electronic illusions, hot and electric around the cold sheet of ice at its center. Yet the rink itself was still just a hockey rink. In a sense the game they would be playing tonight was no different than the senior hockey games he had watched in Gander all his life. It was played at a much higher level of course, with higher stakes, but it was still just “the good old hockey game.”

At the exact moment of the puck hitting center ice Levi's phone rang. He didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway.

“Hey buddy.”

“How did you get this number?”

“I called your wife. It was on your old cell.”

“I cancelled me old cell.”

“It still works for getting numbers and stuff. Im using my friends cell to call you.”

“What do you want?”

“You lied to me.”

“You pissed on me. Well call it square.”

“But I apologized for that.”

“I apologize for lying. Square again.”

“God told me you would help me, but I know I have to do my part. So Im calling you again.”

“Funny how that works.”

“Im not going to stop calling you.”

“You will when I changes me phone again.”

“How could you just leave me there on that bench? I could have thrown that picture away.”

“Yes, youre a real sweetheart you is.”

“Youre being mean now. Please stop.”

“So what. Listen my dear, buck up and get your act together. Im sure theres lots of womens homes in Fort McMurray. Go stay in one of them and have your baby there. Its not my fault you fucked up your life. We all haves bad times. Ive had more shit happen to me in the last year than I had the last twenty. You dont see me stealing from people.”

Levi closed up the phone and stuffed it in his pocket, but his hands were trembling.

Everyone stood for O Canada. About half of the stadium sang along.

Montreal dominated Ottawa in the first period.

“Sure half the people in these boxes is not even watching the game,” Levi said to Jon as he scanned the other booths.

“Yeah, most are suits schmoozing other suits. Business deals. They dont give a fuck about the game. They probably dont even know whos playing.”

The most distracting part of the game was the playback screen. He kept catching himself staring at it instead of the real thing right beneath it. Whenever he was in the same room as a television he was always drawn to it, even if he hated the program. This was the same effect multiplied.