The Eclipse of Moonbeam Dawson (20 page)

“Really? That's great, but what about the return?”

“Those are booked in advance for guests arriving through Vancouver. I can check and see how it looks.” Jim turned back to his computer and brought up a different file. “Looks like there's a threesome that will be picked up at six and that will leave a vacant seat, unless of course one of the guests wants to take that seat in the morning. But unless that happens, you're in luck. You'd just have to be sure to be at the plane by six.”

Reid thanked Jim several times before he left the office, not quite able to believe the great deal that might just possibly have fallen in his lap. Now, if only all the guests would cooperate. But that was out of his hands, so the only thing he needed to decide now was whether or not to call her to say he might be coming. He could probably reach her if he called early, before she left for school. But what if she told him not to come? What if she said she was busy? Then he'd never know if she really did have plans or if it was just an excuse and she didn't want to see him. If he just showed up and surprised her, he could tell from how she reacted if she was happy to see him. A person couldn't fake their feelings that easily when you surprised them. Then he'd know once and for all how things stood between them after the letter.

To call or not to call. He went back and forth about it all evening and finally around midnight came to a decision. Not to call. He'd just take his chances that he'd find her home after school. Or find out where she was if she hadn't gone straight home. He didn't want to risk a phone call.

*   *   *

Thursday morning Brad Wellman waited for the plane with Reid. It was almost 11:00 when they heard its engine, and at 11:00 sharp Joe Martin waved from the cockpit as he brought it in for a landing. Brad and Reid helped secure the plane and then Brad opened the door for the two passengers who got out, rich-looking business guys loaded with fishing gear.

Reid held his breath, turning back to the lodge, hoping no one else was coming. Maybe he'd make it. The two men left the dock, followed by Brad, loaded down with their gear.

Joe climbed out of the cockpit and stretched his legs. “Nice morning. Wish I could get a little fishing in.” He stretched his arms and then checked his watch. “But I've got to turn around in about five minutes. This stop isn't much more than a touch and go.”

“I'm hoping to catch a ride with you,” Reid explained. “It's my day off. Thought I'd spend some time in Vancouver, then come back with you at six.”

“Doesn't look like anyone else is going. Wait here while I check at the front desk.” Joe smiled. “If there aren't any other passengers, you're on.”

While he waited for Joe, a large yacht sailed into the marina. Reid watched it come slowly toward the dock. It was huge. Sparkling white with gleaming brass and mahogany, it looked like the
Regina II.
The waves from the yacht washed against the dock and Harvey's skiff rocked back and forth as they rolled under its narrow hull. Reid gazed at the skiff, remembering the deserted marina the afternoon they came back from Hope Island, being alone with her when nobody was around. Just the two of them alone in that skiff.

“All set!” Joe yelled. He gave Reid a thumbs-up from the top of the marina steps. “It's a go.”

“All right!” Reid slapped the piling next to the plane. Then he opened the door to the Cessna and climbed in. It was happening. Luck was with him once more. In a few hours he would see her.

Chapter Thirteen

Reid took the slip of paper out of his pocket and rechecked the address. The last thing he needed would be to get lost trying to find the place. It had already been confusing enough just getting the bus out here from Coal Harbour, where the plane had come in.

He loved every minute of the flight from Stere Island. Reid had only flown one other time in his life, to the States to visit his mother's family. That was it. They'd never gone back again after that. He was only about a year old and didn't remember it anyway. But this flight was really something. It was incredible how they could be on this west coast wilderness with its miles of isolated sandy beaches, migrating whales, and colonies of sea lions and in just an hour come down to glass-and-steel skyscrapers and a city of over a million people.

Reid walked along Southwest Marine Drive and stopped near the Marine Drive Golf Club to check the map he had gotten in the bus station. He was pretty sure he was supposed to turn right, and then it looked like Laurel was two blocks east of that. He put the map back in his pocket and crossed with the light.

He had never seen such big houses. They looked like museums. Why did people need all that room? It wasn't like they had such big families. Michelle only had her half sister, Ashley, and that was when she was living at her mother's house, not her father's. She was the only kid when she was there. Maybe he should have called after all. Shaunassey was one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Vancouver, and he felt like he had landed on another planet. Most of the garages were three times the size of their cabin on Heather Mountain. And the yards were the size of soccer fields, with manicured gardens and flowering shrubs and fruit trees. Every mansion seemed to have rhododendrons as part of the landscaping, so huge their blossoms looked like basketballs. At first he wasn't sure where to look for the house numbers. Then he noticed them on gates that ran across the wide driveways, or etched in stone pillars carved like lions or some kind of creature. Some would be on a plaque set in a stone wall that enclosed the whole property.

He turned on Laurel Drive. Her street. This was it. His hands shook a little as he checked the address and began looking for house numbers. In the middle of the block was a huge English Tudor mansion. The wrought-iron gate was open and Reid stopped in the foot of the driveway and checked the address again, 24012 Laurel Drive. Not that he didn't have it memorized, but he wanted to check again, just to be sure. No mistake about it. This was it. A large circular driveway curved from the street to the front door and back out to the street. A green Ford pickup was parked in the drive. Cautiously, Reid started up the driveway and went to the truck and read the lettering on the door.
USHIBA'S LAWN AND GARDEN SERVICE.

An Asian guy was clipping the edge of a lawn so perfect it looked like a putting green. Reid went over to him, feeling more like he was walking across a skating rink in slippery leather shoes than across an asphalt drive wearing sneakers.

Reid cleared his throat. “Hi, um, excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“I'm a friend of Michelle Lamont's and wondered if she's home.”

“I just work outside. Ask the housekeeper.” He motioned to the front door.

“Okay, thanks.”

Well, at least he knew for sure this was the right house. Michelle hadn't given him a phony address or anything like that. So she must have really wanted for them to stay in touch, he tried to convince himself as he rang the bell.

After a few seconds another Asian person appeared, a middle-aged woman dressed in a crisp pearl gray uniform. She looked like she could be related to Gloria, he thought. Or even him since he and Gloria were supposed to look something alike.

“I'm Reid Dawson. Is Michelle home? I'm a friend of hers from Stere Island Lodge.”

“Is she expecting you?” From her accent, Reid thought she might be Chinese. He could see into the huge entryway with its marble tile and dark mahogany beams. He'd never seen a place like it except the Empress Hotel, or something in a movie. But never anyone's real house.

“Well, no, not exactly.” Reid showed her the slip of paper with Michelle's writing. “But she gave me her address.”

The woman nodded. “She'll be home from school any minute, then she go to ride.”

“Can I just wait out here?”

“Outside, yes. That be fine.” She closed the door, like she was relieved that he hadn't asked to come in.

Reid leaned against one of the pillars, watching the street for a sign of Michelle. The yard guy had finished and was putting his equipment in the pickup. Reid looked out over the manicured lawn and the elegant landscaping. Michelle's house seemed about as far away from Heather Mountain as you could get. He had trouble believing he was actually here.

But she did give me her real address, he kept telling himself again while he watched the street. She could have made something up. Or just told him to forget it, but she didn't. And she was the one to make the move to kiss him good-bye, and in the boat, too. Maybe when she saw him she'd invite him to go for that ride the housekeeper said she was going to take after school. Maybe she would. Maybe she had some errands to run or something. And afterwards they could go to Stanley Park and stop in some secluded spot.

Oh, Reid, I've dreamed of being with you again, like we were in the boat. Seeing you again so soon is the most wonderful surprise. Let's make the most of every moment.

Reid was closing his eyes, imagining being with her in the secluded spot at Stanley Park, when he heard a car. The gate automatically opened and a shiny black Land Rover drove in, swung around the drive, and pulled up at the front entrance. Michelle jumped out of the driver's seat. There was an athletic-looking blond girl on the passenger's side in the front and another girl in the back, pretty, with light brown curly hair. It looked like they were each wearing navy blue sweaters with some kind of crest on the pocket. He used to see kids in school uniforms in Victoria sometimes, kids who went to private schools. But he never pictured Michelle wearing a school uniform. He had only imagined her in jeans and casual stuff like she had worn at the lodge, that she would look the same, and everything would be the same.

Michelle ran around the car jingling her car keys and then stopped in her tracks. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi,” Reid smiled nervously, “thought I'd surprise you.”

“How wonderful,” she said, sarcastically.

“Hey, Chelle,” the blonde called, as she put down the window: “What have you been hiding from us?”

The back window came down. “Who's your friend, Chelle?”

Michelle's face got red and she mumbled, “This is Reid Dawson. Listen, um, Reid, we've got to get to the—”

“Aren't you even going to introduce us?” the girl yelled from the back seat.

“Oh all right,” Michelle sighed. “This is Reid Dawson. This is Megan,” she motioned to the front seat, “and Daria in the back.”

“
The
Reid Dawson!” Megan shrieked. “Your little spring break thing!”

“At least you picked a cute one.” Daria giggled.

“You guys shut up.” Michelle glared at them. “Listen, Reid. We've got to be at the stable in twenty minutes, and I've got to change, then take Megan and Daria home to change before we get there. So I've really got to run.”

“You don't even have a few minutes?” Reid jammed his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels.

“You're cold, Chelle,” Megan teased. “You don't even have time to offer him a nice bowl of Wheaties, the breakfast of champion hunters!”

Daria cracked up. “Wheaties? We prefer granola, don't we, Chelle!”

“I told you two to shut up,” Michelle whined. “Reid, I've got to go, I'm sorry.” She unlocked the front door and disappeared into the house.

Reid looked at the ground, wishing he could evaporate. Who else had she showed his letter to? The whole bloody school? He wanted to run. Don't give them the satisfaction. Don't run like a scared rabbit. As much as he wanted to, he wouldn't give them that. He was going to walk out of there past those two witches like they were nothing to him. They were just noise. He focused his eyes on a tall cedar across the street. Not taking his eyes off it, he slowly walked down the steps and across the driveway.

“Hey, Reid, we liked the name Moonbeam a lot better!”

He could hear them laughing and shrieking all the way to the end of the drive, but he kept his pace steady and slow, steady and slow.
If someone has a problem with who you are, then you have a problem with them.
He said it over and over, trying to block out their giggles and shrieks.

Then they started to sing. “Mummy wants me for a mooooooonbeam, a mooooonbeam—” singing at the top of their lungs.

He didn't run until he got to the end of the block. Then he took off as though he were fleeing some kind of noxious gas. Some invisible chemical that would destroy him unless he got away in just seconds. He ran all the way to the bus stop.
If someone has a problem with who you are, then you have a problem with them.
Problem? He wasn't sure what he felt more: a humiliation so deep it pierced through him like a javelin, or rage. How incredible that people could be hurt and humiliated and not fight back. His mother had preached nonviolence his whole life and he didn't realize until this very moment what it took to try and live that way. If he had a loaded gun right now, he could actually imagine going back there and blowing them all to pieces.

At the bus stop he waited, catching his breath, then he took out the bus schedule and looked at his watch. He had a few hours to kill before he had to be back at Coal Harbour to get the plane. There must be something he could do that would keep this trip from being total poison.

He pulled the Vancouver map out of his pocket and noticed that on the back it had a list of points of interest. His hands shook as he held it. The Vancouver Aquarium … Gastown … the Capilano Suspension Bridge. He couldn't go to them all. Reid thought about each place, trying to make the best choice. Maybe he should go to the aquarium, he thought, imagining being there. Then he imagined Michelle being there.

TEENAGE GIRL KILLED BY WHALE AT AQUARIUM

Michelle Lamont, 16, of Vancouver was killed today when Moonbeam, a magnificent Orca whale, accidentally dove from his tank, crushing Ms. Lamont. Other bystanders, friends of Ms. Lamont, were maimed for life in the freak accident.