Washika (2 page)

Not a single superfluous person lived at Washika Bay. Nor were individual tasks vague or lacking in apparent usefulness. The staff members were middlemen of sorts, intermediaries between the lumberjacks and the pulp mills hundreds of miles to the south, and without them the connection between the former and the latter would simply not exist. The whole scheme of things was simple enough to be effective. The tractor-trailers arrived from the logging camps with their loads of logs. The wood was weighed at the truck scales and measured by the scalers. This same wood, once measured and stamped by the scalers using a hammer-like tool with a Company insignia on one end, was pushed off the log dump into the Cabonga by one of two huge tractors driven by Percy Dumont. The logs floating by the log dump were gathered up by the tugboat captains and their crews. Large pockets of this wood were towed downstream to Cabonga Dam. When enough wood had accumulated, the dam was opened, allowing the wood to pass through the opening and into the Gens-de-Terre River. The logs followed the current and the rapids of this and other rivers until they reached their final destination. There the sawmills and the pulp and paper mills transformed the logs into profitable commodities.

 

 

One Monday morning, at the end of June, a Company bus drove up to the sleep camp at Washika Bay. Twenty-one high school students stepped down from the bus and, with loaded packs on their backs, stood in a circle around the superintendent of the camp as he delivered his welcoming speech. No one paid much attention to André Simard-Comtois' words of welcome. The students were intrigued by the buildings at Washika, the generator noise, and the tractor-trailers arriving at the scales but, mostly, they marvelled at the great expanse of beach sand before them and what seemed to be an unending body of water to the west.

The students were finally introduced to one of the tugboat captains, Alphonse Ouimet, and they took an immediate liking to him. They were especially amused when he called them his “little ducks” not knowing, of course, what the man was referring to. Alphonse issued instructions: they were to enter the sleep camp, select a room and a bed, store their packs, and then head to the office where they would be supplied with hard hats and gloves. Their hard-toe safety boots, it was assumed, had been purchased in town. After lunch they were to follow him down to the wharf.

“And don't forget the meal tickets,” Alphonse concluded. “Be sure you get tickets at the van or you won't eat!”

These instructions were delivered in a friendly manner and the students, although feeling a bit jarred after their bus ride from Ste-Émilie, felt immediately at home. They entered the sleep camp and, before long, all available beds were spoken for.

Alphonse had followed them into the sleep camp. He counted seven students standing by the washbasin, heavy packs on the floor by their feet.

“There's another sleep camp,” he said. “But first, is there anyone who'd like to work in the kitchen? You'd be like an assistant to the cook.”

None of the students responded to the man's request. They looked at each other and then back at Alphonse.

“You,” Alphonse pointed to one of the students. “What's your name?”

“Morin,” the student replied. “Henri Morin.”

“Okay,” Alphonse said. “Listen, Henri. Go to each of the rooms and tell the guys what I've just said. The one who accepts the job will have his own room in the cook's cabin.”

Henri left then and, stopping by the door of each room occupied by the students, he relayed the message about becoming the cook's assistant. It wasn't long before he returned to the washing up area, followed by a tall, slim boy whose head was a mass of tight black curls.

“Good,” Alphonse nodded towards the boy. “And what's your name?”

“Richard Gagnier,
monsieur
,” the boy replied.

“Okay, Richard. Take your pack and go to the cookhouse. The cook there is Dumas Hébert. Tell Dumas that I sent you and that you'd like to work with him this summer. He'll fix you up.”

“So,” Alphonse turned to the others, “that leaves one more bed here. One of you guys can take that one and the rest of you come with me.”

One of the students lifted his pack and followed the young man who was soon to be the cook's assistant. The six remaining students followed Alphonse across the yard and into the bunkhouse-and-office.

“This is the bunkhouse-and-office,” Alphonse smiled. “The other half is the office. The van is there too. When you hear a bell ring, go to the cookhouse for lunch. And don't be late. The cook's pretty strict about that. You'll see.”

The students went to the van as he had instructed. Afterwards, they sat on their bunks adjusting the straps inside their hard hats for a better fit. They flexed their new work gloves and folded the long string of meal tickets. Suddenly, an irregular bell sound could be heard coming from nearby and, shortly after, they saw the older men leaving the sleep camp. The students followed the older men and joined them at the cookhouse landing. There, they saw Dumas Hébert for the first time. The students smiled as they handed him their meal ticket. Dumas did not return the smile. When the last of the students had gone inside, Dumas entered, closing the screen door behind him. He walked to the centre of the dining area and addressed the students.

“My name is Dumas Hébert. I am the cook here at Washika. Your table will be that one there to my right. You will be ten on each side. As you can see, it is crowded so no elbows on the table. Be sure that your hands are clean and that your hair is properly combed when you come in here. There are two bells for the meals. One bell is to warn you, and the second is for the meal. So, do not be late. Also, after breakfast, there is one bell, for making lunches. That is all.”

It was all very clear and simple. There would be no foolishness in the cookhouse. There was plenty to eat and the food was delicious. All agreed that Dumas was an excellent cook even if he was a
führer
of sorts.

After lunch the boys followed Alphonse to the wharf where they were introduced to the
Madeleine
, a six-cylinder tugboat and its two drive boats. They were issued life jackets and, when all were aboard, Alphonse backed the
Madeleine
away from the wharf and swung her bow around in a southerly direction.

After what seemed like less than an hour, Alphonse veered to port towards a stretch of beach sand spotted with logs of various lengths. He shut down the engine, allowing the
Madeleine
to drift up onto shore. Alphonse stood on deck and spoke to the students.

“Well, my little ducks,” he began. “You see the shore there and all the logs on the sand. Use those hooks I showed you and pick out the logs and toss them into the water. Over there, where those dead
chicots
are, there are logs in the water behind them. Some of you go in there and pick those logs out and toss them over here. I want two or three of you in each drive boat, with pike poles. Now, here's the thing. We want to pick out all of the logs along here and toss them into deeper water. You see those square timbers here. They're called boom timbers. I'm going to make a kind of corral with them. When we've picked out enough logs I'll close the corral around them and snub the corral to shore. One of the tugboats will pick it up on its way to Cabonga. There are logs like this all along the shoreline. These are logs that got away from us during the drive to Cabonga. It gets pretty windy here. Sometimes the logs are on shore, sometimes not. That's when you boys have to go into the water. And so, this is the sweep. We always have to come back like this after a drive. Okay? Now, my little ducks, to work!”

 

 

So began the summer job at Washika Bay. All of the students working there were from the Collège de Ste-Émilie. Over six thousand people lived in the town Ste-Émilie, which was built up on both sides of the Gens-de-Terre River about eighty-five miles south of Washika Bay. The town had two beautiful stone churches, a bank and post office, and two large brick-covered schools which served both elementary and high school students. One of the schools was run by the brothers of the Sacred Heart. It was the brothers who had named the school Le Collège de Ste-Émilie. Also covered in brick and run by the “Grey Nuns,” or the Sisters of Charity, was the hospital, L'Hôpital de Ste-Jeanne d'Arc, and the convent known as Ste-Véronique's where the young girls of Ste-Émilie received both their primary and secondary education. After graduation the choices open to the students were limited. The girls could follow nursing courses at the hospital and the boys could attend a trade school or find work in the local sawmills. Failing this, the boys could always sign up with the Company for work in the bush. The more advanced students could apply for acceptance at the university or the various colleges in the Capital. For these students, this usually meant an end to living in their hometown of Ste-Émilie.

The students adjusted well to life in the camp. There were occasions when their behaviour came into conflict with the habits of the older workers but these obstacles were soon smoothed over, mostly in favour of the older residents. Their behaviour in the cookhouse was impeccable, much to the satisfaction of Dumas Hébert. As far as work was concerned, Alphonse was very happy with his crew. They whined and complained some, that was true, but after bouts of encouragement on his part and the odd extended break, they worked with great enthusiasm and got plenty of work done. And besides, Alphonse reasoned, they were young. They had formed worlds of their own, some of them, based on their studies and all of the events that had occurred in their short lives.

Alphonse was correct in this assumption. The students had indeed created worlds of their own. Most were harmless, idealistic summaries of what life was all about, of what was expected of them as members of the future generation. Their most profound thoughts, it seemed, centred around the pleasures that life could offer them and, these, with a minimum of effort on their part. Despite these commonly shared opinions of life, their personalities were as varied as there were students in the camp. On the whole, however, they were a rambunctious, fun-loving crew. Two students stood apart from the group. André Guy was a short, skinny boy of seventeen whose most pronounced attribute might be described as his ability to attract attention. André believed firmly that the emptiness in his life could instantly be relieved by the numerous pranks that he played on his classmates. He did not perform these pranks to be boisterous and wild like his fellow classmates; his pranks were meant solely to attract attention. This was the only path to self-esteem that he understood. This was what he believed, what kept him going in his social life, the only life he knew. There was another student, Henri Morin, who seemed not to fit the same mold as the other students.

Alphonse had noticed Henri's enthusiasm and his keen interest in all that surrounded him. Henri accepted the teasing and the jokes played on him by the others with an attitude almost approaching the philosophical. In their discussions, Alphonse admired the young man's maturity while, at the same time, he was astounded by his innocence. At the risk of sounding mysterious, or even mystical, one might say that Henri possessed a personality that attracted people who seemed to have a deeper understanding than most, whose compassion for their fellow human beings was surpassed only by their desire to illustrate the importance of living life to the full. Alphonse belonged to this group and he had singled out Henri Morin as a young man that might be in need of his support however limited that might be.

Before Henri arrived at Washika, another such person had entered his life. Brother André, a member of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was a mathematics and science teacher at the high school. He had noticed Henri's diligence in his studies and his precocious attitude to life, but he had also detected an inner struggle, a certain innocence that the young man camouflaged with his outwardly open personality. After a time, especially during the last semester at high school, Henri and Brother André spent a great deal of time together. Henri would remain after the mathematics or biology classes and, there, he and Brother André would discuss all manner of subjects. Brother André always expressed a great interest in Henri's opinions and this, coming from such a highly educated person, had a profound effect on Henri.