by Patrick Lee
More than once Mabel made up the difference of what was needed for the various fundraisers. The fire truck, Boy Scout uniforms, the children’s Christmas party, and the money for the Little League team equipment and new uniforms all were made possible by Mabel’s generosity. The community didn’t seem to mind that the money came from the dam workers playtime with Mabel’s girls on Sugar Hill. Her girls were welcomed anywhere in town as long as they minded their manners and didn’t solicit on their own. Mabel had escorted several girls to the bus depot in Columbia Falls for not following her strict rules of public behavior.
CHAPTER FIVE
Rain streaked his office window that faced the front of the dam construction site. David Sednick stared out at the massive concrete project partly shrouded by the dense clouds and pelting rain. He finished signing the time cards for the two-week period for the day shift and rested before tabulating the individual hours for each of the two-hundred and fifty men on his shift. The image of the one-hundred and twenty-five acres on the North Fork of the Flathead River that he bought burst into his mind. Five more payments of eight hundred dollars each remained before he owned the title. Only the realtor and the previous owner knew of his special purchase.
David looked away from the window and down to the stack of timecards in front of him. Six more months he thought. Six more months. I’m done in October. Then I’ll build my log home up the North Fork. Kat won’t like it up there. Too bad. It’ll be great for weekends with some woman and for hunting season. The phone rang and interrupted his daydreaming. “Hey David, it’s Tommy.”
“Hi, Tom. What’s up?”
“I got the long change to day shift startin’ Saturday, and I was wonderin’ if you wanted to do somethin’.”
David searched his mind for his schedule for the weekend. “Ya. Sounds good to me. How about lookin’ around Glacier?”
The excitement in Tomas’s voice came through the receiver as he answered, “That sounds great David. What day?”
“Let’s meet Sunday morning around ten. We can drive to the end of Lake McDonald and eat our lunch there. I’ll pick you up at the bunkhouse.” After he hung up the phone, he smiled and relished the thought of how his plans with Tommy would irritate his father-in-law. “Maybe I’ll start to do a lot with Tommy. We can stop at a few bars along the Trapline and end up at Mabels. That’ll really piss off his old man.”
CHAPTER SIX
The forty-seat Royal Theater stood on the south side of Main Street in Martin City. The locals and Dam workers who worked the project for a few years spoke for most of the seats. There was unspoken assigned seating and new customers to the one story, log movie house soon learned which seats were available and which seats were reserved. On opening night of a new movie, only one row of seats remained open to first time customers.
Mikhail and John Nolan lumbered up the three stairs to the front door of the theater. Friday night and the first paycheck for the two drove them to the Royal to watch Abbott and Costello in Meet The Invisible Man. Mikhail loved to go to shows and hadn’t been in a theater for over a year. Nolan teased Mikhail the entire half a mile walk from the barracks to the Royal about their lousy choice to go to a show instead of to one of the thirteen bars in Martin city. “Our first night off and payday and we go to a goddamn show. We should be drinking and getting primed for Mabels.”
Mikhail managed a grin before he answered, “You don’t need no more primin’. You already had a six pack.”
Nolan entered first and slapped down a silver dollar on the table in front of the girl selling tickets. “I’ll be paying for the both of us, honey. The bohunk is too cheap. I get stuck for paying his way. You probably should charge him double because of his big ass.”
The teenage girl giggled and handed a ticket to each of the men. Mikhail shook his head as he passed the red-faced girl. He walked over to the concession table and bought a big box of popcorn and a Hershey candy bar. “You want anything, Nolan.”
“Ya, I’d like a can of Great Falls Select and a shot of Seagrams. And then I’d like a good—”
Mikhail gave him a slight push that broke his thought. “Get us a seat Nolan.” The two men walked down toward the front of the theater and sat on the right side near the exit door. Mikhail sat near the aisle and Nolan left a seat between them. Mikhail ate his popcorn and stretched out his long legs, “Perfect seats he thought. No seats in front of me for once.”
Three women visited as they walked up the aisle and stopped next to Mikhail. The taller, well-dressed lady whispered to him, “Sir. I believe you’re sitting in my seat and the man next to you is sitting in my friend’s seat. You’ll have to move.”
Before Mikhail could respond, Nolan leaned toward the women and quietly said, “Ma’am, I believe you should go shit in your hat. Find a different seat your own self.”
The women stomped back up the aisle and returned quickly with the owner of the theater. Hannah Holley owned the theater for over a year and managed to breath life into the building with the latest movies and a clean, modern appearing decor. The Royal was a focal point of the community for the locals and a peaceful distraction for the dam workers. She stopped in front of Mikhail and Nolan. A kind smile introduced her well-practiced speech about reserved seating and the location of other seats for new customers. “Gentlemen, welcome to the Royal Theater. You’re new and don’t know about the seating rules we have here. One of you needs to follow me and I will show you to your seat.”
Mikhail stood up and towered over the four women standing in the aisle. The women slowly moved their eyes from his toes up to his head. Without saying a word he walked back up the aisle and sat in the aisle seat in the last row of the theater.
Nolan motioned the women to join him as he slid down to the seat near the wall. “Now join me ladies. This is a big night for you’s. I’m John Michael Nolan. This is your lucky night. The three women moved into their seats and glared at Nolan.
Hannah spoke to several of the other seated customers and attempted to make eye contact with Mikhail as she walked by. He ignored her and stared straight ahead. She thought, “My god, he’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m glad he decided to move on his own. Not bad looking neither. And he’s clean shaved, Lifebuoy soap too. Interesting. I’ll have to find out his name.” She waved her hand to the man in the camera booth, and the lights in the theater went out.
Two Tom and Jerry cartoons erased the tense memories of the seating discussion with the women. Mikhail laughed freely and set his empty popcorn box on the floor in front of him. His right leg stretched into the aisle, but his other knee pushed hard on the back of the seat in front of him. He relaxed and awaited the start of Abbott and Costello. The worrisome thoughts of his granddaughter, his son-in-law, and his ex-wife drifted away as the comical story of The Invisible Man flashed in front of him on the screen. He didn’t notice Hannah watching him as he laughed at the slapstick antics of his favorite actors, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
The movie ended and Nolan walked and talked to the ladies who chased Mikhail out of his seat. They tried to ignore Nolan as he reviewed the funny part of the show. The tall, well-dressed woman was still unhappy with his comment to her and walked in front of him toward the lobby. Mikhail stretched as he waited for Nolan. Together they walked out into the lobby in the direction of the front door. Hannah chatted with each of the customers as they left the show house. As Mikhail walked by her, she spoke, “You seemed to like Abbott and Costello.”
Mikhail stopped and looked in her direction before he answered, “Ya, I do.” Mikhail shrugged his huge shoulders and strolled out the door into the cool evening air. Nolan mocked him as they walked down the stairs to the boardwalk, “Ya, I do. That’s it. You thick-headed bohunk. She tried to strike up a conversation with you. Christ Almighty, I ain’t learned you nothing. She probably wants to get a look at that monster between your legs.”
Mikhail forced a laugh and said, “See you tomorrow, Nolan. I’m going to bed
.”
“Well, I’m going to Whitey’s for a few before I go up to Mabels to share my short steel with one of those lily white little maidens.”
As they crossed the dirt street, the three women and an older man wearing a blue suit approached them. The man stopped in front of Nolan and spoke, “My wife told me you swore at her in the theater.”
Nolan shook his head and pointed toward Mikhail, “Not me. It was my friend here. He gots a terrible mouth on him. He just can’t control his tongue around flat-chested, big hipped, hawk-nosed witches like your wife. It’s just a problem he’s got.”
Mikhail paused as the man stepped right in front of Nolan. “What’s your name, fella?”
“I’m Mick Powers and I’m proud of it. What’s yours?
“It doesn’t matter who I am. You can plan on having a pink slip on Monday. You’re done working at Hungry Horse Dam and that’s the way it’s going to be.”
Nolan laughed in his face before talking, “I was lookin’ for a job when I found this one. Old Mikhail Powers will make out just fine.”
The man stepped back, adjusted his suit coat, and left with the three women at his side. He strutted along after he set things straight in front of his wife and her friends.
Nolan and Mikhail continued across the street stopped, and stepped up onto the boardwalk. Mikhail spoke first, “You just cost Powers his job.”
“I know. I’ve had a belly full of Powers. He brags too much. Besides I want his job. He’s a prick and the rest of us will be the happier without him.”
Mikhail looked up the street, “You better hope he don’t find out about you.”
“You gonna tell him?”
“Only if ya keep it up about that woman runnin’ the show house.”
Nolan laughed and headed toward the door to Whitey’s Bar. Mikhail started toward the barracks. About a block from the barracks, he leaned against a streetlight post and laughed louder than he had in years. His thoughts of Nolan with the man in the suit roared into his mind.
Other thoughts of his friend surfaced from their childhood days living in McQueen. Nolan moved into the neighborhood a year after his father died in a mining accident at the Leonard Mine. His mother later married an Italian man who lived in Meaderville. Nolan was the only Irish kid in the entire neighborhood of McQueen. He learned to fight well as the Italians challenged him on a regular basis. But his quick sense of humor and smart answers made him irrestible to the girls and most of the boys. He met Mikhail in the fifth grade at Holy Savior School. From there they were inseparable and spent the next forty years living side by side.
As Mikhail turned the doorknob to the barracks, he realized he left his cap back at the show house. He hurried down the road to the Royal Theater and walked up the three stairs to the front door of the log building. Hannah talked to the girl who worked the concession stand. They turned and faced him as he entered the front door. “Ma’am, I left my cap. I’d like to get it now.”
Hannah motioned with her hand to help himself. He brushed the curtain aside and retrieved the worn newsboy hat that his granddaughter gave to him the previous Christmas.
As he walked out the door, he nodded and said, “Goodnight.”
Hannah closed the cash register door before speaking, “I’m goin’ over to the Club Café for coffee and pie if ya want to join me.”
He looked at the clock above the concession stand. Nine o’clock, he thought. Not too late. He planned to call Katya and Anna the next morning. “Well, okay. I’ll meet ya over there.”
Hannah Holley sat in the booth in the corner of the café and talked to Judy, the waitress, about the man she invited for coffee. They didn’t notice Mikhail enter the door and walk over to the booth. Hannah saw him first and glanced over Judy’s shoulder. Judy looked back and reacted like most people who stood that close to Mikhail. She managed a weak smile, turned red, and slowly moved toward the kitchen.
Hannah motioned for Mikhail to sit down across from her.
After he wrangled his huge body into the tight quarters of the bright blue booth, Hannah said, “I didn’t think you’d come.”
He felt awkward but forced a comment, “Good pie, you said.”
She relaxed against the back of the booth seat before talking again, “And I intend on keepin’ my promise. Would you like apple or peach?”
“Apple.”
“Okay then.” She excused herself and walked through the swinging door into the kitchen. Judy talked with the cook as Hannah entered. “Isn’t he as big as I said?’
Judy giggled, “Oh he’s big alright. I wonder if he’s that big all over.” The cook turned away from the two women and flipped a hamburger over. The two women covered their mouths to hide their laughter.
Hannah gained control and ordered two pieces of apple pie and more coffee. She joined Mikhail back at their seats and said, “Apple pie comin’ right up. By the way, what’s your name?”
He replied, “Mikhail. But you can call me Mik.”
She slowly stirred the cream into her steaming hot coffee, “Well Mikhail, my name is Hannah. But you can call me Hannah.” He smiled and enjoyed her joke. “Hannah what?”
“Holley. And what’s your last name?”
“Anzich.”
“Where you from, Mikhail Anzich?”
“Butte.”
She shook her head slightly and caught his dark brown eyes looking at her, “Are you always so talkative? Or is it just because that’s all the energy you have left from laughin’ so hard at the cartoons and Abbott and Costello?”
It occurred to Mikhail that she watched him at the movie. He felt the blood rush to his face at the thought of her noticing him. Judy saved him as she brought the pie and coffee to them. “Well here you go you two. Enjoy your pie.”
Mikhail placed his paper napkin on his lap. He picked up his fork and waited for Hannah to take a bite. The pie tasted delicious. He watched her dab her napkin on the corner of her mouth after each bite of pie. They didn’t talk until the final flaky crust crumbs disappeared from Mikhail’s plate. Hannah folded her used napkin and set it onto her plate. “Would you like another piece?”
“No thanks. That’s plenty.”
“Do you have to work on this Saturday, Mikhail?”
“No. Umm, I’m on the long change. I’m off.”
She hesitated, then looked at Mikhail, “If you aren’t busy, would you like to fish with me at North Lion Lake?”
“Ah, ah I think so.”
“Try to hold in your excitement a little.”
Mikhail shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and spoke again, “I’d like to go on Saturday. I don’t have no fishing gear with me.”
“I’ve everything you’ll need. How about meetin’ me out in front of the Royal around 10:00, and you can follow me up to the lake.”
“Okay. Thanks.” He awkwardly slid out from the booth and stood not knowing what to do next. “10:00 o’clock Saturday, then.”
She smiled and answered, “10:00 o’clock Saturday.” Her light blue eyes watched him walk to the door. He stopped before leaving, looked back at her, and gave a short wave with his index finger. Mikhail quietly let the door close behind him and then disappeared into the dark gravel street.
CHAPTER SEVEN
After he finished his bacon and eggs breakfast at the Club Café, Mikhail walked down the board sidewalk to the Texaco station. As far as he knew, this was the only pay phone in Martin City. It was Saturday and his day to call his daughter. He carefully inserted the dime and waited for the operator. She placed his collect call to his daughter, Katya. It had been two weeks since he talked to her and he looked forward to hearing how she and Anna were doin’. He waited until after Katya accepted the call before talking. “Hi, it’s your dad.”
Katya laughed to herself at his greeting. He greeted her the same for as long as she remembered. “Hi, Dad. How you and my brother gettin’ along?”
“We’re fine. Workin’ hard and stayin’ out of trouble.”
/> Katya gathered her strength before asking her next question. “How’s David doin’? Have you seen much of him?”
“No, we’re on different shifts. I guess he’s takin’ Tomas up to Glacier Park later today.”
She sighed and held back her excitement; at least David and her brother were doin’ things together. It’s a start; maybe Tommy can convince dad how wonderful David can be. “Oh, that’ll be fun for both of them. I bet Tommy is excited to see the Park.”
Mikhail thought about telling her about his upcoming fishing trip with Hannah but decided it could wait until another time. His mind changed to thoughts of his granddaughter, “How’s Anna doin’?”
“Oh, she’s about the same, Dad. Some days I think she’s gettin’ stronger, and then the next day she acts weak. She asks about you about every twenty minutes or so. She can’t figure out why you can’t come to see her. I try to explain, but she’s just too young, I guess.”
Mikhail swallowed hard. “Can I talk to her?”
“Sure. I’ll walk the phone over to her. Hey Anna, it’s your Papa.”
Anna fumbled with the phone as she slowly moved the black receiver up to her mouth. “Papa. I miss you. When you coming to see me?”
He wiped the tears with his huge left forearm, “Soon Anna. Me and Tomas are workin’ hard. I’m comin’ home in a few weeks.” “Are you goin’ to bring me a present?”
“Ya. It’s in the Chevy.”
Katya whispered that time was about up. “Say goodbye to your papa.”
Anna smiled before speaking. Her left hand held the small teddy bear that Mikhail mailed to her a week earlier. “Papa Mik. Goodbye.”
“Bye, Anna.”
Katya took the phone from Anna and walked back to the table where she kept the phone. “Dad, are you able to come in a few weeks?”
“Yeah. I’ve another long change then.”
