“Are you having a party?” asked Ben.
Ty shook his head. “No, we don’t go for parties much at my house. I was hoping that Haley and I could swim across the lake. Maybe have a cookout on the beach after.”
“Sounds good,” said Haley. “Before my folks come and decide it might be dangerous."
“I could drive the boat,” said Ben. “Marvin lets me use his boat any time I want. But you’ll need a watcher.”
“If you can’t find anyone, let me know,” said Ralph. “I could shut down for a day. I remember when your mom and Scott used to swim across the lake. Every summer they did that. More stamina than me, that’s for sure.”
“Lynette used to act as watcher for them,” said Ben. “Sometimes she gets talking about the old days. I don’t think she has much fun being grown up.”
The highway sign cautioned that the speed limit in Benton was 50. Ralph slowed down as they drove into town. It seemed like a fairly quiet evening. The Burger Barn had only five pickups and a four-by-four parked in the lot.
Ty sat chewing his lip. Haley looked at him in a strange way and then spoke.
“Ben, do you know what happened to Scott Armstrong?”
Ben didn’t say anything. Ty and Haley clambered out of the car and headed into the restaurant. Ben hung back. “I haven’t much money on me,” he said.
“It’s my treat,” said Ralph. “We’ve given this Princess a new lease on life.”
Ben followed them slowly. He slid into the orange vinyl booth beside Ralph and hung his head. “I probably know a few things about the accident that you don’t.”
“So tell us. Ty needs to know.” Haley stared at the menu.
“I’m not sure. Leave sleeping dogs lie, my grandpa says.”
“Your grandpa?” said Ty. “My grandpa says the same thing.”
“I thought your grandpa was dead, Ben,” said Ralph. He shoved his tractor hat back on his head.
“Old man Beaton’s really my grandpa. Didn’t you know that? I thought the whole valley knew that.”
“What?” Ty asked.
Ben looked right at Ty. “Lynette is my mom.”
“Lynette Beaton is your mom?” Ty shook his head.
“Yeah, and Scott Armstrong was my dad.”
It was as if a moratorium had been called on noise in the Burger Barn. Ty and Haley sat with their mouths open. Ralph was nodding his head. Then someone banged a frying pan and rattled plates in the kitchen and life started again.
“You’re cousins, you two,” said Haley. “This is better than a soap opera. It’s unbelievable.”
The waitress came for their order.
Ty sat with his mouth open. “A chocolate milkshake and French fries,” he said. “Please,” he added. He didn’t know what to say, how to feel, what to think. He could feel a blush start at his neck and creep up his face.
“I thought you knew,” said Ben.
Chapter 17
On the way home, Ben, with help from Ralph, explained the whole mystery to Haley and Ty. Haley drove and Ty sat right behind her. His hands moved constantly, restless on his lap, and his foot worked the phantom brake or accelerator depending on whether he agreed with her driving or not. Next week he would be driving the highway himself. He could hardly wait.
“Lynette was a year or two younger than your mom and uncle, but they hung out together all the same. When Scott left the valley, Lynette ran away with him. They were married in Calgary by a Justice of the Peace. Grandpa sent Mervin and Desmond after her. They beat up Scott and brought mom home. Grandpa had the marriage annulled and wouldn’t let Lynette out of his sight. Back then Great Uncle Herman was still living with his wife and kids on the other side of the mountain. He was already kind of weird. Grandpa sent Lynette to help Herman with the farm and wait until I was born. She came back to the house on Forest Road after.”
“Meanwhile Mrs. Beaton had stopped going into town,” said Ralph. “Old man Beaton put it around that they were expecting a new addition, an afterthought. No one in the valley said anything, but most people knew that after Doug was born Mrs. Beaton had had her tubes tied so she couldn’t have no more kids.” Ralph bent forward, listening to the hum of the engine. “I think the points need work, Ty.”
Ty was still sorting through what Ben had said first off, that Scott was his dad. The ongoing saga of how the young couple got separated didn’t matter. Ty was busy putting the pieces of the puzzle together with what he already knew. That explained the ring with the initials. It was SA and LB. That also helped him understand his mother’s strange comments about Ben, and her lost friendship with Lynette.
“So why did your mom put up with it? Why didn’t she run away?” Haley was shaking her head in disbelief. “Your grandpa didn’t own her life.”
“You don’t know my grandpa Beaton. He makes old man Graham look like a pussycat.” Ben shrugged his shoulders. “She was young and scared, that’s what she told me. After Scott died, she took me to his trailer and we went through all his art. She told me the whole story. She wanted me to know. She wanted to leave then but she didn’t have the money, didn’t have the courage maybe. Anyway she wants to leave now. She and I might move to Calgary. Lynette wants to go back to school and work part-time. There’s a new oil boom.” Ben sighed. Then he continued his story.
“She nearly went with Scott when he came four years ago. She told me we might be packing up. I wouldn’t have minded. Doug is an awful tease. Sometimes he beats me up just for the heck of it.”
Ty looked at Ben and realized how the Beatons must see him. He was half-Armstrong and half-Graham, a bad combination all round.
“But it was Grandpa that shot at my dad’s car, hit the front left tire as Scott wheeled out of the yard.”
“He shot at Scott’s car,” Ty repeated.
“Where were you,” Haley asked, “while all of this was going on?”
“I was upstairs in bed in the room I share with Dougie. Dougie was swearing at Scott. Said he was a show-of, a smart-mouth just like me. I wasn’t a real Beaton. I was an Armstrong, probably grow up with a big head and a big opinion of myself just like my dad. I should stick with the Beatons. They didn’t put on airs. They were the real pioneers, the only true originals in the valley. Didn’t need anyone else.”
“A few minutes later I heard the crash at the end of the road. Grandpa wouldn’t let us go down there. He called the police though. That’s all he did. Mom cried for ages.”
The dark pine trees crowded the road as the car wound its way past the gas station and the crowded Cedar pub parking lot. The asphalt glistened like it was sprinkled with diamonds. Two deer loped across the road. Haley swerved to miss a dead skunk. The foul odour filled the little car.
Haley turned in at her aunt’s lane. Pale yellow bulbs in the living room lamps sent streaks of light across the road. Haley stopped the car and climbed out. Ralph crawled over and took the wheel. Haley leaned in the window. “See you tomorrow, guys.”
She turned to Ben. “What made you drive into Ty’s yard on your own, Ben?”
Ben pushed his hair off his forehead and wiped his chin. “I always wondered about Dad’s car, where it went and all. When Dougie and I drove into Ty’s yard and saw it sitting there, my first reaction was to be mad. Then I thought it was really neat that someone was rescuing my dad’s car. He loved that car. He’d take Lynette and I for rides whenever he came back to the valley. They were still good friends. Even if she hadn’t stayed with him. Scott sent money to Mom to help buy me stuff. We had to sneak around Grandpa, of course. But it was kind of fun.”
“But you and Dougie messed up the car,” said Ty.
“I know. I couldn’t figure out how to stop him. But while I was helping I was thinking. I was thinking I was sick of pulling everybody and everything down. I liked what you were doing to the car, okay. So when Dougie left to fight the forest fires, I came over. It took me three days to get up the nerve.”
Haley nodded and straightened up. She
patted the roof of Princess like the car was a friend and turned to walk into the house. “This waking Princess has changed a lot of lives in this valley.”
“If I can get the boat tomorrow, do you and Ty want to try water skiing after we work on the car?” Ben asked. “When do you want to swim the lake?”
After Princess was locked in her garage for the night, Ty said goodbye to Ralph. “What do I owe you for the work you did and the parts?” he asked.
Ralph grinned. “It’s all part of the fine service from Ferris Auto Parts.” He drove off in his van. Ty heard the steady thrum of the engine as Ralph headed down the road to his parents’ place with three ripe zucchini for his mother lying on the passenger seat. He’d told Ty to drop by after he had picked up his license and he’d give him some great sandpaper to work on the body. He had the same colour of red paint as the original car. Ty figured it would honour his Uncle Scott to renew the paint job.
Ty’s dad was standing on the porch as he waved the van away.
“You’re home,” Ty said.
“I needed a break.” Dad rested his half-empty beer bottle on the porch railing and cleared his throat. Ty came up the steps toward him, turned to survey the darkened yard. Moths flitted in the pool of light from the pole near the pickup truck. The smell of ripening apples filled the cool evening air. Leo stretched out his dog’s body between the boy and his dad.
“I haven’t been around much this summer, I guess,” Ty’s dad said, stating the obvious. “You’ve done quite a bit, I see.”
Ty shuffled his feet and grasped the railing for support. He couldn’t think of anything to say. He couldn’t think of the last time he and his dad had had any conversation. But he had a few questions he wanted answers to. He thought about how Ben Beaton, or should he say Ben Armstrong, knew more about his family history than he did.
“How’d you figure out how to fix a VW?” his dad asked.
Ty answered that easy enough. They sat on the porch steps and he described what he had done, step by step. The two of them strolled over to the garage. Ty opened it up. Lyle held the work lamp as Ty lifted the hatch and showed his dad the inner workings of the car. He explained in detail the intricacies of making an old Volkswagen work.
Ty locked up the garage.
“Why don’t I rustle up a mess of scrambled eggs and toast?” Ty’s dad chuckled, “for the conquering hero.” He nodded his head and headed to the refrigerator.
Ty sighed. That was as close as his father would come to giving him an out-and-out compliment. It felt good. He gazed around and noticed how quiet the house was except for the cracking of the eggs on the edge of the frying pan.
“Where’s Ma?”
“She’s gone to bed.”
Ty looked a little worried. But his dad reassured him. “It’s okay. She’s taken her pills. She was just tired. She’s been helping Robin Nixon get in the last of the ripe zucchinis. Veronica’s asleep beside her. I’ll have to carry the little tyke into her own bed.” He moved toward the stairs.
“Your mom is sure pleased. She’s looking forward to driving her brother’s car around.” The bottom step creaked as his foot touched it. “I like her being happy. I couldn’t seem to bring that off.”
Ty cleared his throat. “Dad, what really happened to Uncle Scott? Ben told me about being Scott’s kid, about he and I being cousins. How come you never told me?”
Lyle Graham stopped in his tracks. He turned and faced Ty. “There never seemed to be a good time.” He paused, ran his fingers through his dark hair. “You grew up too fast. Your mom wasn’t about to say anything. She probably wanted to, but I don’t think she can talk about it even now. I keep hoping she’ll get over it.”
And you, Ty thought, you don’t like dealing with stuff much either, you like to leave things be.
“I’m old enough now. I’d like to know what happened, Dad.”
His father’s shoulders slumped and he sat on the arm of the couch. “I was away, cutting lumber north of Nelson and couldn’t get home. Your mom said it was alright, that Scott was coming from Calgary to be with her.” Ty’s dad blushed. “I’m not so good in delivery rooms. I fainted when you …” he paused, “when you were born.”
“Scott was at the hospital?”
“Sometimes having a baby takes a long time. He left to go and see Lynette.”
“At the trailer?” Ty asked.
His dad nodded. He rubbed his right forearm roughly and stared at the floor. “He took Lynette home when the hospital called to tell him that your mom was asking for him.”
“Ben told me Lynette’s father shot at the car. That’s when Scott had the accident.” Ty paced the floor. Blood pounded in his skull. He banged his balled fist into the palm of his left hand “No wonder the Grahams have no time for the Beatons. Was there an investigation? Wasn’t old Beaton punished?”
“No one saw the accident. No one could say whether the car swerved because of the blown tire. There was just a lot of silence and a lot of casseroles and comfort flowing to our house. The valley’s like that. We take care of each other when the need arises. The Beatons didn’t show their faces much for a couple of years.”
“But our family. We lost too much.” Ty sighed.
“More than you know, Ty.”
“What do you mean?” Ty asked. What more could there possibly be?
“Your mother had a bad night, that night. The delivery didn’t go well. She didn’t know where her brother was or why he hadn’t come. No one would tell her anything. Your sister took her own sweet time arriving.”
Ty nodded.
“When I got there early the next morning, I was met by the nurse. She gave me the news about Scott. She gave me the news about Veronica.” Here his dad took a deep breath. He sat down on the couch, put his elbows on his knees and supported his bowed head with his hands. Ty sat in the old green chair.
“Veronica had a twin sister, Julie. Julie didn’t make it. She was stillborn.”
“Veronica had a twin?”
“Yes.” Ty’s father slid down further on the couch.
“Julie didn’t make it.” Ty got up and stared out of the window into the darkness. “I had a little sister that I never knew about.”
“I had hoped I’d never have to tell you. It’s not really kid stuff. I figured what you didn’t know…”
“Wouldn’t hurt me.” Ty walked across the room and sat beside his father. “Kids nowadays want to know, Dad. It’s a different world. If you don’t have all the information, if there are too many secrets, kids can get really confused about who they are and whether they really know who their family is.”
There was the sound of slippers shuffling on the stairs. “Is that you, Lyle?” Grace Graham appeared at the bottom of the steps. “And Tyler too.” She was smiling sleepily. “I thought I heard voices. It’s nice to hear voices talking, nice to see our family together.”
Ty sprang up from the couch as if a spring had launched him. “I’ll make some tea, shall I?” He ran into the kitchen and filled the kettle with water.
He wanted to shout at his folks. God, what a soap opera, what a sitcom. In his own life. Ty didn’t know whether to be mad at his parents for not telling him everything when he was eleven, or sorry for them because they had lost so much on that day four years ago. Neither one of them had been able to share that pain with anyone. Not even with him and he was their oldest kid.
He poured the hot water out of the teapot and threw in the tea bags. Then he filled it with boiling water and put the teapot on the tray. He lined up three mugs, three spoons, three napkins, and three of his mother’s homemade biscuits. He took the small pitcher of fresh milk from the refrigerator and placed it on the corner of the tray.
His Mom and Dad were leaning together on the couch like two shipwrecked lovers. Maybe they could get on with working out some things now.
Maybe he could get on with fixing the car. “Tea’s ready,” he said.
Chapter 18
Ben cam
e driving into the Graham’s cove in his uncle Marvin’s motor boat the next afternoon. A couple of phone calls and Haley and Ty were there to meet him at 3.00 p.m. They had all their gear and a lunch ready. With Ben at the wheel they roared around the lake, taking turns water skiing. The three of them swam and dived in Graham’s cove. They found the spot on the other side of the lake where they wanted to start their swim from and discussed times and dates. After all the effort they lazed around on the beach with Leo forcing them to play in the water with driftwood every once in a while.
Ben had tied up at Ty’s dad’s dock. It was protected from the lake swells by giant boulders that Grandpa Graham and Lyle had blasted so that their cove would have a sheltered bay for boats and toddlers.
“I’d like to go back to my dad’s trailer. Lynette says that mountain quarter is Armstrong land. Armstrongs signed it over to Scott when they retired. He kept all sorts of his art in the trailer. I drew pictures with his fancy drawing pencils.” Ben blushed and took a great gulp of soda.
“I’m sure the key’s around somewhere,” said Ty. “I want to check it out too. My mom keeps going up there with a bag of stuff. I’d like to know what’s up there.”
“I’m curious too.” Haley stood and shook the sand off her swimsuit. She grabbed her towel and bag of clothes and disappeared behind the rocks. “Why don’t we go and have a look?”
“What about your mom?” Ben asked Ty.
“She and Dad and Veronica have gone into Benton to get my birthday present.” Ty looked down at the jeans and shirt he’d been resting his head on. “Seems I’ve changed shape this summer.”
“One gorgeous hunk now, my boy,” Haley shouted from behind the rocks. “You’re still a doofus when it comes to girls.”
Ty shrugged.
“Aren’t you two a pair?” asked Ben.
“Sort of. We’ve been focused on the car, haven’t we?”
“Tell me about it,” shouted Haley. “What’s a girl compared to a car!”
Ben pulled his jeans on over his nearly dried swim trunks. “She’s a pretty neat girl.”
The Ghost in the Machine Page 11
