The Paper Shepherd

by Olivia Landis

  “I think we should leave tomorrow,” he said quietly. Tiar’s eyes narrowed.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked with alarm. “We just got here.”

  “Tiar, you hate it here,” Max announced frankly.

  “I do not!” she protested, immediately slapping a mosquito off of her neck with a grimace.

  “You do, sweet heart,” Max said gently. “It’s not your fault. I keep forgetting you’re actually mostly British like Mom. I never expected you to take to sunlight and insects so badly. But, look. You’re burnt to a crisp and half drained of blood already.”

  “I’ll be better about sunscreen,” Tiar retorted quickly. “I’ll wear a big hat.”

  “And you’ll still be bored to tears,” Max predicted. “In retrospect, it was inconsiderate of me to have suggested we come out here, Little Bird. This is my passion, not yours. And I feel like I got you here under false pretenses not telling you it was a missionary site.”

  “Please don’t send me away,” Tiar begged, lowering her voice.

  “I’m not sending you anywhere, Little Bird,” he said tenderly. “I’m going with you. But we have to go home.”

  “Home to my uncle.”

  “Home to roofs and windows with screens and books and things you’re interested in.”

  “What if I stay in the common building during the day?” Tiar suggested. “They have a roof and screens and even air conditioning.”

  “Bird, be reasonable,” Max argued. “You didn’t come all the way to Canada just to hang out in a Laundromat.”

  “No, I came to Canada to spend time with you,” Tiar looked around and lowered her voice. “Max, I didn’t expect to like the whole digging up old stuff thing.”

  “Then why did you come?” he asked.

  “Because, I knew it would make you happy. I want to understand your world. I want to be a part of the things you love. I just want to be with you, Max.” Max took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe what he was about to propose.

  “Okay, Little Bird, I’ll make a deal with you,” he bargained. “In Pembroke, there were at least three book stores I spotted on the way through town. We can stay. But you have to promise me you will find some way to have fun indoors during the day while we’re at the dig.”

  “Okay, Max,” Tiar said, her face lighting up.

  “But, look, Bird,” Max said, his eyes full of sincerity. “You have to promise me if you’re getting bored, you’ll tell me. We don’t have to go home. We can go someplace else, okay? We can just drive around Canada and find something else to do. Promise?” Tiar nodded vigorously and then hugged Max.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I won’t let you down, Max.”

  “You never do.”

  14

  The next day, the three young men, along with a legion of undergraduate students from as far away as California, went to the dig site and helped to unearth a hearth and some well preserved cooking utensils. Tiar, meanwhile, found the three bookstores Max had previously spotted, one of which, to her delight, had a coffee shop. In addition, she had found several restaurants who severed food considerably better then anything that could be cooked on a camp stove. As the men hit the showers, she put a newly purchased table cloth on a nearby picnic table and started laying out a feast upon it. When her companions returned, they looked at the bountiful purchases, salivating. They had eaten nothing more than the snacks they could haul in their pockets all day and were famished. For ten minutes, they did nothing but eat. After they had gotten something into their stomachs, they began to realize how good the food was.

  “This is great, Tiar,” Kenny said.

  “Yeah, I thought Max said you couldn’t cook,” Tony added. “But this is amazing.” Max looked away, embarrassed.

  “He’s right,” Tiar confirmed. “I can’t cook. But I do know the secret to making any recipe turn out right is to start out with the highest quality plastic you can find. Then ask the locals what the most expensive restaurant is in town and you pretty much can’t go wrong.” She dropped a credit card onto the table dramatically. They all stopped eating simultaneously.

  “This can’t be good,” Tony said quietly. Tiar saw their concern and was determined to quell their fears.

  “Don’t worry,” she said emphatically. “I learned something very interesting when I went to the bank a few days ago.”

  “Which is?” Max asked nervously.

  “Well, I was going to talk to one of the tellers about getting some money out of a savings account I opened earlier in the summer. Apparently, my mom didn’t increase the amount of tuition she sends to my uncle for my education. So, my uncle told me the middle of last school year that I could either start going to public school or pay him the difference. As I obviously don’t have that kind of money, he was kind enough to loan me the difference at 20% interest until the summer so I could earn enough at my summer job to pay him back. So, he and I opened a joint savings account so I could put all my paychecks from the animal shelter there by direct deposit.”

  “But, St. Jude’s didn’t increase tuition this year,” Max said, seeming confused.

  “Yeah, well, that was the interesting thing I learned at the bank,” Tiar clarified. “The teller’s son goes there too. Imagine my surprise. I put three thousand dollars in the account so far and apparently all the money going out is an automatic payment to the company that holds the lease to my uncle’s car.”

  “He lied to you to get you to pay his lease?” Kenny asked in disbelief.

  “Yes,” Max said unemotionally. “You have to understand, he is pure evil.”

  “I thought you said your uncle was rich,” Tony said. “Why would he go through all that trouble for three thousand dollars. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “It doesn’t have to make sense,” Tiar said confidently from her wealth of observations on the topic. “It’s called greed. It is not money he wants. It’s more money. That is why he will never stop and that is why it is one of the seven deadly sins.”

  “Clever,” Tony said. “I’m sure I’ll end up stealing that some day to put in a sermon.”

  “Thank you,” Tiar continued. “And, you are welcome to it. So anyway, I stopped the direct deposit, but, my uncle, being the clever man that he is, made sure to pick one of those training accounts parents get for their kids that have all sorts of restrictions on it. So, I can’t write myself a check to get the money out or close it without his permission or stop payment on his car loan. I have like a twenty dollar a day limit on withdrawals from the ATM. However, I can use my bank card to buy anything I want.”

  “And, so you are going to spend it on food?” Tony said, not seeing the logical progression of these thoughts.

  “I can’t get back the money he already used on his car. There is $1500 left. I will be damned if I will let the next payment go through,” she said with surprisingly little emotion. “So, I have ten days to run it down to zero.”

  “So, it’s revenge,” Tony summed up.

  “It’s justice,” Tiar corrected. “It is my money. And, perhaps it will be educational for him—I mean, the embarrassment of having to explain to the car company why he stopped paying his lease. Maybe it will teach him humility. You guys are all into learning humility, right?”

  “I just don’t understand why you are spending it on food, though,” Kenny asked again.

  “Because my uncle is very clever and if I buy anything that can be of any use to him, he will find some way to steal it or return it and keep the money… or something. There isn’t much he can do if I literally eat the money away.”

  “So why not get yourself a hotel room and get out of this dump?” Tony asked practically.

  “And miss getting to share this glorious time with all of you?” Tiar said, slapping a large mosquito off her arm reflexively as she spoke. “Never. Now, do you think you guys could suffer through some lobster tomorrow?”

  “If we have to,” Kenny said with a sigh. “I guess.”

&nb
sp; “Good,” Tiar said with a grin. She walked over to a cooler she had bought earlier in the day and pulled out a box. “I hope you guys left room for desert.”

  Their fourth dinner, as promised, was lobster with a side order of risotto. Their topic of conversation had turned from the nature of Grace to the writings of Descartes. That’s what I get for going on vacation with two priests and a history major, Tiar thought to herself. She vaguely remembered that Descartes was the originator of the I think; therefore, I am argument, and that she had given up attempting to follow his logic several pages into his diatribe on the nature of wax.

  After dinner, Tiar and Max decided to take a walk along the river alone while Tony and Kenny played cards with some other college students they met at the dig. Max excitedly told Tiar about shards of pottery and tiny scraps of metal they had found earlier in the day, explaining the importance of each. Tiar was reminded of Max’s enthusiasm at the British museum. She could not help but smile. After a while of walking hand and hand, they sat down on a log near the riverbank.

  “Max, do you believe all that stuff Tony and Kevin were saying about Descartes?” she asked.

  “I buy the whole I think therefore I am part, but after that, I think the argument gets kind of shaky,” Max replied. “I do, however, have my own Descartes inspired proof that God exists.”

  “Tell me,” Tiar said excitedly.

  “Close your eyes,” Max instructed. “Now, think of the most beautiful tree you can possibly think of.” Tiar thought about the cherry tree outside the rectory of St. Jude’s church. Every spring, it was ablaze with soft pink buds. “Now, tell me, why are the bees attracted to the tree?” he asked.

  “It’s evolutionary pressure,” Tiar answered, her eyes still closed. “The bees most attracted to the pollen make the most food and thus have the most offspring to pass on their genes. And, the tree that makes the pollen most attractive to the bees get pollinated most and thus reproduces more.”

  “Very good,” Max said staring at Tiar. He could hardly bear how beautiful she looked in the dying light of the sunset, her eyes closed. “But why do you think the tree is beautiful?” he asked, whispering close to her ear. Tiar was silent for a moment, a small smile spreading across her face. His whole thought process unfolded in front of her. “There is no evolutionary reason for you to be attracted to the tree. The tree doesn’t need you, and you don’t need it. Your ability to see the tree as beautiful is God’s gift to you. And, for God to give us gifts like this, there must be a God.”

  When Tiar opened her eyes again, Max’s face was mere inches from hers. She wanted to tell him that she never felt so in love with him as she did right now. She wanted to tell him that when he shared these thoughts with her, his inner most private feelings, she felt like she could see his soul, and she could see that it was something good and strong that she could rely on for the rest of her life. But, she didn’t know how to say all of this without sounding blasphemous, so she kissed him instead. He wrapped his strong arms around her and kissed her back.

  They listened to the river rush over rocks and down the steep walls of the river bed. The sun had completely set over the land, and it was growing chilly. Max pulled Tiar’s head onto his shoulder and whispered into her perfect white ear.

  “I’m so glad we stayed,” he said.

  “Me too.”

  When the four travelers woke up the next morning, the familiar sound of rain nearly drowned out the cacophony of rapids in the distance. Tony and Kenny were impressed at how dry their tent stayed inside thanks to Tiar’s handiwork. But, dry or not, they couldn’t spend the day in their tents. The four of them made themselves presentable, piled into Tony’s Honda, and drove the 39 miles across Allumette Island to Pembroke. Tiar had already scouted out the most interesting places to spend time indoors in preparation for what she thought was going to be two weeks alone. She led her cabal of vacationers to the Hydroelectric Museum and the Champlain Trail Museum. When there was a brief break in the clouds, they crisscrossed the city following the Mural Tour.

  When they woke up the next morning ready to begin work again, the torrential down pour made the first day of rain seem like an insignificant drizzle. They found a restaurant where they could get warmth into their bodies in the form of hot chocolate and blueberry pancakes and planned out their strategy for another day indoors. After spending as much of the day as they could in Tiar’s three book stores reading about everything from football to the pyramids, they started rooting through the travel guides for Canada and looked for anything of interest within a hundred miles. They were dismayed at the proportion of recreational activities that required good weather like horse back riding and white water rafting. Fortunately, they found caves nearby in Eganville worth exploring. By the third day of rain, the four travelers were well prepared to deal with the weather. They got showered and dressed and headed off to a diner near the mall for another hardy breakfast which Tiar insisted on paying for. She said she did not care if they viewed it as justice, revenge, or her way of trying to shorten her uncle’s stay in purgatory, she would not let any one else spend a cent on food in her presence. After stuffing themselves with eggs, bacon, Canadian bacon, and several other meats they could not readily identify, they set off for the two points of interest they had read about the previous day.

  Around midday, the clouds parted and brilliant clear light shown down on them. They decided to head back toward the campsite for dinner. There would be no digging today, but they could have a picnic on the shore in Pembroke none the less. After a dinner of crabs, shrimp, sweet potatoes, and corn on the cob, Tony ran back to his car to get a soccer ball he had in his trunk.

  Over Tiar’s objection that they were far too close to the steep banks of the river for a safe game of soccer, the boys went at it full force. Tiar sat on the sides lines content to watch until Tony made the mistake of calling her a chicken. Tiar had never played soccer before, and she certainly did not think these were the ideal conditions under which to learn. However, she did have her honor to uphold. She jumped up and ran at top speed toward Tony and the ball. Not really having a plan, she ran until she knocked Tony down and, in a fit of flailing arms and legs, propelled the ball in a graceful arc into the angry, foaming rapids.

  “Well, there goes that,” Kenny said, reticently.

  “You’re just gonna let it float away?” Tiar asked looking at the three healthy young men lined up on the shore watching the ball get carried further and further away. They all turned their heads and stared at her dubiously. Tiar shook her head and stripped off her thin sweatshirt, kicking off her shoes simultaneously. Max, after a moment’s thought, started stripping as well.

  “What are they doing?” Kenny asked.

  “Going to an early grave,” Tony explained sarcastically. “Together. Quite romantic,” he added as he watched his friends clamber down the bank. Within seconds, Tiar was running toward the surf in only a sports bra and her denim shorts. By time the current was waist high she let out a high pitched shriek at the water which was much colder then she had anticipated. Max was a few yards behind her. They thrashed about furiously in the surf. Tiar giggled and she pulled into the lead. She slowed down for a moment to splash Max in the face. He let her get a few feet in front of him, then grabbed her around the waist and pulled her under. They disappeared for several seconds and then reappeared in a foamy, splashing sphere. Tiar was shrieking delightedly. She was moving fast, closing in on the soccer ball. She tucked one arm around it and with the other, started swimming toward the shore. Max, still swimming with both arms, beat her back to the river bank and ran off to Tony’s car to get an extra sweatshirt. Tiar approached the shore, finally reaching where her feet touched bottom. She waded out of the river, her teeth chattering.

  “You cheater,” Tony yelled, taunting her. “You’re not allowed to use your hands.” Tiar threw the soccer ball over her head at Tony, who had to duck to keep from getting hit. Then, she ran toward Max, the shaking of her legs slowing
her forward progress. She was like a beautiful dead body. Her skin was pale and covered with goose bumps. Her lips were blue. She clutched her shoulders for warmth, almost covering her hard, erect nipples. Max ran toward her and wrapped his dry sweatshirt around her shoulders. He held her close. She was still giggling, but also shivering uncontrollably.

  “My silly Little Bird,” he said, rubbing her back in a frantic effort to warm her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yuuu hummmm......” she said, nodding, her teeth still chattering. Max took the sweatshirt from her and rubbed her head with it vigorously. It was now nearly soaked. He picked up the long sleeved T-shirt he had just been wearing and pulled it over her head. Her lips and face were beginning to get some color back now. Max picked up her shoes and his shoes and wrapped them in the wet sweatshirt. He put his arm around her and they walked back to Tony’s waiting car. When the group got back to the camp, Tiar went to the common building to take a hot shower. She came back looking much more like a warm, live human being. She handed Max the bottle of shampoo they were sharing and he picked up his towel and went to take a shower himself. Tony, who had been talking to Max, was sitting outside their tent. Tiar sat down next to him.