by Rita Feutl
“About two storeys high? Yeah, I think I’ve got it.” As Janey moved away from them, she pictured the tall fort, and the boy Black Bear leaving through the gate with his father. That same niggling feeling poked at her again when she thought about the boy’s name. Where had she heard it before? She mentally scrambled through the events of the past few days, searching, and then it came to her. Black Bear had the same name as that old woman she’d met with Anna!
Janey looked up from the edge of the sidewalk in excitement, then froze, and felt the hair on her arms tingling. The wooden house and that barn; she’d seen them before. The round barn was the same one she’d seen when she’d met up with Mrs. Henderson. It was a little closer to the house maybe, but the same size, the same height. This is just so creepy, thought Janey. I’ve never been here before, but I have. Am I awake? Am I dreaming? Am I here?
When the screen door burst open, Janey just about jumped out of her skin. But this was a very different Mrs. Henderson, who probably didn’t have a pair of itchy woollen stockings hidden somewhere in the kitchen. Janey backed away quietly and turned in the direction of the fort.
The walls, when she reached them, were as high as she remembered. She glanced around, half expecting a little girl with Louisa’s sparkling eyes to come barrelling around the corner. Grow up, Janey, she said to herself. A train whistle pierced her thoughts and a conductor called out, “Last train back to the station.” Janey glanced at her watch, and realized that if she didn’t hurry back, Granny would be kept waiting. She made her way to the platform and climbed on board.
THERE WAS NO YELLOW CADILLAC idling anywhere when Janey went through the exit. She poked her way through the parking lot, looking for a telltale gleam of chrome somewhere between the trucks and vans baking in the afternoon sun.
“Hey, Janey!” The call came from a small blue hatchback one row over. Mike was standing by the back door, waving wildly.The girl from this morning – what was her name? – was sitting in front with the window rolled down, picking at her fingernails with a bored expression. Great, just what I need, thought Janey, trudging over.
“You’re supposed to come home with us. Your Grandma sent us over to get you,” said Mike when Janey got closer. He scooted over to the far seat, leaving the door open for her. Before Janey could hesitate, the woman in the driver’s seat leaned across the girl and said, “Hi, Janey. I’m Jo Wegner, Mike and Nicky’s mum. Your grandmother was just feeling a little tired and I offered to pick you up. Besides, these guys were turning into baked prunes down at the pool.”
The girl in the front seat rolled her eyes.“We were NOT, Mother.”
“That’s because you hardly stuck your big toe in the water,” said Mike. “You were too busy ogling that one lifeguard.”
“Not a chance! He’s not my type. Too much brawn, too little brain. Besides, you were so busy doing cannonballs with Ben and Graeme and Ryan that there was hardly any water in the pool.”
“That’s because you and your friends climbed out and the water levels dropped by...”
“Guys! Enough!” Mrs. Wegner turned to Janey. “Can you guess that they’re twins?”
Janey climbed in and shut the door, wondering what was wrong with Granny. She tried shoving her grubby runners under the seat in front of her, but Mike seemed not to notice.
“So you wanna come with me an’ Nicky to the pool tomorrow?” asked Mike.
“Gee, Mike, you sound like a talking Sammy,” said Nicky from the front seat. “‘Ya wanna come, huh? Huh? Pant! Pant!’ Maybe she’s got better things to do. Maybe she’s more interested in history,” Nicky made it sound like a dirty word, “than hanging out at a swimming pool with us.”
Janey felt the blood rush up to her cheeks. It wasn’t the history that had drawn her here, she thought. It was Anna’s doll and her feeling of guilt.
“Nicky, Mike was just trying to be friendly,” said Mrs. Wegner. “And it can’t be easy for Janey out here all alone with just her grandmother for company.”
Despite the open windows, silence smothered the inside of the car. Janey peeked at Mike, who was staring resolutely out his side. Then she caught Mrs. Wegner’s eye in the rear-view mirror.
“So, what grade are you going into, Janey?”
Oh, no. Now I’m going to get the standard adult grilling, thought Janey. Do they take a course in this before they turn twenty-one? “Seven,” said Janey dutifully. If she asks me what my favourite subjects are, I’ll scream.
“That’s just like Mike and Nicky. So what are your favourite subjects? Our Nicky is the drama queen of the family, and Mike can do math problems that can cross my eyes.”
Okay, I won’t scream. But if she asks me what I wanna be when I grow up, I’m going to get out of the car. “Language Arts, I guess.”
“I always liked English when I was at school.You must like reading. What books are you reading these days? I wonder if...”
“Oh, Mother, puh-lease. It’s like you’re interviewing her for a job or something. Stop grilling her,” sniped Nicky. “Besides, it’s all pretty obvious. Let me guess,” she continued, putting a hand to her forehead as if she was communing with some faraway spirit. “She’s twelve, she’s going into junior high, she’s read Anne of Green Gables, she thinks Edmonton is incredibly boring, and she’d much rather be back in Toronto with all her cool friends.”
Man. What’s up with her? thought Janey. Just because I miss my friends doesn’t mean she has to... The car turned onto Granny’s street and Janey had to grip the armrest to keep from leaning into Mike. At least she doesn’t have a sick grandmother weighing her down. I’ll show her, she thought, righting herself. “I’d love to come with you tomorrow,” she said, her eyes challenging Nicky in the rear-view mirror.
“Great,” said Mike.“We usually head over around eleven. And bring along something to eat, otherwise you have to go home during the best part of the day.”
“Bye, Janey.Tell your grandmother that if she needs anything else, she should just call,” Mrs.Wegner said as Janey stepped from the car.
The house was cool and dark inside. “Janey?” The blinds in Granny’s bedroom were pulled down firmly against the light. She looked thin and gaunt lying on the bed, the bones of her face making funny shadows as Janey looked down at her.
“You all right, Granny?”
“I’m fine, kiddo, just a little tired. I’m sorry I couldn’t pick you up.”
“It’s okay. I’m going to the pool with them tomorrow.”
“Oh, good. Did you have fun at the park? You know, I forgot to tell you that your great-grandfather worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company.”
“At a fort like the one in the park?” A shiver of excitement crept through Janey. Maybe this was the clue! Maybe this was why she’d been sent back.
“Oh, no, dear, nothing as grand as all that. It was just a small outpost in northern Alberta, as near as I can remember. I was quite young.We left there shortly after your great-grandfather died.”
Another dead end.“Did you move to this house?”
“Oh no. We lived downtown all through the war. It was only after I married your grandfather that we moved here. He was very proud of this little house. And I’ve lived here ever since.”
Janey looked at the walls of the darkened bedroom and imagined living in one place for decades and decades. Somehow it seemed impossible. Her own parents had moved at least three times that she could remember. Dimly she recalled a house with a huge yard and a playset from when she was little. The next house was smaller, and now their home was about the same size as Granny’s, if you counted her basement. At least it wasn’t a tent, or one dark room shared with another family.
“Would you mind just fixing something for yourself tonight, dear? I think the weather’s just too hot for me to eat.”
“Sure, Granny, I’m happy with a peanut butter sandwich.” The shadows playing across her grandmother’s face looked soft and gentle. “What’ll we do tonight? Watch a little TV, or will y
ou show me how to cheat at rummy?”
The shadows disappeared when Granny grinned. “Let’s start with some TV and see if you’re up to it before the news comes on.”
THE NIGHTS AND DAYS slipped into a comfortable routine. Janey didn’t mind. After the excitement of two trips to Fort Edmonton Park, she just wanted normal. Weeks passed, mostly down at the pool, hanging out with Mike and, eventually, Nicky. Remembering the nasty business with Martin, Janey didn’t want to get on anyone’s bad side. She finally figured out that Nicky thought Janey was just a stuck-up kid from Toronto who didn’t like anything about Edmonton.
Things changed on a particularly gloomy and overcast morning when Mrs. Wegner offered to take her and the twins to West Edmonton Mall. Janey’s wild enthusiasm for the waterslides and roller coaster rides seemed to reassure Nicky. And when Janey told her that the rides at Klondike Days were the same ones she rode at the Canadian National Exhibition, Nicky figured that the girl from the East might not be so bad. The next day she showed Janey how to e-mail her friends from the public library.
Having access to e-mail meant Janey could keep in touch with her friends without pestering Granny about long-distance calls. She dashed messages off to Rebecca, Kira, and the others immediately, and then waited. And waited.
They’re probably off doing some really cool stuff, thought Janey, who had ridden Granny’s old one-speed to the library three days running without findng any replies.When she finally got one from Kira on the fourth day, it was disappointingly short.
“Hi Jane-o! Thanx for your message. It’s hot here. We’re just hangin’ out at the park. Gotta go. Me an’ Rachel are going to buy Slurps. She says HI.”The one from Deanna was hardly better.
Aaargh! What kind of a message is that? I practically beg them for news, and no one sends me anything except lame notes and stupid forwards. She smashed down on the keyboard, and a librarian looked at her disapprovingly.
Yeah, yeah, I’m going, she thought, logging off. She pushed through the doors of the brick building and unchained the bike.
In fairness, though, it’s not as if I was writing them a lot of interesting stuff, thought Janey. I mean, I can’t even begin to e-mail them about crashing into two different historical time zones.They wouldn’t believe me.
As the weeks went by, Janey was even beginning to doubt her own memories. She’d gone back into the garage once, to study the button she’d tucked into the overall pockets before she’d packed them away with the shirt and cap. But what did the button tell her? Not much, except she had a loose button that could, really, have come from anywhere. Exasperated, Janey slammed the trunk lid down and a whiff of woodsmoke rose up around her.
The fact that there were four different eras at the park nagged at Janey. Her mind kept returning to the cave she’d landed in after she jumped into the construction pit, and the more she thought about it, the more it seemed to her that one tunnel was missing that second time. She’d only had three ways to choose from, and the first time, she was sure, she’d had four.
If the four tunnels represented the four different eras at the park, maybe she just hadn’t picked the right era to visit. What if she went back again and there were only two tunnels now? She’d have fifty-fifty odds of picking the right one, and then she’d be able to do what she was supposed to, what that Mrs. Black Bear had told her.
Janey stood up abruptly from where she’d been sitting on the trunk. No way. Nope. It just wasn’t worth it. She was having a nice enough little summer here. She’d just hang on until the end of August, then she’d go home and meet up with her old friends again and start junior high and life would be perfect.
“Janey?” Granny stood in the doorway, her slight frame outlined by the afternoon sun.“I know it’s a lot to ask, but I was wondering if you’d come with me to my appointment. I’d just like...your company.”
Janey came up to Granny. “What’s this appointment for?”The force of her question seemed to make Granny take a step back.
“It’s just a checkup, kiddo, nothing serious. I probably shouldn’t even have asked... It’s just that it’s so...so gloomy in a hospital.”
Janey put her arm gently on her grandmother’s shoulders. “Course I’ll come, Granny. And after, how about I treat you to a Slurpee?”
LATE, LATE THAT NIGHT, so late, in fact, that it was already early in the morning, Janey dreamed that a group of angry fur traders waving wet letters in the air were blocking fire trucks from reaching Anna’s burning tent.The fire trucks kept ringing and ringing, but the fur traders refused to move. Granny stood on the other side of the trucks, calling her. “Janey! Janey! Hey, kiddo!” Though Janey knew, somehow, that this was a dream, she was still furious because she couldn’t get close to Granny. Someone shook her shoulders, and Janey woke.
“Janey! It’s your mum. She’s on the phone, all the way from Turkey.” In the early morning light, Janey stared blankly at Granny, whose fragile skull gleamed through the tufts of hair sprouting on her head.
“The telephone, kiddo. In the kitchen.”
Janey stumbled out of the bedroom and reached for the receiver. “Mummy?!”
“Hi, sweetie. I’m sorry I woke you. But I just had a sudden yearning to hear my baby’s voice. How are you doing?”
“I’m all right.”
“Are you keeping busy? Tell me what you’re doing.”
Janey yawned. It was awfully early. “I go down to that pool Daddy always talked about, even on days when it’s not so warm. Granny lets me use her bike. I’ve been to the mall; the big one. I guess you know that part. Did you get my e-mail?”
“I did. I’m glad you’ve found a way to get online. Still, every so often I just need to hear my girl talk to me.”
“Are you okay? How’s your project coming along?”
“It’s going really well. Everyone here seems to be quite excited about it. In fact, they’ve asked me to do more work for them after this.”
“Does this mean you’re not coming home at the end of the summer?”
“No-o-o,” said Janey’s mum, slowly. “I’ll be back, but I’ll be leaving again. I’ve even had a phone call from someone in Mexico.”
“Mexico! That’s, like, a whole continent away! Are you just abandoning me and Daddy here in Canada?”
“No, darling, of course not. Just because I’m away from you doesn’t mean I don’t miss you guys desperately. In fact, if the next project goes ahead, I was kind of hoping you might fly out with me for a week or two.”
“To Turkey? That would be so cool!” Janey was now wide awake.
“Now, don’t start packing suitcases yet. We’re still dealing with the paperwork, and that always takes forever. What’s going on there? Is Granny doing better? She said you were being a big help to her. Are you really doing some gardening for her?”
“Yeah, well, it’s not that hard.You throw in a few seeds, stomp down the dirt, turn on the sprinkler.The sunflowers are already up to my knees.We might have to dig up the concrete in our backyard when I get back to Toronto.”
“I don’t think the landlord’s going to like that.” Her mother’s chuckle made Janey’s heart lurch.
“I miss you, Mum. It’s okay here, and I even have some friends, but I really want to have you around.”
“Darling, it won’t be too long now. Have you heard from Dad yet?”
“Why? Is he coming out? When? Soon?”
“Oh dear, I hope I haven’t let the cat out of the bag and this was supposed to be a surprise. Look, I’ve got to go; my taxi’s here. I’m supposed to be having dinner at some swanky hotel with the mucky-mucks who make all the decisions.”
“Wait! Mummy! There’s so much more I need to...” Janey’s sleep-sloshed mind was struggling to tell...what? Her mum waited quietly on the line.
“Good luck with your meeting, Mummy. Love you.”
“Love you forever, darling.” Janey listened for the dial tone before she hung up the phone. Then she turned to her grandmother.
“Granny! Is Daddy supposed to be coming out here?”
Granny’s eyes twinkled. “Was I meant to tell you that? I thought it was a surprise. Did I get it wrong?”
“Granny! Tell me! Please, please, please!?!”
“And ruin the surprise?”
“Then he is coming out! Don’t look so innocent, Granny. I know you know something. So. When’s he coming?”
“Well, I’m not sure if your mother got mixed up with the time change and thought he was coming last night...”
“Last night!?”
“...but he’s arriving today at noon.”
AT THE AIRPORT Granny took a seat close to the exit doors. “You go ahead, kiddo, and bring him here. It’ll spoil him to have too many females drooling over him.”
Janey stood at the foot of the escalator, barely able to keep from jumping up and down. She had a sudden craving for one of her dad’s famous, feet-off-the-floor, twirl-in-the-air bear hugs. It occurred to her that she and Granny hadn’t had a good squeeze since the last time they’d been at the airport. And that was probably because Janey was afraid of hurting her, so fragile did her grandmother seem these days.
“Hi, sweetheart.” Her dad stood before her, looking down at her with the familiar crinkly lines radiating from his eyes. Janey flung her arms around his neck and instantly her feet were in the air and she was spinning around the arrival lounge, whooping in delight. Finally, he set her back down.
“I think I just smashed your feet against that poor woman’s bag,” said her dad, panting and grinning down at her. “Where’s Granny?”
“Hello, Alex,” said Granny, coming forward.
Turning, her dad dropped his arms from Janey’s side and paused a moment.Then he folded his mother gently in his arms. No wild bear hugs for her.
IT TOOK THREE DAYS for Janey to find out why her dad had really come to Edmonton.They’d had a great time until then. He took his “two girls,” as he called them, out for dinner twice, and told Janey all the news of her friends, gleaned from two chance meetings with Becca and Rachel at the video store. He admired Janey’s work in Granny’s garden and walked the neighbourhood with her, showing her some of his favourite childhood hangouts.
