“’Course, what else?”
“I thought you might have come out of the stone-age by now.”
Dave ignored the dig.
Mike pulled off Kelly’s steak, placing it carefully on a plate and presenting it to her.
“Thanks, Mike.”
“Say, Mike, you get started on yours, I’ll tend mine for another coupla minutes.”
“Okay, you want me to get the fire extinguisher ready?”
Barbara and Kelly chuckled. Dave was silent as he pursued his task.
The meal was good, and the conversation ranged over the usual topics of weather, the new townhouses, traffic in the city, and so on.
After clearing away the debris of the meal, they all sat around the picnic table, sipping at their drinks.
“I guess we’ll have a good sunset, by the look of those clouds,” offered Dave.
“Yes,” Kelly said, “I like sunsets, always brings back happy memories. When I was a kid, we had a cottage at Dayton Lake. Used to spend most of the summer up there. Had some wonderful sunsets, with the sun going down behind the trees on the hill across the lake.”
“Mmmm,” Barbara murmured.
“Did you go out on the lake much, then?” asked Mike, recalling that he had canoed up there a couple of times way back.
“Oh yes, they used to call me a ‘water baby’ when I was really small. I love canoeing. Had my own canoe when I was fourteen.”
“I’ve tended to prefer to look at the water rather than be in it or on it,” said Barbara. “I don’t know, I always feel uneasy when I’m too close to water.”
“I think you get that from your mother, Barb,” Dave said gently. “You know she’s terrified of water if it’s more than a bathtub-full.”
“Maybe so.”
The sun was dipping behind the clouds, and rays of sunlight shot out across the sky. Kelly finished her drink and stood up.
“Well guys, I really do appreciate you asking me over; I enjoyed it, thanks. But Hamish is probably getting desperate. I’ll have to give him his walk.”
“You’re very welcome, Kelly, any time. We’ll talk to you soon.” Barbara gave the response, with smiles and nods from the men.
Mike had stood up as Kelly rose, noticing a special glance between Kelly and Dave. “I have to go along to the store for a couple of things. Thank you too, for inviting me over. It’s been great,” he said to Dave and Barbara.
“See you soon,” replied Barb, as Dave nodded with a wink.
Mike followed Kelly out of the gate. “Mind if I join you and Hamish for his walk?”
She flashed him that smile again. “Not at all, Mike.” They quickly reached her house. “Won’t be a minute.” She opened her patio door and greeted Hamish, who had been scrabbling at the glass from the inside. Hamish scurried after her as she disappeared into the house.
It suddenly dawned on Mike. Had this evening all been a setup? Was that why Barbara had asked Dave to go help her with the dishwasher things, which seemed an odd request?
He smiled. So what? He was hooked, and happy so far.
Kelly soon emerged, with Hamish on his leash. “You wanted to go to the store?” she asked.
“Nah, it can wait, I’ll stop by in the morning on the way to work. Which way does Hamish want to go?”
“He likes going down that trail by that old wall, toward the stream.”
“Let’s follow him then. Did you say stream? I hadn’t noticed one.”
They began their stroll, Hamish in front, snuffling at the grass tufts.
“Oh yes, it’s called Otter Brook. That’s where the name Otterbrook Road comes from.”
“I see.”
After slowly following the old railroad track-bed, they reached the stream and stood looking out at the water swirling around the rocks from the vantage of the old pier of the long-gone bridge.
Mike was intrigued by the information that Kelly gave him about the history of the place, the railroad, the brewery, and so on, wondering how she knew so much.
“Because I like learning about new places,” she told him. The more they talked, the more Mike wanted to know about her.
They turned and strolled back along the trail, the last decaying rays of the sun striking chords across the darkening sky.
As they came to Kelly’s gate, Mike knew he couldn’t let things drop. “Kelly, one of the guys at work gave me a couple of tickets for a ball game on Saturday. Would you be interested in going with me?”
“Sure, Mike. I’d love to. What time?”
“Game starts at two-thirty. What-say we leave here around one-fifteen? Should be time to get parked and seated okay.”
“It’s a date, Mike. See you then. G’night.”
“Night, Kelly.”
Mike bounced along to his gate, and entered the house where he lodged. He dialled the Adkins’ number on his cell.
Dave answered. “Hi, Mike, good stroll?”
“You bet, you scheming devil,” Mike responded, grinning to himself. “Did you plan the whole evening?”
“No? It seemed to me you took over halfway through!”
“You know what I mean. You invited her over to get me interested, didn’t you, eh?”
“Kelly’s a very nice person, and she’s gone through a rough time. So have you, Mike. Barb and I just thought it was a neighbourly thing to do, as she is so lonely, and if something else came of it, all well and good.”
“I see. Dave, you said she’s gone through a rough time. I found out she’d lost both her parents. Is there more?”
“Uh-huh. She lost her husband in a diving accident. The scuba tank valve failed, or something. They’d only been married a year.”
“Oh my God, Dave. I wish I’d known.” Mike felt guilty, and figuratively kicked himself for some of the things he had said that evening—nothing bad, but had he known, he would not have said them.
Dave continued, “She and Barb and I have talked a bit, the few times we’ve seen her. I think she’s over the worst, but, Mike, she’s desperately lonely. And Mike,” Dave changed his tone, “I thought you two might be able to help each other.”
Mike swallowed hard. “Thanks, Dave, you’re great.”
- 16 -
Fortunately, the weather was cooperating. Dana stood at the edge of the wooden deck, leaning slightly on the handrail, surveying the growing crowd of people gathering before her in the backyard of the Johnson home. Everyone in the community, from the older homes and the townhouses, had been invited, and it seemed to Dana that almost everyone was turning out. Lawn chairs were everywhere.
The Johnsons had generously provided their yard for the meeting. Being on the outside of the Gardens’ street, they had one of the largest lots, shaped like a sector of a circle with the pointy bit cut off. There were several large trees at the back of the lot, serving to convert the sun’s rays into dancing fragments of sunlight as the leaves fluttered in the slight breeze.
Perfect, thought Dana, it couldn’t have been better.
She scanned the gathering, a friendly crowd, it seemed. People were turning to chat with neighbours; scarcely a single tongue appeared to be still.
Here and there, she saw her ‘allies’, the people who had wholeheartedly pledged their support when she and Tony had visited every home with the initial explanatory letter. And too, there were the surprises, those who unexpectedly had shown resistance to her idea. But one face she was depending on had not yet appeared.
“Hey, Dan.” Tony had jumped up the steps to her side. “Guess we should get started, eh?”
“Not for a few minutes. Mr Simpson isn’t here, and I do really need his support, Tone.”
“Don’t worry.” Tony put his arm round her shoulders. “He’ll be here soon, I’m sure.”
Dana thought back to only a month or so ago, when they had sat under the shade tree that hot July afternoon, where she first unleashed her idea. It had had its beginnings long before that, having gradually taken shape in her own mind. What had
started it she really didn’t know, but she was determined to see it through. It was tied, in a way, to her feeling of wanting to remember Bryce and Vincent.
That visit with Mr Hennigan had been a critical step; it had given her the confidence she needed. She realized, as she saw the expectant faces spread before her, the conversations having suddenly stopped and eyes now focussing on her, that she was in charge; she had the power.
A slight movement over to the right by the side of the house caught her attention. Tony stepped back from her as she saw George Simpson squeezing to a spot partway down the yard, by the cedar hedge. Mr Simpson looked at her and raised his hand in greeting. He had been most generous with his time and help over the past few weeks.
Time to begin now, she said to herself, straightening up, and pulling back from the handrail.
She chose her first words, and hoped that they would come out right. “I’d like to thank all of you for giving up your time by coming this evening.”
She paused to clear her throat. “And I do want to thank Mr and Mrs Johnson for volunteering their yard for this meeting. And,” she grinned, pointing upward, “I want to thank the person who booked the weather for us.”
A light ripple of chuckles passed through the gathering.
Dana felt the exhilaration that you get when talking to a large crowd on something that you feel very strongly about. “Over the past few weeks, Tony and I have visited pretty well all of you—at least we’ve talked to someone at every house about our proposal.”
She had come to refer to it as ‘our proposal’, even though it was truly her idea; Tony had only supported her, and had added nothing new or original. Yet she felt it was right to include him.
“But, as we went round, we sort of realized that some of you are on side all the way, others are not in favour, and others are somewhere in between. So we thought, like, the best way to explain, and hopefully convince the ones who were against, would be to meet like this.”
Dana paused to collect her thoughts, some of them being jotted down on the piece of paper in her hand. She glanced over to her mother, sitting down to the left near the front, smiling back at her. Mentally, she thanked her mother for her guidance and advice.
Caroline Munro had not at any point really said what she felt about the idea, but she had been an enormous help in building up Dana’s confidence for speaking before a large group. Caroline, being a teacher herself, had coached Dana during several evenings.
“Know your material,” Dana recalled her mom’s words. “Believe in what you are saying.”
“First,” Dana continued, “I want to take a few minutes to recap on the proposal, bringing in some of the problems that some of you raised when we came to talk with you. Then, I think it’s your turn to stand up and say what you think about it. I’d like to think that by the end, everybody will be in favour of the idea.
“It’s basically like this. The young people in this area have had nowhere nearby to do things they like doing for relaxation, or exercise, or,” she paused, then smiled, “even learning new stuff. If we want to play sports, we’ve had to go off to Otterburn Arena, and that’s always crowded, an’ some of us don’t like the kinds of kids that hang out down there. And, like, if we want to do something more creative, like, for instance, Fiona and her Highland dancing, there’s nothing round here.
“And it seems to me that, like, when you’re at a loose end, with nothing much to do and nowhere to go, that’s when you can get into big trouble, like …” And here Dana paused, because she had not said this at any of the homes they had visited, and it was going to be hard, though she had rehearsed it in her mind over and over again. “Like Bry—” Her voice broke. “Like Bryce and Vince.”
She was through it. She paused, in relief.
“We have to do something, so we’ll never have a repeat of that horrible night.” She had regained her stride. “We owe it to those boys, our brothers, sons, friends—we can’t just assume that everything will be okay, ’cause it won’t be if we don’t do something.
“And just look at all the little kids that there are round here now, with the new families that have come to the townhouses—where can they play safely?
“But it dawned on me that we could have a place for all of this, if we’re willing to put a lot of effort into it. And you know that I’m talking about the old brewery. And as you all know, Mr Hennigan, the owner, has really been wonderful. He’s told us that he supports the idea fully, and has already done some digging into details to check that it is feasible. I think that’s really great. And I’d like to thank another person that most of you haven’t met yet, and that’s Mr Simpson, who is Mr Hennigan’s lawyer. He’s standing over there by the hedge.” She indicated George Simpson over to her right.
Mr Simpson acknowledged with a raised right hand.
Dana continued, “Mr Simpson has helped us and advised us, I mean, me and Tony, a tremendous amount in these last few weeks, and we really appreciate it. Thank you.”
George Simpson bowed his head in acknowledgement.
“But now,” Dana went on, “now we come to some of the problems that some of you raised when we visited you. First off, the place can’t run itself. Somebody has to be responsible for the day-to-day running. Somebody has to actually pay the bills, and make sure the place is safe and secure. Like, we would need a sort of administrator. And, like, that could turn out to be a pretty demanding job, depending on how much the place would be open and used. Now, Mr Hennigan has a proposal about that, but I’m going to let Mr Simpson tell us about it a bit later on.”
Dana turned and whispered to Tony, who was standing in the shadows at the back of the deck. “Tone, get me a glass of water, please; I’m parched.” She turned back to her audience.
“The second point is there needs to be some kind of program of things going on, ’cause even though kids like to have free time to do their own thing, they do like to have some organized stuff. Some might like one thing, others something different. So that means there needs to be somebody, or maybe several people, who would organize activities, and keep things on some kind of track.
“A couple of people have said to us that there should be a committee of adults to make sure the place doesn’t get out of hand. But don’t you think that’s a bit of a putdown on our youths’ abilities? Yeah, I kinda see what they’re at, but I think a much better way is to have a young peoples’ council, say, five or six kids of different ages, and give them the responsibility to make sure the place works properly. To help them, I suggest there be two adults, a woman and a man, who would be advisors. I really think that’s the way to go for young people to learn about being responsible.
“A lot of you said it would be too big a job to fix up the old brewery, and cost too much, an’ when we were visiting you, we really didn’t have an answer for that. But we were sure then, and even more sure now, that with your help, it can be done. See, Mr Simpson told me a few days ago that Mr Hennigan had asked him to have an engineer check the buildings out, and the engineer had reported that they are still structurally sound, but would need to be brought up to today’s standards.”
Tony nudged her elbow and offered the glass of water. She turned, took it from him, took a long sip, and set the glass on the handrail. “Thanks, Tone,” she whispered.
She turned back to the crowd. “So you see, that eases the job a great deal. Also, Mr Ferruccio has volunteered his company to do all the construction work needed, like drywall, floors, and so on. And Mr DeLaunais has volunteered to do all the electrical and plumbing stuff. I think that’s a fantastic start, and I think if we all did a bit, the whole job would soon be done. Okay. I’ve probably said enough to start with. Now it’s your turn.”
To her complete surprise, her audience gave her a round of applause as she drank the rest of the water Tony had brought. She smiled and raised her left hand in acknowledgement.
There was a pause. Who would be the first to speak? Dana glanced across the gathering. Were
things going well or not? Her pulse was deepening; she could feel her heart thumping.
Slowly, Dwayne Hampden rose to his feet. She felt her heart quiver; Mr Hampden had been one of the surprises during their visits.
“Dana,” he began, “first of all, I really want to compliment you on having the courage to stand up and say what you have said to all of us here tonight. It’s not an easy thing to do, and we admire you for your initiative.”
He paused, and Dana was not at all sure what was coming next; Mr Hampden had been quite negative when they had talked with him.
Mr Hampden continued, “Now, when you and Tony talked with me and Mrs Hampden the other day, I brought up some points that you haven’t touched on—maybe you just haven’t got to them yet. But one of the things that concerns me greatly is this: how is all this going to be funded? Not just the fixing up of the buildings, but the costs to run the place, things like electricity, water, taxes—who’s going to pay the administrator you talked of? This small community isn’t able to come up with that kind of money. And you probably know that the city is cutting back on its support for similar programs elsewhere. You know, the Otterburn Arena has had to cut back its hockey schedules for the winter, and next year the softball leagues are going to have their equipment grants cut in half.”
He paused. Dana was just about to cut in when he started again. Dana smiled meekly, and let him continue.
“Well, that’s my first point. I’ll make my second and third points, if I may, and then I’ll sit down.
“The second problem is that with all the new townhouses, there’s just too much going on round here for comfort, what with all these new people with loads of kids, and all their cars. We don’t need another big attraction like a youth centre to bring in even more.
“The third problem I see kind of follows on from the second. It’s not from the kids of this community, but it’s from others that would come into the area, maybe friends, or friends of friends. Sort of gate-crashers, you might say. That sort of thing often causes a lot of trouble, especially in some parts of the city, with gangs—and then there’s the whole business of drugs. We don’t want that kind of trouble here, no thank you Bob. Now, Dana, if you’ve come up with some solutions, I’ll be glad to hear them, but I have to say, at the moment I’m not convinced that what you want will work. In fact, I should say here that I am against it.” He sat down.
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