Olivia's Mine (6 page)

“What about Britannia Beach?” Olivia asked.
“What are de, I mean, what are the winters like there?”

“Well, dey are not so bad as some places. You
know what it is like in Seattle. Rain, rain, and more rain. Mostly
de same ‘ting ‘ere. De winds dat come across de Pacific Ocean are
mostly warm. Dey keep things pretty calm. But sometimes ye get a
blast from Alaska, like we did in 1912. Dunt blame me for dat,
dat’s one of your United States of America. Den it can get really
cold. Now where Lucy lives, up at Jane camp, well, we got
tirty-five feet a snow one day. Sometimes if it’s really bad, we
dunt see Lucy fer munts. Sometimes we get a lot of snow. De Beach
site, where your house is, dat’s a liddle milder, counta de
currents comin’ off de ocean. You’ll need good boots but we’ll be
able to find ya,” the Captain laughed.

Olivia smiled. Frenchie’s words were
re-assuring.

“You told me you’ve been working these waters
for some time.”

“Aye,” he replied.

“You probably know the history of the mine
quite well…”

Frenchie noticed some hesitation in Olivia’s
voice.

“Misses, if ye got a question ye be best ta
be like Lucy and just spit it out. I’m gittin’ old, der’s no time
for beatin’ around da bush,” he winked.

“Well, I was wondering…you hear about these
things so often and Frank assures me everything’s fine, but then he
would, wouldn’t he? Have there been any deaths at the mine?”

The words were so full of uncertainty that
Olivia didn’t really know whether she wanted to hear the answer or
not.

“No, I can’t say as I recollect any of late,
at least not any dat didn’t ‘appen just because de miner was drunk
or stupid or both. Der was dat doctor who conked ‘is ‘ead, and
died, but ‘e was stupid dat dey. Dat’s why McMichael, ‘e has de
foremen check de worker’s breath before a shift ta make sure des
sober befer ‘e let’s dem clock in. I dunna like de man, but ‘e runs
a tight ship like dey say, I’ll give ‘im dat. Always lookin’ out
fer safety, not like de guy who ran it befer. Der used to be more
cave-ins and tings before McMichael took over. Tragic dey was, lost
a lot of good men. But nottin’ like dat fer a while. Not like what
‘appened in Alberta. Dat was bad. De whole side of Turtle Mountain,
it come tumblin’ down. Killed a lot of people. McMichael, ‘e read
de report on dat and ‘e hired some engineers from de Asbestos mines
in Quebec to come ‘ere and take a look-see. No misses, anyting dat
happens now would be an act of God, like dey say. And den God would
have to deal with de temper of McMichael, and I dunt tink even ‘e
wants to do dat, so I dunt worry aboud it too much.”

“Do you worry about anything, Frenchie?” she
asked.

“Not much Liv.”

Olivia blushed when he said her name.

“Well,” he said, “if yer gonna get familiar
wid me, den I tink you have to extend me the same courtesy. I’m
calling ye Liv. At least when it’s just us girls talkin,” he
winked. “Der’s tings in life you can’t change. You can’t change de
wedder. You can’t change de mind of the Irish-remember dat when
Lucy drives ye nuts. Ye can’t change water into wine, even doh it
would be a good ting if ye could. So, I try not to worry about
worryin’.”

“You sound like a smart man,” she
commented.

“No, I’m not smart. I’m born wid a lot of
common sense doh, and I wouldn’t trade dat for all the schoolin’
and smarts in de world. I’ve seen many a smart man do a stupid
ting, let me tell ye. I got a good memory, too. I hardly ever
forget a face. Dat man who was wid ye back in Seattle…”

“My father.”

“Okay. Yer fadder. ‘E’s been on my boat
befer.”

Olivia remembered her father’s warning about
telling to many tales about her family to strangers.

“I don’t think so Frenchie. People always say
that, that he looks familiar to them. It happens all the time.
We’ve often joked that he has a twin brother running around
somewhere.”

“Well, den, I must be mistaken. Must be
de “
deja-vu
”. Dat’s what we
say when ye feel like ye’ve seen, or been somewhere befer. ‘E must
have a common face, like ye say.”

But Frenchie knew better.

It had been a rough night a sea some twenty
odd years before, the night he carried William Bower up to the
Beach. The waters were choppy and an eerie grey green in colour. It
was dark and it was late, but no one aboard the Queen Mary was in a
mood to sleep. The swells were crossing the deck and the winds had
not let up for several hours.

As they passed through Puget Sound, just
passed Port Townsend, Frenchie had heard a cry in the night. There,
on the starboard side of the boat, was an overturned fishing
vessel, with two men clinging to it for their lives. It was a
wonder the two ships had not collided.

Frenchie instructed his First Mate to take
care of the boat while he tied himself to the guardrails and began
the rescue attempt. To his surprise, his own passenger, the same
William Bower, instantly did the same thing, and together they were
able to pull the freezing men from the water. Bower bundled the men
up and helped carry them below deck. They knew the men needed to be
hospitalized, that they might not make it through the night, but it
was too dangerous at sea to take them to Victoria, the closest
centre with the right kind of medical care. Even though it meant
that Bower would be a day behind for his important meeting, they
decided to take refuge in Oak Harbour and transport the men over to
the island the next day when the seas cleared.

It turned out that two other men had been
lost from the fishing boat that night. How long they had suffered
no one knew. Hypothermia had probably taken the fight of life from
their bodies. No, the Captain and crew and one particular passenger
of the Northern Mary were very indebted to their makers that they
had been able to save two lives that night, two lives besides their
own.

It was when Frenchie learned that this man
Bower, was headed to meet McMichael, that he began to wish they had
headed straight for Canada and not been delayed. For even in his
early twenties, McMichael had been a force to reckon with. But when
Bower finally arrived, there were no harsh words from McMichael.
Bower apologized for the delay, told McMichael the story, and
McMichael took Frenchie, his first mate and Bower out for dinner.
The first and only time it ever happened. They had talked for hours
about the railroad, how it had been promised to British Columbia as
part of the province joining into Confederation, and how the
scandal of misappropriated election funds had delayed its becoming
a reality until the “last spike” had been laid at Craigellachie,
British Columbia, November 7’th, 1885. This man Bower, he knew all
about the railroads, Frenchie remembered that much. And then the
talk had turned to the mine, where McMichael was the foreman at the
time, and Frenchie and his first mate had been politely, but
decidedly, dismissed.

No, Frenchie did not forget that man’s face.
But that had been many years ago.

As fate would have it, it was raining as they
headed north this Sunday morning, up Howe Sound to the Beach.
Captain George Vancouver had named Howe Sound in honour of Admiral
the Rt. Honourable Richard Scrope, the Earl Howe. Earl Howe had won
many battles for the British Royal Navy, his most famous one coming
in 1794, where he defeated a much larger and faster French fleet,
capturing seven of their ships in the process. It was a fairly
sheltered sound, being cushioned to the east by the lands of the
Sunshine Coast.

Lucy had opted to stay inside and tend to the
baby. Melissa had managed to pick up a runny nose despite
Frenchie’s constant tender loving care.

Olivia sat down beside her.

“She’s beautiful, Lucy.”

“She is, isn’t she?”

The baby had been born with a full head of
hair of the same nature as her mother’s, the curls cascading over
her forehead.

“I had a tough time with her,” Lucy shared.
“Robbie had been an easy birth, but Melissa had turned inside me. I
lost a lot of blood, and the doctor didn’t think I was going to
make it through the delivery.”

She paused for a moment and looked at her
daughter. A tiny hand reached up and grabbed a strand of her
mother’s hair. She sneezed, and Lucy carefully wiped her tiny nose
with her handkerchief. Olivia smiled. Such a tiny little sound. The
baby made a face, but hardly squirmed.

“Robbie used to laugh like crazy when heard
himself sneeze at this age…” she paused for a moment.

“The doctor told me that I probably shouldn’t
have more children, so I treasure these two with my life. I come
from a small family, it’s just me and my parents, so I just wanted
to have a house full of children. But I need to be content with the
two I have been blessed with.”

Olivia truly didn’t know what to say to the
woman. After all, she had just met her, and she herself would not
have been comfortable divulging such secrets to little more than a
stranger. Perhaps, she thought, Lucy felt some sort of kindred
spirit with her. Lucy had made the statement rather matter of
factly, as if her life were an open book.

The boat hit the dock with a thud. Olivia
grabbed a nearby rail to hold on.

“Sorry ‘bout dat”, came a call from on deck.
“We’re here ladies.”

Olivia stepped back on deck. It was a dreary
day at Britannia. The rain was making it difficult to see very far.
She could see groups of little cottages, interspersed up the
hillside like little individual communities. Further up the hill
there appeared to be some dormitories, and she could make out the
sign of the red cross on the larger building to the west, marking
the hospital.

“Welcome to Britannia,” Lucy said, as she
bundled herself and her children in the blanket to protect against
the rain. Robbie had noticed his father coming down the dock and
ran towards him.

“Daddy!” he cried out.

“That’s my Marty,” Lucy said. “Marty, come
here, come meet Olivia.”

Olivia glanced around but could see no sign
of Frank.

“Pleased to meet you Olivia,” Marty smiled.
He was a good-looking man, a little shorter and more barrel-chested
than Frank, with an easy-going air about him.

Marty glanced around and noticed that Frank
was not in sight.

“I don’t know where he is,” Marty offered.
“You’re all he’s been talking about all day. I saw Howser, one of
the guys, at the door a few minutes ago when I was coming down the
hill, and Howser, well, he’s a handful. I suspect Frank will be
here any minute now.”

The kind words did little to comfort Olivia.
She was miles from home, away from her family, and there was no one
there but relative strangers to greet her. She began to fight back
the tears.

And they she heard him. The whole town heard
him. He came running down the road, (more of a fast limp really,
with his sore leg), waving his hands and yelling her name.

“Liv! Liv, I’m here!”

He took her in his arms and she smiled the
most beautiful smile in the world.

“I’m sorry I was late. Welcome to your home,
baby,” he whispered. “Welcome to Britannia Beach. How was the
trip?”

“Fine,” Olivia said. “Everyone was really
nice.”

Frank could feel her shiver in his arms.

“You’re wet, and you’re cold, Liv, come on,
let’s get to the house where I can warm you up.”

Olivia gave her husband a squeeze.

Frank turned and waved to Frenchie and his
first mate.

“Thanks for taking care of my precious cargo
Frenchie,” he said.

“Our pleasure,” the Captain replied.

“So how was the trip?” Marty asked Lucy, once
they were back in the house and the kids were settled down for
naps.

“Oh, you know, the same as usual. Mom and dad
held the kids all weekend. Spoiled them rotten. Mom got Robbie a
huge sack of candy. Thankfully he didn’t eat it all. She said she’d
save it for his next visit, and Robbie told her he’d be back
tomorrow and to take good care of it. So good luck tomorrow when we
have to tell him he can’t go. We’re going to have to take him down
to the general store and get him some candy, you know that. They
send their love, and dad said if you could get some time off, he’d
like to enter the salmon derby with you and his buddy Roger again
this summer. So I told him you would, because you will, right? He
was thrilled. Says he’s got a new lure to show you that will do the
trick. I had a nice time. I actually got a bit of a rest. What did
you do?”

“I worked some overtime, which is good,
considering apparently I’m taking some time off the 4’th of July
holiday to go fishing with your dad. You keep forgetting it’s not a
holiday up here. The holiday here is on the first of July. Don’t
worry, I’ve already got three days booked off. I told McMichael I’d
work the Canadian holiday if I could take a few days around the
American one, and he was happy. Harry said he would cover me the
other days.”

She laughed.

“And,” Marty said apprehensively, not wanting
to change the mood, but knowing he must, “how are you feeling? What
did the doctor say?”

Lucy’s smile vanished. She sat on the
bed.

“He said that she’s not hearing
properly.”

Lucy started to cry. Marty stepped forward
and held her close.

“You know how she doesn’t react to sounds?
How she doesn’t seem to hear big noises around her? Oh, I know she
reacts to us when she sees us, but remember the time Robbie’s
balloon popped right beside her and she didn’t even flinch? He said
it wasn’t normal. He said she’s going to have to have more tests
when she gets a bit older, to tell how much of a hearing loss she
has. She’s a little too young to tell for certain right now. He
thinks it might have been because of the mumps you came down with
just before, you know…” her voice trailed off.