Draft, Holiday Man

     I got impulsive one day when I’d been thinking about my holiday man a little too much and didn’t have enough to do to restrain me from my own impetuousness. I’d been unexpectedly released from parental duties by a change of plans request from my kids’ dad and instead of waiting for a reply to the letter I’d sent to Albert, General Delivery, Ladysmith, I quickly made up my mind to just go immediately, rfn. I stuffed my carrybag with the basics; spare socks, tee shirt, undies and a toothbrush and took the local bus to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal. This turned into a much longer trip than I’d prepared for, however I boarded the 1:00 pm ferry with moments to spare and then had time to relax and (too late) examine my choices.
       Was this really a good idea? Not sure; nevertheless I felt a strong certainty and confidence that whatever might ensue would not be awful. The brilliance of the day had definitely made a difference. Me, myself and I all had agreed on a definite no if it had been raining, or even looked like it might. But it wasn’t; it was hot, sunny and bright as a new penny.
I thumbed and got a ride quickly with a pleasant person who did not feel, and wasn’t, threatening; we chatted happily until he dropped me off in Ladysmith. I strolled down the leaf-spangled road to the harbour, down to the dock and then along the finger that had the most fishing boats tied to it.
       Although I looked hard I couldn’t see Silverwing. Anxiety shivered up my spine. It hadn’t occurred to me, so bent on seeing him as I was – that he might not even be here. I scanned the docks for Dave and Julies’ boat, Al’s fishing buddies; no sign of it either. No sign of either boat on the first finger, or on the second or the third.
       Swept by a wave of fatigue, disappointment and thirst I just stalled. What to do? Nearby, a man grinding the railing of his boat noticed me. He turned off the grinder and smiled. “You OK? Lookin’ for somebody?”
       “Oh! Thank you. I jumped on a bus to come here and see my boyfriend and he doesn’t even know I’m coming and I don’t think he’s here and…sorry. I’m rambling. I’m looking for a boat, Silverwing. Albert Munro? Do you know him? He’s been fishing crab here the last couple months with his fishing buddy, Dave and his wife. Julie.”
        He pulled off his faded red ball cap and scratched his scalp. “I dunno, I think him and his buddy left a couple days ago, not sure where they went. They had a trailer down the road a ways; maybe someone’s there?”
      “Okay, well; thanks a lot; I’ll check that out. Is it far to walk?”
      “O yeah, no problem; maybe half a mile?”
      I waved goodbye, thanked him again and retraced my steps along the docks and up the ramp and along the road, hoping it really would be a short walk. Sweat trickled down my back and armpits, dripped off my eyebrows and I was still so thirsty. Why hadn’t I asked the friendly fisherman for a drink of water? Why hadn’t I brought water?
Half a mile seemed a mighty long walk as the sun blazed down between the trees lining the road (thank you, trees) but finally ahead of me a hand written sign indicated the entrance to a trailer park. I turned into the driveway and looked at all the trailers. Which was Julie and Dave’s?
       “Yvonne!”
       I spun toward the voice, “Julie! Oh thank heaven, you’re here!”
      Julie cried, “But what are you doing here??”
      “I came to see Albert; I just thought I would surprise him.”
Julie had a peculiar look on her face. “Well that is some kind of perfect timing, because we are most definitely not here! We’re in Comox! The guys wanted to try some new territory so we went up there last Saturday. I came down to pick up the mail and I’ve been here exactly five minutes and I was just getting in the car to drive back.”
For long moments we stared at each other, awed at the magical precision of my arrival and her departure. Julie descended the trailer steps and opened her car door.
      “You coming?”
      “I’m in! If I can use your bathroom first. And get a drink of water. Please! I can’t believe it; that’s so crazy we just connected like that. Five freakin’ minutes.”
      “And I am not exaggerating one little bit.” Julie looked at me, her big brown eyes bigger than ever. “There’s a letter in the mail for him from you. I thought ‘he is going to be so glad to hear from Yvonne’.
       “O jeez, I thought he would have it by now. I told him I was coming to visit but was waiting for him to call me and then I just got antsy and started out today to come anyway, whether I heard from him or not. It never even occurred to me you might have moved. Omigod. That is just so…”
     “Unbelievable?”
     “Unbelievable.”
     All the way to Comox we marvelled over and over how unbelievable it was, and laughed hysterically each time we caught the other shaking their head or rolling their eyes.
      That was a nice drive, north to Comox in the late afternoon sun as it slid into early evening. Julie parked the car in  the harbour lot and I grabbed my bag and a box of their groceries and we headed down the wharf to the crab fishing boats. Julie boarded first, poked her head into the wheelhouse. 
      “There’s some mail for you, Al.”
      “Oh? Oh! It’s from Yvonne!”
      “And here’s Yvonne!” she announced. “Ta da!”
      She stepped back and our eyes met.
      O my. Even these many years later I am still so moved by the memory of the look on his face.

 

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