October 13th, 1971
“You’re not nervous, are you?”
I turned to Cameron, fully aware of the sheepish look on my face, but didn’t say a word. Even if I had, no one else would have heard me with the sound of the engines beginning to overpower our conversations.
He smiled reassuringly and gave me a swift kiss on the cheek. “You don’t need to be, my love,” he said to me. “If he is what you say he is, he’ll be happy to see you.”
I murmured a thanks, but Cameron’s words hadn’t done much to calm me. He was right, though. In the last few days, he had asked me about Mark and my relationship with him, and I’d obliged him by telling stories.
“It was near the end of summer and Lil and I had been living with Gran for a few months,” I recalled.
“Fifty-six, then?” Cameron asked, making sure of the year.
I nodded. “Yes. Gran gave us miles of freedom compared to what we had had before, but I didn’t push it,” I explained. “Mark came over for supper that night, then we walked around for a bit and ended up in a park. I started crying and he hugged me until I could breathe again.”
“What had upset you?” Cameron watched me carefully as I spoke.
“My mom, mostly. I was sad she was gone, but happy that my dad had left too. I think it was just too overwhelming,” I admitted. “Anyway, after a while, some guys came up to us and made trouble.”
Cameron raised his eyebrows but didn’t speak.
“They’d said something along the lines of me being a ‘typical woman’ and Mark acting like one too, by comforting me. He beat the shit out of them,” I said with a chuckle.
“He defended you.” Cameron’s tone suggested he approved, and I smiled despite myself.
“He did,” I agreed. “He always did.”
During the plane’s descent to land in Vancouver, I began to feel the worry rise inside me once more. I’d spent most of the four and a half hour flight asleep, blissfully unaware of my nerves. Cameron kept his hand on mine from the time we exited the plane to our eventual stop at baggage claim.
“Where’s this mythical friend you’ve been telling us about?” Dale teased as he lifted his suitcase off the conveyor belt.
Luckily, Willie and Lee’s were next up and I knew Cameron would grab both mine and his, so I glanced around as I spoke. “He said he’d be at arrivals, but I don’t see him yet.”
“Do you know what he looks like now?” Willie seemed skeptical of my ability to recognize Mark, but I didn’t blame him, either.
"I'm pretty sure I would recognize him," I began, just as he came into view. "Even if he wasn't holding a very large sign."
I watched as Mark stride towards us, I couldn't help but laugh with relief. The sign he held had 'Cutlass!' written on it, and the grin on his face was all the more reassuring.
Mark stopped a foot away from me as he greeted me, as if it had been weeks and not years since we'd seen each other last. "How was the flight?"
I smiled and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. He seemed hesitant to reciprocate, likely due to the five men standing behind me, but only waited a moment before returning the embrace.
"The flight was fine," I said to him with a smile. "I'm really glad to see you, Mark."
"Me too, Emily. Now, who's who?"
I turned and introduced him to the band. "Willie, Dale, Colin," I began, motioning towards each of them as I said their names, "and Lee and Cameron."
Mark shook everyone's hand, but I noticed a strange and unspoken conversation between him and Cameron as their hands were clasped.
"It's very nice to meet you all," Mark said earnestly. "Though I hope you don't mind a bit of a drive."
We had separated into two taxis and travelled eastward until we reached Mark's cottage, about six miles past Chilliwack. The scenery was gorgeous; tall evergreen trees surrounded the large clearing on which the house sat, and the nearby river supplied us with the continuous rushing sound of water.
It was only when I managed to pry my eyes from the familiarity of cedar and spruce trees that I realized what I was looking at. “It’s a log cabin!” I exclaimed, though I’d meant it to be a question of sorts. “Must have cost a fortune,” I noted in awe.
Mark laughed, a familiar sound that made my smile grow, as he took the last suitcase out of the taxi. “Not to me,” he admitted.
As I monopolized Mark’s attention, Cameron snuck a few bills into the driver’s hand for the fare. Pleased with the cash payment, the driver gave us a nod and backed out of the driveway, just as the second taxi pulled in.
“A friend of mine’s uncle had it built, maybe fifty years ago,” Mark explained as he came to stand beside me. “His uncle died a couple years ago and he offered it to me at a great price. He just wanted to get rid of it,” he added with a sly grin. “I couldn’t say no, I practically stole it from him.”
I joined in Mark’s laughter and silently scolded myself for having been so nervous. Seeing Mark again, even after so many years, felt like finding a comfortable blanket you’d forgotten about, and I realized I’d been worrying for nothing.
I felt a strange sense of pride as I watched everyone carry suitcases up the front stairs and into the cabin. Mark had taken mine, but handed it to Cameron so he could unlock the door. The interior was nicely decorated, with knit blankets galore, though a slight chill could be felt in the air.
“I had a fire going earlier, I’ll get another going,” Mark informed us as he motioned to the fireplace. “Make yourselves at home, all of you. There’s five bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, two more down here. Kitchen, living room, bathroom,” he listed. “Roy is going to stop by later with more food and things, but there’s plenty already here.”
I was the only one who heard the comment about Roy, I noticed, when I heard giddy laughter and turned around in time to see the five of them scampering up the stairs to claim themselves a bedroom.
“They’re very talented,” I noted sarcastically, “for a group of seven year olds.”
Mark chuckled, crouching by the fireplace with kindling and a lighter. “Child prodigies!” he replied in jest.
I laughed along with him, but didn’t speak once he’d begun to concentrate on lighting the fire. He obviously had done it before and seemed very at ease with the procedure, so it didn’t surprise me that he had a small fire going in moments.
“So,” Mark began, a smile on his lips as he stood and faced me, “how have you been?”
I burst into a chortle and hugged him, finding my eyes watering as I spoke. “I’ve been all kinds of things, Mark! It’s so good to see you again.”
He held me for a long moment, and I felt comforted by the familiarity of him. I wanted to tell him as much, but he got the first word in when we pulled apart. “You’ve certainly changed, Emily. Last time I saw you, you were enrolled at a Catholic school, and now you’re travelling the world with five raucous men,” he jeered playfully.
“It could be worse,” I teased.
Cameron was coming down the stairs, and made a noise of casual disagreement. “I wouldn’t say raucous so much as enthusiastically rowdy,” he noted cheerfully.
Mark smiled at the comment. “Find a suitable room?”
“The kitchen floor would be suitable in this cottage,” Cameron replied. “But yes. I’d like to thank you again, Mark, for being so hospitable.”
“It’s my pleasure, Cameron. No, honestly!” he insisted, seeing Cameron’s mild skepticism. “It’s been a long time since my past has come to visit, and it’d be a shame not to have you all as my guests.”
Roy had arrived in the middle of the afternoon, and I was pleased to find he had a similar disposition as Mark. He reminded me of a friendly bear, seemingly built of pure muscle which left him nearly as wide as Dale and Colin put together, and taller than any of us by at least four inches.
As Mark had promised, Roy had come bearing gifts of the edible kind. I followed him to the kitchen and insisted on helping prepare supper, even though it was abundantly clear he didn’t need it.
“Have you ever been out west before?”
I lifted my head to meet his gaze. “No,” I answered. “I didn’t do much travelling before spring last year, but I’ve certainly made up for it since then.”
Roy chuckled at my dry comment, and politely ordered me to sit down and have a drink. I declined and tried to keep my place at the counter, but the look on his face gave me no doubt he would pick me up and place me on the chair if I didn’t do it promptly. I took a sip of the beer he thrust into my hand and giggled when I heard roaring laughter from the living room.
“They’re having a fine time,” Roy noted. “Won’t you join them?”
I caught his meaning and frowned slightly. “It feels weird,” I admitted quietly.
Roy hummed in thought. “Seeing Mark?” he asked. I nodded, but he already knew. “It’s the same for him, but he won’t tell you that.”
“Is it?” I hadn’t realized I’d spoken aloud.
“I met Mark in sixty-five. He’d just begun making a name for himself as a promoter, then,” Roy added. He stayed silent for a moment before continuing, though it seemed to be on a different train of thought. “My mother died a few years ago, on the morning before the moon landing. Mark showed up two hours later and kept me company. We watched the broadcast and I told him about my mother; he'd known her, but not well.”
“I'm sorry about your mom,” I said, my voice low.
“It's alright,” he replied gruffly. "He'd mentioned you before that day, but only briefly. He told me about you two growing up together, that he felt… remorse at losing touch." Roy hadn't been looking at me, but met my gaze with a firm look of conviction. "The point I'm trying to make, here, is that you're right. It is weird for you to see him again. But you'd be stupid to think it's not the exact same thing he's feeling."
I thought in silence for a time, and accepted that Roy had a point whose merit I couldn't deny. Mark would be heading back to Vancouver on Saturday afternoon and not returning until the following weekend to spend the last day at the cabin with us. I felt a quickening sense of regret at the thought of avoiding him for the three days I’d be able to see him, and stood from the chair.
“Thank you, Roy,” I said to him. He gave me a quick salute and we exchanged a smile, then I left to join the others.
The evening crept by, though I didn’t pay much attention to the clock. I only realized it was growing dark when we had finished eating supper and I’d gone into the living room to stoke the fire. I lost myself for a moment, looking at the burning embers and the flames that emerged with my prodding, and only caught the tail end of a conversation.
“You’ll join us?” came Lee’s voice.
“I’ll come out for a smoke, sure.”
I hadn’t heard Mark or Roy warn the men of the wildlife they might encounter, and a mischievous smile crossed my face as I returned to the kitchen.
“Careful not to wander too far,” I offered in an ominous tone.
Lee and Mark were already outside, but Dale stopped in his tracks. “Why not?”
“You don’t want to meet a bear at all, let alone in the dark,” I replied casually.
“What?” Willie was clearly disturbed by the thought, and I decided to run with it. After all, why not give them a little fright?
I brushed off his question with a flick of my wrist, and joined the men outside. With five of us standing on the porch and another three on the grass by the steps, I was glad of the ample space, especially when I brought up the wild animals again.
"If any of you see a bear cub, get as far from it as you can."
Cameron's eyebrows were raised, but he could tell I was being dramatic with my tone. "Why's that?"
"Mother Bear will be nearby and she won't like you," I answered plainly.
I caught Mark's eye and he winked discreetly at me. "There's bobcats too, around here," he added. "And I've seen my fair share of coyotes."
Colin's eyes bulged. "Coyotes?"
"What's a bobcat?"
"Different name for a lynx," I told Dale.
"Where the fuck did you bring us?" Lee interjected with a laugh.
"The wilderness calls, and its howl cannot be denied," Mark said solemnly. I wondered when he’d come up with that line, or if he was quoting someone. I didn’t ask, though, because he flashed a smile and added another warning. “Let’s hope there’s no moose nearby, either.”
I laughed, along with Roy, though the five men I’d brought with me seemed to be less amused by the prospect of meeting a moose.
“A moose, isn’t that an elk?”
“Basically,” Roy told Cameron. “Those things can grow as tall as me.”
“You’re six feet tall!”
“And five inches,” Roy said with a wink.
“Does anyone know the last rites? Mark, have you got shovels for our graves?” Willie asked with a gloomy, though feigned, hopelessness.
With reassurances that the likelihood of meeting any of the forests’ natural predators was slim, everyone relaxed. After another cigarette’s time, we heard a faint rustling nearby followed by a high pitched chittering.
“Please tell me that isn’t a coyote.” Lee flashed a look towards me and I could easily see the amusement under his annoyed tone.
“It’s a raccoon,” I answered. Roy confirmed my identification of the sound, and I smiled. “Do we have crackers? Raccoons love crackers.”
“You’re going to feed the thing?”
I turned to Willie and shrugged. “Whoever isn’t a wuss can feed them, too.”
The cabin was quiet, and only Mark and I were still awake. Tired from the flight, which to me seemed like days ago, the four of them had gone to their beds a few hours earlier. Cameron and Roy lingered with us, though fatigue came soon enough and Roy claimed the smaller room on the main floor. With my insistence that he get some rest, Cameron gave me a kiss and said goodnight to us both before heading upstairs.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such collective bravado to hide fear,” Mark told me through subdued laughter.
I chuckled and agreed with him. “I’d bet money that if any one of them hears an unknown noise tonight, there’ll be screams.”
A silent moment passed between us, then lingered. It was Mark who spoke first.
“I don’t know if it matters, but... I like Cameron,” he said earnestly. “He loves you, and he’s a good man.”
“Why wouldn’t it matter?”
Mark huffed in derision. “Come on, Emily. We’ve barely spoken since high school. Why would it matter what I think?”
“Did you sell your brain to buy your office downtown?” I snapped back, angry that he assumed I didn’t value his thoughts.
Mark didn’t say anything but looked at me with the hint of a smile on his face. “I wondered for a while, when I moved from Toronto, why you didn’t write to me,” he confessed. “I stopped after a year or so, but I missed you. What happened?”
I frowned, shaking my head. “Happenstance,” I answered. “There was a fire at work. I met the mailman on the way to work in the morning and he had a letter from you. I put it in my sketchbook and did my shift, but forgot to take it home. The next morning I got there and the building was still smoking.”
“You didn’t mean to stop writing to me,” he whispered.
I shook my head. “You’d already told me you were moving to Vancouver, and I guess the burned letter had the new address,” I mumbled. “I sent a letter to Toronto that same day, to tell you what happened, but you’d already moved. I scoured Vancouver phone books for six months but I never found your name,” I added, a sad laugh escaping me.
“I’m sorry, Emily.” Seeing my confusion, Mark elaborated. “I was mad at you for nothing.”
I chuckled, and found the tension lifting. “It’s no bother. With how many times I was mad at you, we’re even now.”
As we continued talking, about things big and small, I realized just how much had happened in each of our lives since we’d last seen each other. I told Mark about my sister and how she’d been; he knew Greg but had moved before Liliane and him began to date. Gran’s passing and the ensuing funeral fiasco and trip to Scotland, though, interested him the most.
It was nearing midnight when I’d finished recounting how Cameron and I met, and how he had been so genuine with me from the very beginning. Once I ended my monologue, I felt my eyes begin to droop and glanced at Mark. He was curled into the cushions, arms crossed and eyes closed with his head against the back of the sofa. I smiled, but only had time for one thought before I fell asleep.
‘It’s good to have him back.’
I turned to Cameron, fully aware of the sheepish look on my face, but didn’t say a word. Even if I had, no one else would have heard me with the sound of the engines beginning to overpower our conversations.
He smiled reassuringly and gave me a swift kiss on the cheek. “You don’t need to be, my love,” he said to me. “If he is what you say he is, he’ll be happy to see you.”
I murmured a thanks, but Cameron’s words hadn’t done much to calm me. He was right, though. In the last few days, he had asked me about Mark and my relationship with him, and I’d obliged him by telling stories.
“It was near the end of summer and Lil and I had been living with Gran for a few months,” I recalled.
“Fifty-six, then?” Cameron asked, making sure of the year.
I nodded. “Yes. Gran gave us miles of freedom compared to what we had had before, but I didn’t push it,” I explained. “Mark came over for supper that night, then we walked around for a bit and ended up in a park. I started crying and he hugged me until I could breathe again.”
“What had upset you?” Cameron watched me carefully as I spoke.
“My mom, mostly. I was sad she was gone, but happy that my dad had left too. I think it was just too overwhelming,” I admitted. “Anyway, after a while, some guys came up to us and made trouble.”
Cameron raised his eyebrows but didn’t speak.
“They’d said something along the lines of me being a ‘typical woman’ and Mark acting like one too, by comforting me. He beat the shit out of them,” I said with a chuckle.
“He defended you.” Cameron’s tone suggested he approved, and I smiled despite myself.
“He did,” I agreed. “He always did.”
During the plane’s descent to land in Vancouver, I began to feel the worry rise inside me once more. I’d spent most of the four and a half hour flight asleep, blissfully unaware of my nerves. Cameron kept his hand on mine from the time we exited the plane to our eventual stop at baggage claim.
“Where’s this mythical friend you’ve been telling us about?” Dale teased as he lifted his suitcase off the conveyor belt.
Luckily, Willie and Lee’s were next up and I knew Cameron would grab both mine and his, so I glanced around as I spoke. “He said he’d be at arrivals, but I don’t see him yet.”
“Do you know what he looks like now?” Willie seemed skeptical of my ability to recognize Mark, but I didn’t blame him, either.
"I'm pretty sure I would recognize him," I began, just as he came into view. "Even if he wasn't holding a very large sign."
I watched as Mark stride towards us, I couldn't help but laugh with relief. The sign he held had 'Cutlass!' written on it, and the grin on his face was all the more reassuring.
Mark stopped a foot away from me as he greeted me, as if it had been weeks and not years since we'd seen each other last. "How was the flight?"
I smiled and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. He seemed hesitant to reciprocate, likely due to the five men standing behind me, but only waited a moment before returning the embrace.
"The flight was fine," I said to him with a smile. "I'm really glad to see you, Mark."
"Me too, Emily. Now, who's who?"
I turned and introduced him to the band. "Willie, Dale, Colin," I began, motioning towards each of them as I said their names, "and Lee and Cameron."
Mark shook everyone's hand, but I noticed a strange and unspoken conversation between him and Cameron as their hands were clasped.
"It's very nice to meet you all," Mark said earnestly. "Though I hope you don't mind a bit of a drive."
We had separated into two taxis and travelled eastward until we reached Mark's cottage, about six miles past Chilliwack. The scenery was gorgeous; tall evergreen trees surrounded the large clearing on which the house sat, and the nearby river supplied us with the continuous rushing sound of water.
It was only when I managed to pry my eyes from the familiarity of cedar and spruce trees that I realized what I was looking at. “It’s a log cabin!” I exclaimed, though I’d meant it to be a question of sorts. “Must have cost a fortune,” I noted in awe.
Mark laughed, a familiar sound that made my smile grow, as he took the last suitcase out of the taxi. “Not to me,” he admitted.
As I monopolized Mark’s attention, Cameron snuck a few bills into the driver’s hand for the fare. Pleased with the cash payment, the driver gave us a nod and backed out of the driveway, just as the second taxi pulled in.
“A friend of mine’s uncle had it built, maybe fifty years ago,” Mark explained as he came to stand beside me. “His uncle died a couple years ago and he offered it to me at a great price. He just wanted to get rid of it,” he added with a sly grin. “I couldn’t say no, I practically stole it from him.”
I joined in Mark’s laughter and silently scolded myself for having been so nervous. Seeing Mark again, even after so many years, felt like finding a comfortable blanket you’d forgotten about, and I realized I’d been worrying for nothing.
I felt a strange sense of pride as I watched everyone carry suitcases up the front stairs and into the cabin. Mark had taken mine, but handed it to Cameron so he could unlock the door. The interior was nicely decorated, with knit blankets galore, though a slight chill could be felt in the air.
“I had a fire going earlier, I’ll get another going,” Mark informed us as he motioned to the fireplace. “Make yourselves at home, all of you. There’s five bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, two more down here. Kitchen, living room, bathroom,” he listed. “Roy is going to stop by later with more food and things, but there’s plenty already here.”
I was the only one who heard the comment about Roy, I noticed, when I heard giddy laughter and turned around in time to see the five of them scampering up the stairs to claim themselves a bedroom.
“They’re very talented,” I noted sarcastically, “for a group of seven year olds.”
Mark chuckled, crouching by the fireplace with kindling and a lighter. “Child prodigies!” he replied in jest.
I laughed along with him, but didn’t speak once he’d begun to concentrate on lighting the fire. He obviously had done it before and seemed very at ease with the procedure, so it didn’t surprise me that he had a small fire going in moments.
“So,” Mark began, a smile on his lips as he stood and faced me, “how have you been?”
I burst into a chortle and hugged him, finding my eyes watering as I spoke. “I’ve been all kinds of things, Mark! It’s so good to see you again.”
He held me for a long moment, and I felt comforted by the familiarity of him. I wanted to tell him as much, but he got the first word in when we pulled apart. “You’ve certainly changed, Emily. Last time I saw you, you were enrolled at a Catholic school, and now you’re travelling the world with five raucous men,” he jeered playfully.
“It could be worse,” I teased.
Cameron was coming down the stairs, and made a noise of casual disagreement. “I wouldn’t say raucous so much as enthusiastically rowdy,” he noted cheerfully.
Mark smiled at the comment. “Find a suitable room?”
“The kitchen floor would be suitable in this cottage,” Cameron replied. “But yes. I’d like to thank you again, Mark, for being so hospitable.”
“It’s my pleasure, Cameron. No, honestly!” he insisted, seeing Cameron’s mild skepticism. “It’s been a long time since my past has come to visit, and it’d be a shame not to have you all as my guests.”
Roy had arrived in the middle of the afternoon, and I was pleased to find he had a similar disposition as Mark. He reminded me of a friendly bear, seemingly built of pure muscle which left him nearly as wide as Dale and Colin put together, and taller than any of us by at least four inches.
As Mark had promised, Roy had come bearing gifts of the edible kind. I followed him to the kitchen and insisted on helping prepare supper, even though it was abundantly clear he didn’t need it.
“Have you ever been out west before?”
I lifted my head to meet his gaze. “No,” I answered. “I didn’t do much travelling before spring last year, but I’ve certainly made up for it since then.”
Roy chuckled at my dry comment, and politely ordered me to sit down and have a drink. I declined and tried to keep my place at the counter, but the look on his face gave me no doubt he would pick me up and place me on the chair if I didn’t do it promptly. I took a sip of the beer he thrust into my hand and giggled when I heard roaring laughter from the living room.
“They’re having a fine time,” Roy noted. “Won’t you join them?”
I caught his meaning and frowned slightly. “It feels weird,” I admitted quietly.
Roy hummed in thought. “Seeing Mark?” he asked. I nodded, but he already knew. “It’s the same for him, but he won’t tell you that.”
“Is it?” I hadn’t realized I’d spoken aloud.
“I met Mark in sixty-five. He’d just begun making a name for himself as a promoter, then,” Roy added. He stayed silent for a moment before continuing, though it seemed to be on a different train of thought. “My mother died a few years ago, on the morning before the moon landing. Mark showed up two hours later and kept me company. We watched the broadcast and I told him about my mother; he'd known her, but not well.”
“I'm sorry about your mom,” I said, my voice low.
“It's alright,” he replied gruffly. "He'd mentioned you before that day, but only briefly. He told me about you two growing up together, that he felt… remorse at losing touch." Roy hadn't been looking at me, but met my gaze with a firm look of conviction. "The point I'm trying to make, here, is that you're right. It is weird for you to see him again. But you'd be stupid to think it's not the exact same thing he's feeling."
I thought in silence for a time, and accepted that Roy had a point whose merit I couldn't deny. Mark would be heading back to Vancouver on Saturday afternoon and not returning until the following weekend to spend the last day at the cabin with us. I felt a quickening sense of regret at the thought of avoiding him for the three days I’d be able to see him, and stood from the chair.
“Thank you, Roy,” I said to him. He gave me a quick salute and we exchanged a smile, then I left to join the others.
The evening crept by, though I didn’t pay much attention to the clock. I only realized it was growing dark when we had finished eating supper and I’d gone into the living room to stoke the fire. I lost myself for a moment, looking at the burning embers and the flames that emerged with my prodding, and only caught the tail end of a conversation.
“You’ll join us?” came Lee’s voice.
“I’ll come out for a smoke, sure.”
I hadn’t heard Mark or Roy warn the men of the wildlife they might encounter, and a mischievous smile crossed my face as I returned to the kitchen.
“Careful not to wander too far,” I offered in an ominous tone.
Lee and Mark were already outside, but Dale stopped in his tracks. “Why not?”
“You don’t want to meet a bear at all, let alone in the dark,” I replied casually.
“What?” Willie was clearly disturbed by the thought, and I decided to run with it. After all, why not give them a little fright?
I brushed off his question with a flick of my wrist, and joined the men outside. With five of us standing on the porch and another three on the grass by the steps, I was glad of the ample space, especially when I brought up the wild animals again.
"If any of you see a bear cub, get as far from it as you can."
Cameron's eyebrows were raised, but he could tell I was being dramatic with my tone. "Why's that?"
"Mother Bear will be nearby and she won't like you," I answered plainly.
I caught Mark's eye and he winked discreetly at me. "There's bobcats too, around here," he added. "And I've seen my fair share of coyotes."
Colin's eyes bulged. "Coyotes?"
"What's a bobcat?"
"Different name for a lynx," I told Dale.
"Where the fuck did you bring us?" Lee interjected with a laugh.
"The wilderness calls, and its howl cannot be denied," Mark said solemnly. I wondered when he’d come up with that line, or if he was quoting someone. I didn’t ask, though, because he flashed a smile and added another warning. “Let’s hope there’s no moose nearby, either.”
I laughed, along with Roy, though the five men I’d brought with me seemed to be less amused by the prospect of meeting a moose.
“A moose, isn’t that an elk?”
“Basically,” Roy told Cameron. “Those things can grow as tall as me.”
“You’re six feet tall!”
“And five inches,” Roy said with a wink.
“Does anyone know the last rites? Mark, have you got shovels for our graves?” Willie asked with a gloomy, though feigned, hopelessness.
With reassurances that the likelihood of meeting any of the forests’ natural predators was slim, everyone relaxed. After another cigarette’s time, we heard a faint rustling nearby followed by a high pitched chittering.
“Please tell me that isn’t a coyote.” Lee flashed a look towards me and I could easily see the amusement under his annoyed tone.
“It’s a raccoon,” I answered. Roy confirmed my identification of the sound, and I smiled. “Do we have crackers? Raccoons love crackers.”
“You’re going to feed the thing?”
I turned to Willie and shrugged. “Whoever isn’t a wuss can feed them, too.”
The cabin was quiet, and only Mark and I were still awake. Tired from the flight, which to me seemed like days ago, the four of them had gone to their beds a few hours earlier. Cameron and Roy lingered with us, though fatigue came soon enough and Roy claimed the smaller room on the main floor. With my insistence that he get some rest, Cameron gave me a kiss and said goodnight to us both before heading upstairs.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such collective bravado to hide fear,” Mark told me through subdued laughter.
I chuckled and agreed with him. “I’d bet money that if any one of them hears an unknown noise tonight, there’ll be screams.”
A silent moment passed between us, then lingered. It was Mark who spoke first.
“I don’t know if it matters, but... I like Cameron,” he said earnestly. “He loves you, and he’s a good man.”
“Why wouldn’t it matter?”
Mark huffed in derision. “Come on, Emily. We’ve barely spoken since high school. Why would it matter what I think?”
“Did you sell your brain to buy your office downtown?” I snapped back, angry that he assumed I didn’t value his thoughts.
Mark didn’t say anything but looked at me with the hint of a smile on his face. “I wondered for a while, when I moved from Toronto, why you didn’t write to me,” he confessed. “I stopped after a year or so, but I missed you. What happened?”
I frowned, shaking my head. “Happenstance,” I answered. “There was a fire at work. I met the mailman on the way to work in the morning and he had a letter from you. I put it in my sketchbook and did my shift, but forgot to take it home. The next morning I got there and the building was still smoking.”
“You didn’t mean to stop writing to me,” he whispered.
I shook my head. “You’d already told me you were moving to Vancouver, and I guess the burned letter had the new address,” I mumbled. “I sent a letter to Toronto that same day, to tell you what happened, but you’d already moved. I scoured Vancouver phone books for six months but I never found your name,” I added, a sad laugh escaping me.
“I’m sorry, Emily.” Seeing my confusion, Mark elaborated. “I was mad at you for nothing.”
I chuckled, and found the tension lifting. “It’s no bother. With how many times I was mad at you, we’re even now.”
As we continued talking, about things big and small, I realized just how much had happened in each of our lives since we’d last seen each other. I told Mark about my sister and how she’d been; he knew Greg but had moved before Liliane and him began to date. Gran’s passing and the ensuing funeral fiasco and trip to Scotland, though, interested him the most.
It was nearing midnight when I’d finished recounting how Cameron and I met, and how he had been so genuine with me from the very beginning. Once I ended my monologue, I felt my eyes begin to droop and glanced at Mark. He was curled into the cushions, arms crossed and eyes closed with his head against the back of the sofa. I smiled, but only had time for one thought before I fell asleep.
‘It’s good to have him back.’
Reconnecting with old friends is wonderful💓💓
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