Slowly, I lift my lids. Robbie’sface is only inches from mine.
I gasp and jerk my head back. Hecovers his face and starts sobbing. The louder he gets, the morehis sobs turn to laughter.
‘What do you want?’ I choke.
With one motion, his handsseparate. I scream as I stare into the eyes of my father.
My eyes fly open and I springout of bed. Sweating, shaking, and wiping tears from my face, Ilook back at the bed where Annie and the dog are still fastasleep.
After walking around the housefor a while, I wash my face and get a drink then return to bed toget a few more hours of sleep.
Annie comes into the room as Iget dressed for work. She tells me that the weather report on theradio says to expect high winds. Even though it’s only atwenty-five-minute boat ride from Gabriola to Nanaimo, when thewind is powerful, the sea rages and causes delays.
Sure enough, when I reach theterminal, there’s a long line of vehicles waiting for theferry.
By the time I arrive at work,I’m fifteen minutes late. Tim and the boss man are sitting at thetable having coffee when I walk in. I nod at them both as I walkpast to put my bag away.
“Windy on the salt chuck, eh?”my boss asks.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have wanted tobe in a skiff,” I reply.
“Ah well, those old metal tubsare pretty sturdy beasts. Not much chance of one sinkin’.”
As soon as our boss gives us ourworksheets, he leaves the room. I sit down across from Tim and scanthe page. Tim isn’t looking at his paper, instead, he’s looking outthe window in a daze.
“What’s up, Tim?” I ask, kickinghis foot under the table.
He snaps to and turns his focusto me. “Oh, nothing much. Just waking up.”
He doesn’t look tired. KnowingTim, he’s been up for hours. There’s something else niggling athim, I can tell.
By the time we check off half ofthe day’s duties, it’s lunch time and Tim has barely said twowords. I figure he’s dealing with something personal. If he needs afriend to talk to, he’ll say something.
At the lunch table, I pull outthe salad that Annie made me and start to eat. Tim sits across fromme, cradling his cup of coffee.
“No lunch today?” I ask him.
“I’m not much in the mood foreating.”
“You should eat, man. You’rediabetic.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Okay, this is just gettingweird. “Tim, is anything wrong? I have to ask because honestly,you’re acting a bit weird.”
He shakes his head.
I take a few more bites of myfood before he blurts it out. “Okay. Screw it. I’m just going totell you. It’s been eating me up inside and I can’t take itanymore.”
I put down my fork. “What’sgoing on?”
He lowers his head and directshis words to his coffee. “Do you remember when I told you aboutthat detective coming by here and asking questions?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Well, it didn’t really go downexactly as I told you.”
“Meaning?” I feel a prickling ofdread on my skin.
“The truth is, the detectivedidn’t really come here. I had dipped into the sauce after boss manleft, and I decided to close shop an hour early. I was on my wayhome and had gotten about five miles up the road when I got pulledover. There were two cops, one was the detective. They asked mewhere I was coming from, so I told them where I worked. That’s whenthe detective said that they were on their way here, to talk toyou.” He swallows. “Everything I told you about the questions heasked me and the answers I gave him was true, except for onething.”
Oh no. “Okay, spit it out.”
“Well, as I said, I had beendrinking, and I was scared of getting a DUI. I can’t lose mylicense. If I did, I couldn’t work and then I’d be screwed.” Tim,still talking to his coffee, takes a deep breath and continues.“Well, when they asked if you have any health problems that I knewof, I said no, and that you’re way healthier than me. One of thecops raised his eyebrows, and I got nervous. I was worried that hethought I meant because you don’t drink, so I clarified that it’sbecause of my diabetes. As soon as I said it, they both looked ateach other. Then, the detective asked me if I had ever left mymedicine at your place. I said no, but then I remembered that youcarried my case for me when I asked you to hang onto it, back inHank’s truck, and I told them. They let me go a few minutes later.”He finally breaks eye contact with his coffee and looks at me.“That’s the truth about what happened.”
I stare at him. All I feel isconfusion. That is way low on the list of what I’d expected him totell me. “It’s some weird ass questions they asked, Tim, but youdidn’t do anything wrong.”
“But I lied to you about beingpulled over on the road, and the questions I answered. I guess Ijust didn’t want you to know that I closed up shop early because Iwas drunk, and that I was driving. I’m not proud of myself.”
I can’t believe Tim was sotroubled over such a silly lie. He’s been a loyal friend over theyears. “Don’t beat yourself up, bud. I get it, okay?”
Tim nods, though his eyes arestill troubled.
As we work the second half ofthe day, I flash back to the questions the detective asked Tim. Whythe hell is Dickson so interested in my health? Had Denny told themthat I was sick so he and Robbie came over to help me out? I don’tknow. I’m not a detective. I find the whole process dizzying.
I crack jokes and act like anidiot for the rest of the day. Finally, Tim snaps out of his funkand starts acting like his old self again.
As soon as I’m on the ferry, Itake out my phone to give Annie a call, and I see that I’ve missedone, just a minute ago.
Denny had called.
My fingers fumble with thescreen, and it takes me
