Dan's Story Pt. 01

At these words Dan looks pleased. She goes on, "This evening when the dew starts to fall, you go out by the garage and cut some of those red roses of mine. Have you got a vase? Never mind, I've got one that is just right. I'll loan it to you. Then you put it right in the middle of that table tomorrow morning. It will look so perfect as the early sun catches them!"

"Ah, young love", she says as she scoops up Cyril and heads back upstairs, "I'll keep him in till I leave. Could I count on you to feed him till I get back? I'll show you where his food is. Come."

Dan follows her into her kitchen and she points out his food in a cupboard and his water dish. "I don't give him milk anymore. I see he gets enough of that at your place." She has a sly smile as she says that and they both chuckle.

Irma: "Now this is the vase I was speaking of." She hands him a delicately wrought vase of milky white china. It is large enough to accommodate a dozen roses. He takes it from her. "Oh, its heavier than it looks", says Dan.

She replies, "The weight is mostly in the base to give it stability. It will hold quite a few stems of roses, but there are lots out there." and she smiles. Dan thanks her very much and returns to the apartment carefully handling the vase.

Dan busies himself around the apartment for a while, then takes a cold beer and goes into his study. He reads a manual and scribbles on a pad, then reads some more. In about an hour he hears a car pull up out front. Then he hears Irma's voice calling. He goes through to the kitchen door and she says, "I'm going now. My cab is out front. You kids have a good weekend and I'll see you when I get back."

Dan "O.K., Irma. You take care of yourself and I'll look after Cyril, so don't you worry. Bye now."

Irma: "Good-bye." And she leaves.

Dan goes back in and stands in the kitchen trying to decide whether he will fix himself a bite or go out to a restaurant. He finally comes to a decision and grabs his jacket out of the closet. He heads for the uptown restaurant called 'MIDTOWN RESTAURANT' where he had met the little girl crying in the parking lot. Business is brisk and many tourists fill the tables. Four local teenagers fill the four stools at the short counter. Dan looks around and spots an empty table that hasn't been cleaned off yet. He goes over and sits at a clean spot near the wall. The waitress comes over looking harried and hands him a menu.

Waitress: "Give me a minute and I'll clean this table off for you. Did you want something to drink first?"

Dan: "Coffee will be fine, when you have a minute. I'm not in any rush."

The waitress smiles and hurries away. She's a very attractive girl in her early twenties. She's soon back with a wet cloth and cleaning the table. She's brought his coffee with her, so Dan's fixing it.

Dan: "Is it this busy every night?"

Waitress: "Mostly just Fridays. Tourists arrive and the locals are eating out and heading for the French Social Club. It can get hectic. Have you decided what you want?"

Dan: "What would you recommend for a light supper? Are you going dancing tonight at the club?"

Waitress: "I'd love to, but by the time I get out of here, I'll be dead on my feet and I'll go home to bed, I think. The meat loaf's on special and it seems to be popular. I like it. What do you think?"

Dan: (grinning) "If you recommend it, its bound to be good. I'll try it."

Waitress: (smiling) "You'll like it." She heads back towards the kitchen and Dan settles back with his coffee. "Hi!" Says a female voice. He looks up and sees Mary and Emory going by. They are looking for a table near the back but can't find one, so are turning around surveying the room.

Dan: "Care to join me? It looks like all the tables are full."

Mary: (popping down in the chair across from Dan) "Thanks, come on Em." She pushes the chair beside her out for him.

Emory hesitates, but slowly settles into the chair.

Dan: "You kids going to the dance tonight, too?"

Emory replies in a belligerent tone, "We're not kids!"

Mary: "Oh, Em. He didn't say anything to get you mad. Please be nice for me tonight." She turns to Dan. "Yes, we're going to the French Social Club. Have you been there?"

Dan: "Oh yes! I was there the first day I came to this island. Do you know Jack and Lorena (he couldn't think of their of their last names)...who live out on the turn out of town towards the base? They took us to the dance."

Mary: "Oh! I know who you mean. Jack Harper and his wife. They go all the time. How do you know them?"

Dan: "My partner, Sam, knows them. He's from down here, while I'm from Ontario."

Emory: "You from Ontario? What part? Near Toronto?"

Dan: "Quite a ways from Toronto. I grew up in the tobacco belt near London. It's a small town named Delhi, you've probably never heard of it."

Emory: "Sure. Delhi, Simcoe, Langton and Tillsonburg are all in the tobacco country, eh?"

Dan: (surprised) "They sure are. Have you been there?"

Emory: "No, but I got buddies who go there in the fall every year to help harvest the tobacco. They come home with piles of money. Everyone there is rich! They told me!"

Waitress: "What can I get you two? Want menus?"

Mary: "Just a grilled cheese and milk."

Emory: "Me the same, but coffee, no milk."

Dan: "You can believe me, not all the people who live there are rich. My brothers and I had to work in tobacco every summer in order to be able to go to school in the fall. My Dad's a truck driver and has raised seven of us on thirty-five dollars a week for years now. We thought it must be Sunday if there was meat on the table. We were not rich!"

Emory: "Yeah, sure." He sounds like he thinks Dan isn't telling the truth.

Dan: "Mary tells me that you like to paint, art type paint. Do you have any canvases for sale? With all these tourists it should bring you in a dollar or two."

Emory: "Mary, what'd you go an tell him that for?"

Mary: "Well, you do." and to Dan, "No one will give him a chance. They won't put his paintings in on consignment."

Dan: "Well, how about a show! Do you have enough finished works to cover a wall, say eight by twenty or maybe thirty?"

Emory: "Nobody would come. They got it in for me!"

Dan: "Not for local people to see, but for tourists."

Mary: "How would that work?" She munches on her grilled cheese and listens attentively.

Dan: "Well, you would have to find a place to display your art. A vacant store or I suppose, any building. Anyway, you then put out flyers to the local travel agents and the ferry terminal. I guess you could even ride across on the ferry and put one under every car's windshield wiper. Any place to catch the tourist's eyes. You give your place a fancy name, like Emory's Gallery and your flyer should be done by someone with a flair for fancy writing and such.

Emory: "Sounds like a lot of moola to me."

Mary: "Listen to him, Em!"

Dan: "It could be an expensive show ...or you could have it in your garage and make each flyer by hand. Its up to you. I would suggest a compromise. How about renting an old barn or shed cheap. Something really rustic with a good roof." Dan finishes off his meatloaf and is getting into this idea, "Then team up with a local school class who want to raise money, say for sports uniforms. You're the artist, so you give them ideas of what you want your poster to say and let then have half of each poster to promote their project, say a raffle or sports event or what have you. Then you offer a prize to the best poster and watch those kids turn out posters for you for nothing, and even on paper provided by the school. They'll even do your legwork later and distribute them freeing you up to take care of business in your gallery. Now, when tourists flock in, you don't sell the display, thereby destroying it. No, you take orders for paintings on display or paintings to be created with a sum deposited to you to hold the goods. Voila!"

Emory: "Hey, you ever try that?"

Dan: "Sure, I used to help our class to raise all kinds of funds with all sorts of projects. That's what you do when you're not rich, eh?"

Emory: (With a wicked gleam in his eye) "I think we are going to be friends."

Mary: "Oh, I'm so excited. It might work. We could try, Em."

Emory: "But we need some money to start? Would you loan me fifty dollars to help me find a place and to use trying to convince some students to help us?"

Dan: "Hmmm, well I don't really know you that well. How be we start with, say twenty dollars and I give it to Mary. She'll hold it for both of us and we'll be partners. Deal?"

Emory: "You are crafty. You know she's my girl so I will think I can get it whenever I want, but you count on her being honest and being able to exert control over me. I think we think alike, you and I. O.K., shake!" They shake hands and Dan gives Mary a twenty-dollar bill. She solemnly puts it in her purse.

Dan: "Well, I hope everything goes well for you and soon you're in business."

Emory: "Yeah, we got to get going for the dance. Come on, Mary."

Mary: "What's the hurry? It isn't that late yet, its only 7:30, isn't it?"

Emory: "Its always nice to get there early!" He nods his head at her emphatically.

Mary gets up and thanks Dan for having confidence in them and for all the good ideas. Emory rushes her along and they leave. The waitress asks if there will be anything else. She suggests a dessert or two but Dan says he's full. He tells her the meatloaf was special in more than price and so was the service. She brings the bill and Dan's not shocked to see two grilled cheese sandwiches on it. He knows young Emory is a con artist but suspects there is a broad streak of decency in the guy as well. After all, how could he hold a certain little girl's heart if there wasn't something to him. He will watch how things develop and see.

He walks home as the dew's starting to fall. Its time to go rose gathering. Dan takes a pair of scissors from the drawer in the kitchen and a small basket. He heads out to the back of the property. All around the garage are tall rose bushes and he's completely concentrating on them when he parts the branches in front of an old broken window. He sees something gleam and realizes he's looking at a windshield. Irma has a car?

Dan fights the thorns to get a better look. Sure enough, there's an old forty-six Plymouth parked in the tumbled down shed. He goes out into the alley and approaches the garage from there. A blank set of solid old doors is all he sees with shrubs and tree branches grown partially over them. He realizes that no one has been in that garage in ages. What a find. He'll have to ask Irma about it soon. Maybe she owns it. Maybe she would sell it. Maybe he could fix it up. What fun. It has always been a hobby of his to fix old cars. He's really thrilled at the prospect.

He goes back to gathering roses. When he has about thirty long stems he returns to the house. He spends an hour cutting and arranging them just right, so they fill the vase and seem to tumble down the edges a ways. He fills the vase with cold water and places it in the middle of the table. He stands back to admire the effect. He's very pleased.

The trimmings go in the garbage and he takes the bag out to the garbage can. He puts a fresh bag in the can and puts it under the sink. He walks around the apartment and tries to see it as a person would for the first time. He's very restless. Where is she now? What is she doing? He paces! Suddenly he hears a scratching at the door and remembers he hasn't fed Cyril. He runs to the door.

Dan: "Poor kitten. Are you starving? Come on", and he gets out Irma's key to her kitchen door. He takes Cyril in and feeds him. He sits and talks with him for a while as he eats. He hears a noise outside and steps out on the porch. It's Theresa and Clay, walking up the sidewalk, hand in hand and laughing.

Dan: "Hi, aren't you supposed to be dancing?"

Clay: "We were for a while but we came out for air and I thought I better check with you and see if Marie is still coming in at 0800? No delays, eh?"

Dan: "None that I've heard of. She's still scheduled to arrive in ten hours."

Theresa: "Isn't that sweet. He's got it figured down in hours now."

Clay: "We'll get back to the dance then and I'll see you in the morning. Pick you up at 0700, right?"

Dan: "Sounds good. See you then."

They leave and Dan sits with Cyril a little longer. Then he goes back down to his apartment and strips. He dons a housecoat and has a shower. He shaves and cleans up in the bathroom. He paces some, then gets himself a cold beer and goes into his study to read for a bit. His eyes get tired so he sets the alarm for 0600 and goes to bed.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 13: 0805

Dan is pacing back and forth outside Servicing. The commercial flight should be in by now. What's holding them up? Clay just stands back watching him and once in a while tries to calm him down.

Clay: "The plane will be here when it gets here. Be patient, Dan. There's nothing you can do to hurry it up."

Dan: "I know! I know!" and he keeps on pacing.

There comes a faint and far off drone of an aircraft, too faint for detection, but Dan suddenly becomes alert. He listens and says, "Its there!" and he points west. Clay does not hear or see anything but Dan stands and turns slowly towards the North. There is a light thin cloud high up but lining up with the runway appears a dot where Dan is pointing. Clay just shakes his head in disbelief.

The dot grows and becomes a Trans Canada Airlines (TCA) turbo prop aircraft. It comes over the end of the runway and is only about eighty feet off the ground. Smoothly it touches down and in a few seconds reverses prop. With a roar it slows perceptively before the white smoke of its touchdown has dissipated. It rolls to the far end of the runway and enters the apron. It turns towards the hangers and the turbos whine as it picks up some speed for the final approach to the tower. Turbos are cut off and it rolls to a position in front of the tower and brakes.

A TCA stairway vehicle pulls up to the opening door before the props have stopped windmilling and a crew member guides the stairs into place from the open door. Passengers can be seen moving about through the windows of the craft and soon a gentleman steps out with briefcase in hand. He is accompanied by an airline crew member and as they come down the stairs, other passengers start to fill the doorway.

Two in uniform and then a woman in civies. Dan strains his eyes. Is it Marie? The woman wears a tiny hat and a partial veil covers her forehead. That is certainly not Marie's style as he recalls. He watches and suddenly realizes that he has been absently looking at another female behind her who is waving. It's Marie! She's here, he thinks as he surges forward and raises his hand to greet her.

Dan approaches the disembarking crowd and stretches up on his tiptoes to get another glimpse of her. Suddenly she emerges from the crowd and they embrace. His lips meet her eager lips and they forget the whole world around them. She drops her carry-on case and wraps the other arm around him as well. Their lips separate and they speak in each others ears, their love, their longings, there unimaginable suffering over the recent separation. Only when they have finally run out of breath does Clay clear his throat in the background.

Marie: "Oh! Clay! It's good to see you again, too. Where's Sam, the last musketeer?" She chuckles as she looks at Dan, then laughs "Are you embarrassed. Your face and neck are red?"

Dan: "You look pretty good in red, yourself." And they both laugh.

Clay: "Sam took off and was out late last night. I haven't seen him this morning. Can I give you a hand with that?", and he picks up the carry-on case.

Marie: "Thanks. Oh, Dan, I have more luggage in the cargo bay. They look like they may be opening it up now." Sure enough, a crew member is cranking open the cargo bay now and they press forward with a dozen other passengers. Marie holds her baggage ticket aloft as do the others and the crew member starts sorting out those to come off here. Most have been placed near the front so the process goes fairly quickly. Dan latches on to her big suitcase and a old flight bag of his. Nicely balanced they head for the tower and a small parking lot there, where Clay has parked his Volks.

Flight bag goes in the boot and Marie and Dan in the back seat with the carry-on. Clay deposits the large suitcase in the passenger seat and they're on their way. As they leave the front gate behind, Marie and Dan embrace and kiss again in the back seat. This kiss is filled with unfulfilled passion and they can't keep their hands off each other. As they swing up Cameron, their breath is coming fast and they straighten themselves out to leave the car. Clay does his U-turn and parks by the gate "We're home!" he declares.

Marie: "Those words sound really good"

Dan: "They sure do!" and holds the seat ahead for Marie, as soon as Clay has taken the luggage out of the passenger seat. Clay cannot help but notice that they are not sitting on the same side of the seat as when they got in. He smiles to himself as he carries the case to the back door. Dan and Marie follow with arms loaded. They stop by the door as Dan gets out his key. Clay scratches Cyril by the door and Marie stands looking around as Dan unlocks the door. They pile the luggage inside the kitchen and Dan and Marie walk out to the car with Clay as he gets ready to leave.

Clay: "I'll not stay now! You two lovebirds need some time to yourselves. I might come back over this evening and I'll bring Theresa, unless she has other plans. I'll call first. See you later." He gets behind the wheel and starts the Volks. He waves as he leaves, but Dan and Marie don't even notice. They walk hand in hand back up the walk and around the house.

Dan: "I have waited for this day, it seems like forever, and now I don't know what to say. You're really here. Somebody pinch me, I think I'm dreaming."

Marie reaches over with her other hand and pinches him. She has a mischievous smile on her face. "Ouch!" he declares, "you really are here!" and they break out in laughter, pinching and tickling each other by the door. Dan leans over and lifts her in his arms, carrying her through the doorway.

Dan: "My bride! Welcome to my castle and your future home!" he declares solemnly, depositing her by the kitchen table.

Marie: "Oh Dan, what beautiful roses. They must have cost..."

Dan: (cutting her off) "I cut them myself. They're from Irma's rose garden out back. They are beautiful, aren't they? Come and I will take you on a tour of the place."

He shows her where the bathroom is and she goes in and locks the door. He waits a few minutes then calls out, "Marie, would you like a beer, ...or some pop or anything?" He waits for a reply but gets no answer so he gets himself a beer. In a few minutes he steps to the door.

Dan: "Marie," he calls out, "are you O.K.?" Not getting any response he calls louder. "Marie, are you all right?"

The door lock clicks and he waits a moment, then opens it. She is sitting on the toilet with her face in her hands and sobs rack her body. Around her is wet toilet paper where she evidently has been wiping away the tears. "Oh Dan, I'm sorry." she blubbers and really starts crying hard. Dan doesn't know what to do. He goes to her and awkwardly puts his arms around her.

Dan: "What's wrong, honey? Please talk to me."

Marie: (between sobs) "I don't know! I'm so happy to be here with you, but I can't stop crying. I think I must be sick. Please, just hold me!"

Dan: "Its a little awkward trying to hold you sitting on the John and besides your bare bottom is starting to make me horny!" He chuckles and she manages a weak smile.