Mary Ann Alice by Brian Doyle

Author:Brian Doyle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Groundwood Books Ltd
Published: 2003-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

2 Thief

AFTER the lads all belch and blow and cough and smoke cigarettes and fart, they leave for their long afternoon of cement.

Then we get the mess sloshed away and everything goes quiet. Now I make a little hideout behind the barrels of molasses and lard and salted fish.

What was it Mr. Cork said? He’d love to take a peek into one of them fancy briefcases of theirs?

Well, Mr. Cork. Here we go.

The snap on the briefcase is silver. There’s gold initials, W.D. The leather is soft and smooth and black and shiny. You love the feel of it. It’s smooth as the skin of a newborn pig. I’m thinking of Grampa Cork looking at one of these up on his farm and thinking about New York City. Then signing some paper or other.

Is this stealing? I don’t think so. I’m only borrowing it for a while. While the little lawyer is taking his nap. Father Foley would say it’s wrong. Wrong to snoop into business that you have no business snooping in. Well, that’s all right. What Father Foley doesn’t know won’t hurt him now, will it? That’s what I always say.

The briefcase opens almost all on its own.

Inside there’s dozens of folders. Each folder has a blue tag sticking up with a name printed on. I know almost every name. Names of farms along the river. Mahoney. That’s Mean Hughie’s. Noonan. That’s Doobie. O’Rourke. That’s Great-uncle Ronald’s. O’Connor. That’s Mayor Even Steven’s. McCrank. That’s us. McGuire. That’s Mickey’s place. And on and on.

There’s one tag sticking up that’s not blue. It’s red. It says CORK. I pull out the folder. There’s a big stamp on the cover. It says FILE CLOSED. I open it. There’s a stamp on the top. It says, CONFIDENTIAL. The letter is to dear somebody at the International Paper Company and Gatineau Power Corporation. The letter is signed by William Davenport. W.D.

Here’s what it says:

The Cork family has no resource to pursue any land claim and their land deed is non-existent. Legally, they are squatters.

They have, for all intents and purposes, unlike most of the others, caved in already.

We will not hear anything more from the Cork family as they are sick and poor.

I have therefore closed the file. They will be officially advised to move and will, unfortunately, receive no remunerati on.

Then there’s a small paper attached to the letter. The paper says this:

The Cork farm, unfortunately unique on the river, has an elevation such that will result in the complete inundation of the land claimed, including all buildings. When the dam is finally shut, the whole Cork homestead will disappear forever under 12 fathoms of flood water.

I fold the letter and attached paper and slip it in the breast pocket of my apron. I pat it safe. I’m a thief.

I take out the McCrank folder. It’s only a few papers. No letter signed by W.D. I pull out Noonan. It’s the same. Just papers. Documents. No letter from W.D. I look at a few more.

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