The Mean Time by James Matthews

Author:James Matthews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Breakwater Books Ltd.
Published: 2012-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Bobby Johnston wandered through Corner Brook all night as Frank Doyle’s story played over and over in his mind.

A stiff mid-October breeze carried the threat of snow. Bobby slinked out of The Cuffer’s Lun and walked up West Street. People streamed out of the Majestic Theatre after a movie, holding hands and talking. They walked to their cars or just ambled down the street to whatever the fall night held.

Bobby walked under the tall old maple trees of Central Street with their branches that stretched across from both sides and formed a canopy over the road. The white glare of street lights held the oranges and reds and yellows of fall leaves. Leaves blanketed the street, sidewalks, and cars in driveways. Leaves crunched underfoot with each purposeless step. He stood at the gates of the Townsite Cemetery, where his father and brother were buried. Some of the older graves were sunken, the coffins beneath long collapsed. Crooked headstones looked like rows of chipped teeth. Bobby thought about what his father had written in his letter, about how the people you leave behind after death are a reflection of the calibre of person you were in life. You can never escape the kind of person you are, not even in death.

When you’re dead and gone, the only true measure of you is the people you leave behind. And that’s truth.

At Margaret Bowater Park, a gaggle of teenagers smoked cigarettes at the swings. The cherries at the ends of their cigarettes glowed brighter in the darkness as they inhaled. He walked along the Corner Brook Stream Trail. Did Will think about Maureen and their babies as the life bled out of him on that sidewalk with Frank Doyle standing over him?

As Will’s gambling worsened, Will’s wife Maureen moved out of the house. She took their babies, Maddy and Jack, to live with her parents in St. John’s. Bobby learned that a few days ago when his sister Gert told him. Maureen told Gert that she didn’t want Maddy and Jack to be awakened by any more fights between her and Will. The babies needed something better, Maureen had told Gert. They deserved a father who was around for them. And, the way Will was with the gambling, he was seldom there. When he was at home, Will was temperamental and often angry. Except the few times he’d win.

When Bobby met little Maddy at Rennie’s funeral, Bobby wondered how she would remember her father when she grew older. She was older than her brother Jack, and her memories of their father would be fresher. What she’ll tell Jack of their father in the years to come would colour the boy’s thoughts about Will.

If Julie had the baby, what would his own child wonder about Bobby? How would Julie contribute to the image the child would develop over the years, if Bobby’s absence continued?

When the sky brightened, Bobby was at the waterfront. He reached into a pocket on the inside of his jacket and felt for his father’s letter.

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