Making it Home by Alison DeLory

Author:Alison DeLory
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Published: 2019-06-25T11:47:25+00:00

Chapter 26

Cape Breton, May 2015

After his porridge with a sliced banana on top and two cups of tea, Tinker retreated to his workshop in the basement. He wouldn’t have much time to himself today, as he and Florence had a long list of things to do in Sydney. But before they left for the city, he wanted to complete his daily ritual.

On his way into the long, narrow workshop, he glanced at the “Tinker’s Time Out” sign, then inhaled. Some people loved the smell of roses and others, coffee. But for Tinker, the most enticing aroma in the world was sawdust. Plain old sawdust, swept into small, organized piles in the corners of his workshop. The smell of it brought back memories of sanding a pinewood derby car with Charlie.

He pulled a sharpened pencil out of his shirt pocket. Charlie used to tease him because he wore pencils down to the tiniest nubs, and, sure enough, this one was no longer than an inch, but it still wrote just fine if he pinched it between his thumb and forefinger. He grabbed the calendar out of the drawer in his corner desk, slowly marking a large X across today’s square. It was the end of April and the eighth month he’d been marking a calendar this way. Eight months since Charlie left home, eight months since they spoke. The longest they’d ever gone without communicating. He was still trying to learn to live with this hole in his heart, and there were days it threatened to open wider than the Canso Strait.

He didn’t ask Flo about Charlie but she’d been letting little details slip now that Charlie and she were talking regularly again. Tinker knew Nell was out in Alberta now, and he let himself hope for a moment that perhaps Nell would bring Charlie home; that those two might get married and start a life together here. But like a fool his hopes were dashed again. It seemed that damn huge magnet of a province had pulled Nell out west, too, and apparently she was staying.

“Whatcha doing, Grandpa?” Alex leaned against the doorjamb with his jacket and sneakers on, a piece of toast in his hand and crab- apple jelly glowing pink from the corners of his mouth.

“Just gathering up some paperwork to take to the bank. You excited about our day trip?” Tinker asked, opening a filing cabinet. Flo had been managing their accounts lately on the computer, but he still liked an old-fashioned face-to-face meeting at the bank and that’s what he’d booked for them today.

“Yup. Grandma said if I’m good I can have a Happy Meal for lunch. C’mon,” he said, beckoning with his arm.

Tinker followed him upstairs and out to the car, rubbing the jelly off Alex’s mouth with his pocket hankie as they walked. Flo was already buckled into the passenger seat. “I invited Roger to come along. Keep an eye out for him,” she said as they pulled out of their driveway.

“Now you tell me? Thanks for asking,” Tinker said.

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