A Brother's Duty

John whistled as he walked from the back door of his house to the shop.

  “Good morning, John.” “Good morning, boss.” “G’day, Mr. MacLeish.” The chorus of greetings met him from his three apprentices.

  “So are you guys ready for some tricky brickwork today?”

  “You bet, boss,” answered a young man with a thick Pakistani accent.

  “So the plan for the day is to install three arched doorways in the garden wall at my church. There is a three meter wide arch high enough that a pickup truck can get through and two arches for regular people sized gates. Don’t worry about lunch, the church ladies have it covered. And Hafeez?”

  “Yes, boss?”

  “I asked them to make certain that there will be a halal selection.”

  Hafeez smiled. “Thank you very much, boss.”

  John winked. “Not a problem. I can’t have one of my workers fainting from hunger, now can I?”

  The men loaded their tools into the bed of the crew cab pickup and climbed in. “It should be a short day because much of the work is being done by volunteers who have other demands on their time. So we’ll probably knock off around three but I’ll pay you for the full day.”

  Hafeez and Simon sat in the back arguing the relative merits of cricket versus baseball. Mike sat up front looking like he wanted to ask a question.

  John glanced at him and said, “Out with it, Mike.”

  “It’s none of my business.” Mike was older than John and retraining after twenty years in the Army.

  “Probably not, but you may as well get it off your chest.”

  “Well, you were whistling as you came out to the shop.”

  “And..?”

  “I haven’t seen you this upbeat since…”

  John said, bluntly, “Since before Rob was killed.”

  “Mmmm. Well… Yeah. I was getting worried about you.”

  “There’s no need to worry. I’m starting to get past it.”

  “Yeah but you’ve got this look, like you’re finally looking forward to something for a change.”

  John said, “I don’t think my personal life is any of your business.”

  “I know that, but I’ve been through it too – losing guys in the unit, I mean. And you know how the guys gossip.”

  John nodded his acknowledgment of Mike’s support. “As a matter of fact, I do know about gossip. There’s not much else to do when you’re stuck talking to the same four guys for weeks at a time.” He jerked a thumb backward. “Unless it’s those two arguing over whether field hockey or ice hockey is better.” John raised his voice. “Hey, Hafeez, get it straight. Here in Canada it’s hockey unless you need sunscreen. Then it’s field hockey, got it?”

  “No, boss. It’s hockey unless you have to bundle up like the Michelin man and strap knives on your feet. Then it’s ice hockey. That’s why they call it the International Ice Hockey Federation.” John could see Hafeez’s bright grin as he replied.

  Mike looked at John with an assessing eye. “You have a date tonight, don’t you? That’s why you’re all happy.”

  John’s face said yes and he smiled as he said, “I told you, Mike. None of your business.”

  “As you say, John.” But Mike was smiling, too.

  John saw that another section of scaffolding had been added at the north wall allowing the volunteers to access the top third.

  One of the older men said, “You were right, John. It goes faster around the windows.”

  “That’s because it’s all about area.” John climbed up to check the previous day’s mortaring. “You folks are doing a great job.” He considered approaching the two unemployed guys with a job offer.

  “It’s easier than we expected. I mean it is physical work and you need to be patient but it’s not difficult to learn how to do.” Phyllis looked up at John. “The garden wall looks much harder.”

  “It’s only a little more complicated for a plain wall. It takes more strength and I like to make certain the courses are properly spaced and level.”

  Mike called up. “He’s a perfectionist, you know.”

  “Well, he is a master mason. People expect that sort of thing from him. And he expects it from us, too.” Mrs. Plunkett stuck out her hand and introduced herself to the apprentices while John climbed up the scaffold to examine the next sections for bricks to replace and marked only two.

  When he reached the ground again, John introduced his apprentices to the garden wall volunteers. Day ten of the project found the finish concrete on the rink pad poured, level and set hard enough for people to walk across. The crew had installed a set of equipment anchors that could handle being under a sheet of ice in the winter and would secure various nets in the summer. The garden wall foundations had been poured the previous Friday and the past four days had taken the walls to the seven foot mark with the two twenty somethings and the teens doing yeoman work.

  “So, Mr. MacLeish, have you seen what Uncle Steve donated?” Jason MacDonald was pretty excited.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  Jason led him over to a box filled with ironmongery. “Uncle Steve is a farrier and blacksmith down by Spencerville. I brought him over on Saturday to show him what we were doing. He dropped this stuff off with Uncle Archie this morning.”

  John pulled out twelve old fashioned hinges that matched the front doors of the church. There were also two sets of door latches and a set of fasteners for a double door. Jason volunteered, “The double door hinges are made so the doors will lie flat against the wall when they’re all the way open. Uncle Steve said they’ll handle up to a three inch thick oak door.”

  John ran a finger over the filigree work on the edges of the broad hinges. “This is really fine work, Jason. Does he do this type of thing very often?”

  “He loves doing hinges and latches and things like that. It’s a nice change from horseshoes. But don’t ask him to do nails. He hates doing nails.”

  John laughed. “That’s all right. I have a source for square cut nails. There’s a factory in Pennsylvania that makes them. They look just like the real thing. But for this I’ll probably want to use some fancy iron lag bolts. You’ll have to introduce me to him. I need this kind of work once in a while and it’s good to know where to get quality items.”

  Mike looked over to the garden wall and back at the receiving pins. “Good thing you haven’t put in the fancy brickwork for the arches. We can set the hinge pins properly while we build.”

  John nodded. “Right. Mike, you’re in charge until we get to the seven foot mark. Then I’ll come over to supervise the arches.”

  “Right-o, John.”

  Phyllis came over. “Any news from Lucy?”

  “She’s got an appointment Tuesday after work with a family lawyer that one of the folks from the Met recommended.”

  Mike asked, “Lucy?”

  Phyllis demurred. “A young woman that John’s helping out.”

  Mike raised an eyebrow but the look on John’s face suggested that a silent smirk would be better than any teasing. He gave John a knowing look then called, “Hafeez. Stop trying to convince people to put in a cricket pitch and grab your tools.”

  Hafeez gave a broad smile and walked over to the back of the truck.

  Lucy had decided that her tips were good enough that week that she was going to treat John to supper before the concert. She’d been in high anticipation all week about their evening out but she didn’t want to dress up as much as last time. She’d found a comfortable but stylish maternity dress with an Empire waist in a light blue and pearl gray cotton print at the second hand shop. Jessica had sensed her anticipation and told her to go home at two but instead she changed at the restaurant and modeled her dress to the amusement and approval of Jessica and Alec.

  As soon as she left the restaurant, she drove directly to Kemptville, hoping to catch John at the church. There was still a buzz of activity when she arrived at the church parking lot shortly before three. She couldn’t see John from the parkin
g lot but his truck was there.

  There was a new brick wall under construction with an arch support frame in the doorway. Remembering that it was a construction zone, she decided to give the worksite a wide berth as she walked around the building to the north side lawn.

  A redheaded woman motioned her over to a pair of folding tables in the shade of a beautiful red maple. The tables were set out with coolers and covered picnic plates. “Hi. I’m Anne MacDonald.” She looked curiously at Lucy.

  “I’m Lucy Wilkinson. Is John MacLeish around?”

  Anne pointed at the wide center arch in the long wall. John was standing on a scaffold coaching two young men who were setting the last bricks and reinforcement clips along a wooden archway support. There was an older man installing the arch in the north wall while a pair of teenagers passed bricks and mortar up to him. “We’re running a little bit late, but everyone is really excited about the garden wall. The doorway arches are almost finished and the granite capstones that John cut and polished should be installed by next Friday. John’s been really amazing.”

  Lucy smiled her agreement. “How so?”

  “He’s been very good at teaching the boys about how to do the job right. My son Jason is the one handing the bricks up to John and his apprentices. And Jason’s friend Isaac is doing most of the cutting work with the brick saw.”

  Phyllis spotted Lucy and climbed down from the platform on the north side of the church.

  “Lucy, dear. What a pleasant surprise.” Phyllis stripped off her mortar spattered rubber gloves. “I’d give you a hug but I don’t want to get that pretty dress dirty.”

  “It wasn’t very busy at the restaurant so I got sent home early. John’s taking me to a concert tonight so I thought I’d surprise him by showing up early.”

  “One of those longhair music things, I expect.” Phyllis saw the surprise on Anne’s face as the idea of John going on a date with someone registered.

  Lucy nodded. “Another chamber music concert at St. Andrew’s downtown. There’s a Danish recorder player, Michala Petri, who is astonishing. I’m really excited about seeing her live.”

  Anne MacDonald made a skeptical snort. “Recorder? Like grade five music class?”

  Lucy gave a knowing smile. “Same instrument but she’s as good with a recorder as, say, Jerry Reed or Carlos Santana is with the guitar. Or Natalie MacMaster is with a fiddle.”

  Anne registered the last. “As good as Natalie? She must be very good, then.”

  “She is. That’s why I’m looking forward to it so much.”

  “Well, dear. You’ll have to tell us all about it on Sunday.”

  Lucy sighed. “Okay, Mrs. Plunkett. I’ll do that.”

  “Call me Phyllis. And Lily Duncan would be tickled pink if you called her Lily.”

  Lucy paused to think it over. Jessica’s advice about accepting friendship came to mind. “I’ll be sure to do that, Phyllis.”

  About that time the last of the mortar had been worked into the repointing project and several older men and three younger men came over to the refreshment table. One of the older men said, in a resonant Scottish accent, “Och, Annie. ‘Tis a pity ye canna serve us a pint to cool us doon. Some guid ale would go doon a treat.”

  Anne waggled a finger. “Now, Uncle Archie. You know that we can’t do that here.”

  “Ach wheel, then. Perhaps ye have a bottle o’ grapefruit juice for me. And that man o’ yours can stock some o’ the good stuff for when I come over next.”

  Anne smiled and handed him a bottle. “I’ll make certain that my Donnie lays in some good best bitter for Sunday dinner, then.”

  Archie took a long drink of his juice while he gave Lucy the once-over. “And who is this bonny lass, Phyllis? I was sairtin ah knew all the guid lookin’ ladies in the congregation.”

  “Careful there, Archie MacDonald. This is Lucy Wilkinson, a good friend of our Mr. MacLeish.” Phyllis began uncovering plates of cookies as the dozen or so workers came over to the tables.

  Lucy helped with the serving then stepped forward a bit as Phyllis introduced everyone.

  John heard the rising noise behind him as he talked Hafeez and Simon through the installation of the long gray keystone with the shield and St. Andrew’s cross carved into both ends. “Easy with the mortar on the right, Hafeez… Tap it a bit forward, Simon. That’s perfect. Now both of you give it a good tap to seat it.” He held up a hand for a high-five. “Hafeez, I’ll make you into a mason yet.”

  “I think you will, boss. But I’m still better at mosaics.”

  “I’m really looking forward to learning about that from you this fall. It stinks that you have to get recertified.”

  “At least the Immigration officer didn’t tell me it would be easy. My wife’s cousin is a qualified doctor in Pakistan but here…” He shrugged. “It was good that she was able to get her nurse midwife certificate fairly quickly. She is not sure she needs anything more now that she can deliver babies again.”

  “Let’s go see what the ladies have for drinks and a snack before we clean up.”

  John called in a loud voice. “Excellent job today everyone. Thanks for staying a bit later. Let’s take a short break and then we can clean up and go home to enjoy the long weekend.”

  A chorus of groans met with John’s announcement but it was good natured because it was very satisfying to see all of the progress today.

  Archie MacDonald came over. “Did ye want me to take the measurements for the doors? My nephew Andy has some guid quarter sawn oak curing in his barn he can let us have.”

  John replied, “Not for a couple of days, Archie. I’d like to make certain the hinge pins are solid before we put any weight at all on them. They’ll be hard set by sundown but they won’t be cured enough for my liking. We’ll take all the measurements on Tuesday morning. But I should check again that the pins all line up properly before we go today.”

  Archie nodded. “Ye do guid work, laddie. And ye’ve got guid taste in women, even if she has too many earrings.”

  “What do you mean?” As Archie pointed, John looked over at the crowd of the younger men next to the refreshment table. Down by their feet he saw a slender bare leg with a ring of ink around the ankle and emerald green sandals and looked upward to spot a matching green hair clip. “Excuse me, Archie.”

  Lucy turned to see John shoulder his way through the crowd and she smirked at the scowls he was giving the men who were flirting with her. Then his eyes caught hers and he noted her smirk. Lucy spoke first. “Hi John. You’ve been busy today.”

  The group made room for John to stand close to Lucy. “You’re here,” he said, unnecessarily. Anne and Phyllis gave each other a knowing look. The single men all repressed sighs, recognizing that Lucy was taken.

  Lucy tried to copy his scowl, but her lips were twitching. “Obviously.”

  Then John shook his head to clear it. “Have you met everyone?”

  “Not quite. I don’t think I’ve met your apprentices yet.”

  John introduced them and asked for two bottles of water. Draining the first, he said, “Did you finish early today?”

  “Jessica sent me home. So I changed at work to come right here. Bruno’s okay drinking from the lake for an evening.” Lucy gave John a sunny smile. Then she got a twinge of doubt. “I hope you’re not mad.”

  John returned her smile. “Not at all. But I’m going to get teased on the way back to the house.”

  “Oh, you better believe it, John. I knew something was up when you were whistling this morning.” Mike’s smile deflected the daggers shooting from John’s eyes.

  Phyllis said, sweetly, “Doesn’t John have to sign off on your qualifying hours, Mike?”

  Mike got a very thoughtful look. Lucy said, indignantly, “John’s got more integrity than that, Phyllis. How dare you suggest he’d do something like that?”

  Phyllis winked. “It doesn’t hurt to keep on the boss’s good side.”

  Archie added, “It sairt
inly don’t.”

  John turned to Lucy. “Will you be okay here or do you want to wait for me at the house?”

  “I’ll follow you. How long do you think you’ll be?”

  He looked at the crew of teenagers scrubbing out the mixer and the mortar hods. “Probably a half hour or so. Do you need a chair?”

  “No but if you could point me to the ladies?”

  Phyllis laughed and said, “Come with me.”

  John came down to the kitchen in a very natty casual outfit, looking pink and freshly scrubbed.

  Lucy commented, “That’s a very nice look. Dockers?”

  “Tilley Endurables. They make some very nice casual wear.”

  Lucy stood and dared initiate a hug. “Well, I think you look very good.”

  John blushed and returned the hug but broke it off too early for Lucy’s taste.

  Lucy took a seat at the table. “So, how much teasing did the guys squeeze into the fifteen minute drive back here?”

  John went to the cupboard to get a bowl and a tin of cat food. “They didn’t say a thing. Not a blessed thing. But Hafeez emailed a cell phone picture of you to my phone with copies to all the crew chiefs. Next week could be somewhat painful. I make the rounds to see how things are going at the other projects before I go in to the church.” He popped the lid to the tin and within two seconds a frantically meowing Smudge raced into the kitchen to leave a ring of dark cat hair on his light trousers as she did a figure eight of appreciation around his legs.

  Lucy said, in a wondering tone, “The folks I met today were all very nice.”

  “You don’t have to sound so surprised. I’m sure that Phyllis made certain to let Archie and Dean know that you might be coming on Sunday. If I know her she made you sound more outré than you are so that when they finally met you they’d be, well… relieved.”

  “She’s a sneaky old woman, isn’t she?”

  “She is. And Archie says you’re a bonny lass. He’s got kind of a sixth sense when it comes to people. He’s not afraid to let the holier than thou types get it with both barrels.” She saw the rueful look on his face.

  She started to smirk. “You?”

  John came toward her. “Me. Big time. You may find this hard to believe but I do occasionally have issues with being a judgemental tight…”

  “Tightass?” Lucy completed.

  John allowed himself a chagrined look. “Well, yes.”

  Lucy rose and wrapped her arms around him. “I think losing Rob forced you to think about a lot of things.”

  In a husky voice, “I miss him so much, Lucy. Everyone thought I was the good son and he was the wild one but we both knew different. He kept me from being too rigid and I kept him from getting too wild. Even if he did have to do a short stint in the military prison before he finally took it seriously.”

  Lucy gave him a good squeeze and let him go. “I thought he was a good man, John, at least when I knew him. So did Elaine.”

  “He talked to me about Elaine off and on during his last tour. He thought she was pretty special and he really hoped that he’d be able to see her again. Maybe see where it went. She was pretty broken up when I talked to her. It’s part of why she helped me find you.”

  “Are you praying for her?” Lucy asked gently.

  “She’s on my long list. I have a short list I pray every day and a long list I pray on Sunday morning before church. You and the baby are on both.”

  “We don’t have to go anywhere if you’d rather stay home and talk.”

  John straightened his shoulders and shook off his dark mood in the way that men seem to be able to do. “Not a chance, Lucy. This will be a great concert and you said you knew the best shawarma place in Ottawa. No way I’m missing out on either of those.” Then a bit more seriously. “Besides, we’ll have a couple of hours in the car together to talk, if we need to.”

  This time Lucy gave in to the impulse and gave him an affectionate peck on the cheek. “And we’ll have time to talk tomorrow on the way to your sister’s. Or if you wanted to come over early.”

  John asked, “Are you sure you’re up for that?”

  “Hey, if I can handle a third degree from Phyllis and Anne, then your sister should be a breeze.”

  “You don’t know Reenie.” John slipped on a pair of leather deck shoes and held Lucy’s arm as she slipped on her flats before they headed to John’s truck for the drive into town.

  Chapter 13