Detour to Otherwhen ©

by K Pelle

Chapter 2

As soon as Anna told me about the phone call she'd received from the University of Calgary, cancelling our trip, I lost my cool.  I knew it had to have been an internal decision at U of C, and probably some form of bureaucratic idiocy.  The fact that they would cancel the trip at such short notice, after we'd already done so much preparation, simply pissed me off and I reacted.

Yes, I have a temper, and it shows up when idiotic decisions made by witless bureaucrats take a bite out the nether regions of either one of my friends or me.  Anna claims that it's all due to my Cree ancestry, so when my friends and family or I are ambushed, I revert to savagery and I return the attack.  To be honest, she's much more blunt about my response than that, claiming that I dig out my war-bonnet, slap on the war-paint and start beating the drums, ready to go on the warpath.  Perhaps I do, but after working at the University for several years I knew enough not to rant and rave at the asininity of pencil pushers, instead I'd learned how to raise a ruckus in a much more effective manner.  I'd learned how to derail most bureaucratic nightmares I ran into at UVic and felt the same process would be just as effective when dealing with the U of C.

With the idea of doing an end run around their bureaucratic idiocy, I grabbed my laptop and the telephone.  Using the laptop to access UVic's database of phone numbers, I started dialling the phone and talking to people, telling them what had happened.  The first call was to Sam, my boss.  The next call was to Sam's boss, the head honcho for the Physics department.  Then, since I was on a roll, I called Anna's boss, the head of the Native Studies department.  I followed that with a call to one of the University vice-presidents, a man I happened to know personally through a karate dojo I frequented.

Next, I made two long distance calls to a pair of chiefs in two different native bands which were near Calgary.  Since one of those chiefs was my uncle, Charlie, while the other was my cousin's father-in-law, Ozzie Redfern, but since I had hunted with both of them, I felt comfortable asking for their help.  I asked if they would call around to anyone they knew at the U of C to find out what had happened and why permission for Anna to be involved in the Cypress Hills dig had been withdrawn.

After that I took a short break from the phone and e-mailed my Federal MP (Member of Parliament), with a carbon copy to my Provincial MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly).  With Anna's help, I detailed what she'd first been told, how we had circumvented all the problems that had been thrown our way, then what had happened just that day.  I mentioned Anna's qualifications, Mimi and Ellen's high standings in their studies and even my own minor involvement, adding that we were personally covering the majority of our expenses.  Then I detailed Anna's and my suspicions that what was going on in Calgary was a political ploy by the bureaucrats in their Archaeology department.  Finally I asked if either of them might see his way to finding any explanation for the U of C's precipitous actions - actions which had left us high and dry, out of pocket and mad as hell.

My final phone call that evening was to Mary Bluesky, the secretary/treasurer of the National Métis Council.  To be honest, I only contacted her because I knew her personally, and while I didn't know anyone else on the national council, I wanted them to be aware of what was happening.  I spent some time talking to her, first explaining that Anna, Mimi and I were all Métis, while Ellen was of mixed racial background, then explaining what had happened and how much time and money we'd already invested in preparing for the trip.  Now while I carefully did not say that we were being discriminated against, but I may have implied that Anna had come away with that impression from what she had heard.  As Mary asked questions and I answered them, I thought I could hear thunder in the background.  When I mentioned it to Anna after I was off the phone though, she kidded me, saying she thought it sounded more like war-drums and that the thunder was all in my head.

Perhaps Anna was right, because the next day we found that I'd certainly lit a fire under someone's butt.  The whole of the Anthropology department at UVic seemed to have become involved in our little problem and the Physics department wasn't exactly left out in the cold either.  I'm unsure how many phone calls Anna received or how many meetings she had with bigwigs, but I hardly had time to do anything related to work all day long.  Instead I spent most of my day fielding phone calls and talking to bigwigs.

Early that afternoon Anna and I were both called to a meeting with one of the University's vice-presidents whose job was interdepartmental relations.  After all this time I don't remember for certain, but I think his name was Royce Dingle.  All I really knew about him was what I'd heard, which was that he suffered from TMS (Tiny Man Syndrome) and I could certainly believe that, once I saw his 'somewhat less than heroic' figure.  He stood only chest high to me, even though he was wearing about four inch elevator shoes, which meant he was actually less than five feet tall.  Unfortunately I'd also heard that he tried to make up for his height by attacking problems brutally, and was known to be a mean SOB if things didn't go his way.  On top of that, since he'd somehow connived his way into a job as a university vice-president, he could often make his shit stick to whatever target he'd chosen.  Knowing that his job also included dealings with other universities, I was somewhat uptight as I walked over to his office to meet with him, wondering if I was going to be chastised for what I had done.

When I spoke to his secretary, I found that Anna had arrived earlier, and when I entered his office I saw that she was all smiles and chuckles, so I tried to relax.  Actually I'd barely had time to shake the little dink's hand before he made me a tongue-in-cheek offer of a job in his department.

"Pardon me?" I frowned at him.

"Well, any man who can convince a few dozen influential individuals to become interested in a problem just by making a few phone calls should be involved in public relations work," he laughed, but even his laugh sounded fake.  "Not only did you stir up interest, but you were very effective and you got almost instantaneous results."

I just stared at him without comment, so he went on to explain that he already had three separate offers to make to Anna and me.  The first offer was from the University of Alberta-Edmonton, and involved an archaeological dig in the high foothills of Alberta.  If we took that we would be involved in a relatively new investigation of some recently discovered artifacts that were suspected to predate the final retreat of the glaciers from the prairies.  Then the smarmy little twit tried his best to paint that option as the obvious choice for us to make.  However, when he finally got to them, the other two offers interested me much more than the first one had.  The second offer was from the Métis Council and involved investigating the ruins of an early Métis Camp in the Cypress Hills.  That offer also included a possibility of investigating the upper plateau region for signs that the area had been used as a refuge from the glaciers during the last ice age.  The third offer combined the second offer with an opportunity to spend two weeks at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, which would give us a chance to work with the archaeologists on that site.

The first thing I noticed about all of the offers was that none of them included any mention of the first site we'd been interested in, but Anna had caught that omission and asked about it.  It turned out that there was some unrest in that area involving a disagreement between the local First Nations population and the archaeologist in charge of the dig.  With that in mind, everyone agreed that it might be wise for us to stay relatively clear of the situation.  In other words we could visit the site, but even that might be risky and 'Mr. Mini-Man' implied that we shouldn't get involved in any discussions or arguments which might take place.  I took that to mean that tempers were running high and the people involved were rather touchy about anything which might be said or done.

Just looking at the guy we were dealing with, I knew we wouldn't get a straight answer from him concerning whatever had riled the local elders.  Instead I made a mental note to call my uncle in Alberta about it.  In fact I thought Anna and I should talk to him about any of the offers which had been made to us.  With that idea in mind, when the smarmy little twit we were talking to began to pressure Anna to make a decision of which option she thought we should take, I just shook my head.  He continued twisting her arm, though, so I spoke up, advising her that we might want to think about all of the options for a while.  Thankfully, Anna agreed with me.

Unfortunately the little martinet tried even harder to pressure her into making a snap choice, which got Anna's dander up.  Basically she told him that she wasn't going to mismanage her career by making a precipitous decision just to promote the effect that he was marginally competent at his job.  Instead she advised him that she'd consider her options, but only after she had investigated all the details from every possible angle, then she'd get back to him in a day or two.  Of course once she'd told him that, we got the bum's rush and were soon leaving the building.

"I think I pissed him off,"  Anna said quietly as we walked away.  "Do you suppose he had an agenda that he was trying to promote?"

"Unh huh, but I don't think he enjoyed being called 'marginally competent' either,"  I grinned as I nodded my head in agreement.  "Didn't you notice the way he emphasized the idea that the trip into the foothills was on the U of A-Edmonton's dollar, as if we really cared?"

"Duh, of course I did," she jabbed me lightly and grinned back.  "If I didn't know better I might think he either has an axe to grind or a debt to repay."

"Yup,"  I grunted.  "My money would be on the option of a big time debt he owes someone in Edmonton - either that or the little man is getting a big kickback of some sort and stands to benefit in one way or another."

The little twerp had pissed me off, so it was probably a good thing that Anna thought he was amusing, but she knew me well enough to let me think in peace.  So instead of making a big deal of it, she and I exchanged a quick hug, then she headed back to her office.  Meanwhile, I did an about face and went to see a friend of mine in the Personnel department; sure as hell, the little twerp had worked at U of A-Edmonton before coming to UVic.  I would have bet a thousand bucks he owed someone a big favour, so having Anna and the rest of us work on his touted site would almost certainly be to his advantage.

As far as I was concerned that only left the last two options we'd been presented as decent choices, but Anna would be the one who made the final decision.  Of course I intended to do my best to influence her, but the final determination had to be hers.  I knew well enough to go along with whatever she made up her mind to do, even if it meant working with that smarmy little asshole, Dingle.  That didn't mean I was going to remain silent or inactive though.  With that in mind, I dropped by Sam's office on the way back to work because I was curious about exactly what was going on and wondered if he had any ideas.

"What's up, Joe?  Did 'Sir Royce' bull-shit Anna into taking some crappy offer?"  he asked instantly, the moment I walked into his office.

"Huh, it sounds like you've met the asshole,"  I grumped.  "He impressed me that he was trying to be so slick he could skate on sandpaper, but trouble is, he was leaving a trail of slime.  How did he get his job anyway, carry a step ladder to the interview so he was tall enough to kiss his new bosses bunghole?"

"Well, I can see you've got him pegged,"  Sam laughed as I flopped into a chair.

"I'm suspicious that the little SOB has a trainload of axes to grind, so I'd like to check on him, but so far all I've found out is that he worked at U of A-Edmonton before coming here.  Since that's where the first offer to Anna came from, I figure he's managed to negotiate some form of payback out of it.  I'll be damned if I want to give that two-bit, snake-oil salesman any advantage, but he's slippery enough that he might convince Anna.  Do you know if there is any way to find out more about him without raising suspicions on his part?  I really don't want Anna's career to suffer just so he can return a favour or pay off a debt to someone."

"Why bother, I doubt if Anna will be snowed by his act,"  Sam frowned.  "If you want though, why not make a few phone calls and find out what's going on behind the scenes in Edmonton?  Since you're going along on this trip and since that reflects well on this department, we owe you a few favours."

"You mean I should make the calls from my office during working hours?"

"Yeah, I've already cleared that with the department head - after all the calls are only to Edmonton and Calgary, so the charges won't be all that high.  If things get hot and heavy so there are going to be any extended long distance calls, just let the department head's secretary know, and warn her about the expected charges. I guarantee there won't be any problems then."

"Umm, I doubt if any of the calls will take long, but there might be one call to Winnipeg, since that's where my contact on the National Métis Council works."

"Would that call be during office hours, so it was to their office?"

"Unh huh. It'll have to be soon though, in order to catch her while she's still at work.  I had to call her at home last night, since it was later, but that didn't upset her because it was about Cypress Hills and that's right on the Alberta Saskatchewan border."

"Well, if I were you, I'd play a bit of politics and since she's with a national organization, call her first, which would give you the excuse to call any others you happen to think would be helpful.  Of course even before that, you might call Anna to see who she's contacting.  You don't really want to duplicate your contact calls, that sort of thing can annoy people."

"Yeah, you're right,"  I sighed and stood up to go.  "Do you have any contacts in Edmonton and Calgary that you'd recommend I call?"

"One or two, and when you call them, use my name as an intro," he grinned, then he handed me a slip of paper with three or four names and numbers already written on it, then waved me off.  "Now get out of my hair and let me get some of this backlog of paperwork done, or I'll never get home tonight."

So I headed back to my little office off the machine shop and called Anna first to let her know what I was going to do, asking her who she was going to call.  We found that we really didn't have that much overlap, so she'd call her contacts at both of the Alberta universities first.  However, she didn't think she could get very much information from them, so she agreed that I should call my contacts at the two universities too.  As well as that I'd call Mary, my contact at the National Métis Council, and the two First Nations chiefs that I'd called the night before.  With that straightened around, I called the secretary in the head office of the Physics department to get clearance to make a few long distance calls.

The departmental secretary just laughed and told me that Sam had arranged for a few hours of calls.  Then she mentioned that I had a standing budget for long distance phone calls assigned to me as a department head anyway, so unless I planned to make more calls than those two allotments, I wasn't to worry.  Damn, I'd worked at UVic for years and didn't even know I had a long distance phone call allowance, but after hanging up from her, I set out to use some of those reserves.


Back at home that night, Anna and I compared information and found that we had both confirmed our first impression of the little prick we'd met earlier in the day.  If she'd accepted his proposition from the University of Alberta Edmonton, we'd have been going against the wishes of local First Nations people.  It seemed that a year or so earlier, when the original find of the foothills artifacts had been made, the archaeologist in charge had removed some human remains from the site.  Those bones had not been returned for reburial and until they were, all of the local First Nations people were dead set against allowing any further research in that area.  I was willing to wager that the little prick had hoped that since we were Métis we might be allowed to go in and do research.  I suspected he was setting us up to do an end run around the local native people's wishes, but if it failed he'd have used our actions to make us out to be the scapegoats, which would cover his ass.

That night we arranged a conference call with Mary Bluesky, my Uncle Charlie, and his friend, Ozzie Redfern, the other chief that I'd called.  When Anna explained to the three of them what Royce Dingle had offered and what we thought it meant, the phone line went silent for a few minutes, then Uncle Charlie reacted.

"Big Joe, I've never scalped a man before, but if you have a spare butter knife I could borrow, I might arrange to fly out to Victoria for a short visit," he said quietly.

Anna looked at me with a worried frown, so I winked at her.

"Actually Uncle Charlie, I'd rather see him tossed out on his ass and given a bad record, along with his walking papers.  That way he'd no longer be in anyone's hair," I suggested quietly.

"Oh, you are gonna get your wish, if I have my way," Mary snorted.  "I think it's time to do some investigating first though and after that I think we need to put some lawyers on the job.  What's the number to call to get through to UVic's President, since I'd guess he's this jerk Dingle-dongle's boss?"

While I looked up the number for Mary, Anna filled them in on what she knew and what we'd found out about Dingle's background.  That set the other three off on a tangent because they thought they'd need to do some checking in Edmonton before they went a lot further.  As Ozzie said, there was no sense in going after one snake, they might as well clean out the whole snake pit.

I just grinned at Anna and winked, whispering,  "This has become a council of war, maybe you should steer the topic back to our problem?  After all, right now this discussion is really about their problem, not ours."

She nodded at that,  "Excuse me for breaking into this discussion about Dingle, but Joe and I have a rather pressing problem.  We're scheduled to head out of town in ten days and Joe can't change his holidays at this late date.  While we'd love to help you as much as we can with the Dingle affair, we need to decide just what our group is going to do and where we're going to go, so we can plan our actions."

"Oh, I thought that thing at Cypress Hills didn't get underway until the first of June?" Mary spoke up almost instantly.  "That's almost a month away."

"Your right, but we're taking off early to have a bit of a holiday first.  We were planning to leave here bright and early on the 16th of May," I answered her.  "I originally planned to take our time, just camping on our way through the Rockies, then we were going to visit a few places in Alberta before heading for Cypress Hills.  Anna has even borrowed a camper so she and the girls can have a comfortable place to sleep each night.  I plan on taking the Jeep and a trailer to haul our supplies and extra camping gear for the next six weeks."

"Well, unfortunately you might have a bit of a problem with your vehicles at Cypress Hills," Mary sighed heavily, then threw a wrench into the whole discussion.  "Since so many off-road idiots have torn around and done a lot of damage, all forms of all-terrain vehicles have been banned from any off-road travel anywhere in the Cypress Hills for the time being.  Even four wheel drives and mountain bikes can only use the main roads and the operators will be charged by the police if they are found off-road.  Not only that, but all motorized vehicles are banned from open portions of the upper plateau, which includes the area where the original Métis camps were.  That means you'll have to ride in on horses and carry your supplies in by packtrain."

Anna just stared at me for a moment, then asked quietly, "Pardon me, but what did you just say?"

"I said you'll have to pack in, on horseback," Mary answered her just as quietly.

"Well, I guess that takes us out of the picture," Anna replied quite firmly.  "In the first place, I've never ridden a horse, and in the second place, we don't happen to have any horses living in our backyard."

"Oh we can teach you to ride in a few days and since you're coming out here early, there'll be lots of time," Uncle Charlie chuckled.  "You can learn to ride in the evenings while you're staying near Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump and studying under the archaeologists there.  My son's ranch is only a few miles away from the site, so you can camp out at his place and ride horses every evening."

"And if young Chuck doesn't have a horse there that you like, I've got another forty or fifty over here that you can pick from," Ozzie offered.

"Actually that old chestnut mare that Joe keeps at Chuck's place would be perfect for a beginning rider.  Chuck lets his kids ride her all the time and Fawn, Chuck's youngest, is only ten," Uncle Charlie came back.  "In fact the kids can ride any of Joe's horses, except for the stallion.  The rest are almost as gentle as the horses you find on one of those merry-go-round pony rides at the fair."

Anna frowned at me when Uncle Charlie said I had a few horses of my own.  I hadn't mentioned to her that I owned and boarded a few horses at my cousin's ranch, since I only used them when I went hunting in the foothills.  However, because I'd forgotten to bring up that fact before, I knew I was in for a few questions about them after the phone call was over.

"Humph, I'll have to think about this and I think I should find out if the two girls who are travelling with us can ride before we go much further," Anna frowned again.  "Besides, isn't it quite a distance from Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump to Cypress Hills?  Wouldn't it take a long time to ride that far on horseback?"

"Oh, we'd just truck them over there," Uncle Charlie chuckled.  "You know, I'll bet Chuck and his family would love to go on a weekend trip with you anyway.  Or maybe we could keep the kids with us and let Chuck and Maybelle have a couple o' days holiday without the kids.  That would probably do 'em all good.  What do you think Ozzie?  Could you and the missus put up with a rug-rat or two for a couple o' days?"

"Hah, fat chance that the kids would let Chuck and Maybelle go on a weekend trip without taking 'em along, especially if it includes Joe and his horses," Ozzie laughed.  "We can make the offer, but I'll bet they don't take us up on it.  Besides, both you and me get lots of chance to see the kids when Chuck and Maybelle take that outfit of his and play farriers at the rodeos."

"Okay guys, enough family crap," Mary broke in.  "Anna, do you still want to investigate the Cypress Hills Métis encampment dig or not?  Because if riding a horse is a deal breaker, I'd like to know.  If you do turn that down though, it makes the idea of breaking up Dingle's crooked actions a little harder and I really want to get that little bastard before he stirs up more racist shit."

Anna looked at me and sighed,  "Yeah, I think I'd like to work on that Métis project.  What do you think, Joe?  Can you teach me to ride well enough in the time we have?  All I need is to ride well enough that I won't kill myself or cause someone else a problem."

"Yep, in fact we can get started before we leave town," I nodded.  "There's a local trail riding place that I go to once in a while to toughen up my riding muscles before I go on any hunting trips.  We can get in a few rides and I'll bet you'll like riding.  After all, almost all women do."

"There is the option of using a horse drawn wagon to haul in your supplies, since there are still some roads that go up onto the plateau and I think we could get permission to do that.  Anna could ride in the wagon if necessary, but it would be better if she could ride a horse too," Mary added quietly.  "We could always borrow or rent a rubber tired wagon that would be easy for the horses to pull, and if we used a rubber tired rig, it'd be easier on the ground cover."

"No need to rent one of those," Uncle Charlie snorted.  "Chuck has one that he uses to haul feed to his cattle in the fall and winter.  He's even got a team or two that will pull it.  He's got two hitch poles for it too, a long one for the horses and a short one for the truck hitch, so it can be pulled down the road behind a truck."

"Oh, that's a relief," Anna actually laughed.  "I'm a bit worried about learning to ride very well in such a short time."

"So you're going to go for it then?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, other than the idea of riding horses, it sounds great.  I imagine I can put up with camping in a tent for a month or so."

"Good, we'll let you go for now and plan on your team heading out in ten days time, but it might take three or four days for you to get there.  Charlie and Ozzie can stay on the line with me though, we need to talk a bit more about the University of Edmonton and the Dingle-dangler problem,"  Mary spoke immediately.  "I'll send through the paperwork for you to take to your department head as soon as I can, Anna.  Actually, if I get my buns in gear I can probably get that to you tomorrow or early the next day.  The only real change will be the difference in the name of the university sponsoring the operation and the fact that you'll be in charge of the dig."

"But, I've never been in charge of a dig," Anna protested.  "I've never really worked on one for any length of time."

"That's why we want you to spend some time at the Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump site.  We want you to work with our people in charge of that exploration, learning the systems and procedures they've developed," Uncle Charlie explained quite patiently.  "I've heard about your talents and I'm sure you can run the job just fine, besides, you can lean on Joe for help if you need to.  I know he'll support you and I know he's run a crew of men before and kids should be just as easy to handle.  All you need to remember is we want solid information, pictures and maybe some physical evidence even more than paperwork.  It would be nice to get some arrowheads or baskets or something similar, but we'll take the paperwork just to back up the rest."

"Okay, I think we can do that, and by the way, thank you all for stepping up to the plate and giving us some alternate options," Anna said sincerely.

After that we spent a few moments saying our goodbyes, but once we were off the phone, Anna wanted to talk.  What surprised me was the fact that she didn't bring up the horses, but instead seemed to be expressing reluctance to being placed in charge of an archaeological dig, especially one of this sort.  I had known about her reluctance to take charge, but she had been on digs before for short periods of time, just not the sort that we would be involved with this time and she had never been in a responsible position.  However the more I talked to her, the more I felt she was a perfect choice for the job.  The only thing she seemed to lack was first hand experience at leading a dig.  Her main worry seemed to be that she might make a mistake and be held responsible for damaging some irreplaceable artifact.  It took me most of the evening to calm her down and get her to look at this as an opportunity and a challenge, but not something which might damage her reputation in any way.

It was the next evening before I got a chance to call my cousin Chuck and see what he thought of the idea of going along on the trip.  I expected that it would be just a matter of him delivering my horses, as well as lending us a team and wagon, but he soon disabused me of that notion.  Uncle Charlie and Ozzie, his father-in-law, had already talked to him about the whole setup, so he'd discussed the idea with his wife, Maybelle.  She and all three of her kids thought it was a great idea; in fact the kids wanted to skip school to come along, so Chuck and Maybelle had decided to make the trip last a week or more.  They were planning to help us move the wagons to our final site, help set up camp and even stay with us for a few days.

Once they knew we were going to be fine, they planned to hit the rodeo circuit through southern Saskatchewan for a while.  That would be a change of scenery for them since they normally worked the Alberta rodeo circuit.  At the same time it would give their kids a chance to see how Chuck and Maybelle made their living during the summer, shoeing horses for people who came to the rodeos they visited.  While we were talking, Chuck suggested I call the RCMP who were responsible for patrolling the area in the Cypress hills where the dig would be and discuss any possible security and wildlife problems.

So, once I was finished with the call to Chuck, I phoned the RCMP detachment at Elkwater.  They didn't think we'd have to worry about vandalism or anything of that sort as long as we stayed clear of the present archaeological dig, which the constable warned me was a bit of a touchy subject.  The guy I talked to suggested that I should talk to the local game warden though, implying that I'd be wise to discuss the problems we might have with local wildlife.  So before I ended the call to the RCMP officer, I got the game warden's number from him.

Talking to the game warden was an education in itself.  I hadn't realized that there was a healthy population of predators in the area we were planning to investigate, nor had I realized how far we were really going to be from any outside help.  His suggestions of what steps I should take to ensure our safety were unexpected, but after he told me a couple of horror stories about other campers who'd been in the general area I took his warnings to heart.

He faxed me a letter to take along when I went to the local RCMP detachment in order to get permits to have firearms in camp.  Since I had a portable gun case that I used during hunting season, and it could carry a rifle and a shotgun, I took that with me when I went out to visit the RCMP.  I showed them the case, then asked if I could legally carry any guns on the trip and also their opinion about what I should take.  Needless to say, Canada's gun laws are confusing to me at the best of times and since I wanted to do something nonstandard, I wanted to cross all the 'T's and dot all the 'I's.

In the long run I was glad I went out to talk to them and really glad that I'd taken along the letter from the game warden.  I think they might have refused to help me without it, but because I had the letter I was able to talk to them about my problem and even come up with a solution of sorts.  Once they'd read the letter and understood that I was going into a seldom patrolled wilderness area with a group of students, they went out of their way to help me.  They did try to dissuade me from taking guns, suggesting noise makers and bear spray instead, but in the long run they admitted that our ultimate safety really depended on some sort of defensive weaponry.  So, after calling the game warden I'd spoken to, as well as the RCMP detachment responsible for patrolling in the Cyprus Hills, they gave me a permit to pack two of my shotguns, but refused to give me a permit for a rifle.  Of course they insisted that I had to lock the case and store it safely out of sight while we were travelling on the highway or in populated areas.  I even had to take a short, but intense gun safety course to satisfy them, but since I'd been handling guns all my life I aced their test with no problems.


The time literally flew by after that, so it seemed that before I could even take a breath it was our last day in Victoria and we'd be leaving the next morning.  To be honest, all I had time to pack and store was the case of guns and my tools, both of which were packed on the sides and at the very back of the Jeep so I could get at them easily if the need arose.

I would have liked to have packed and checked everything as it was loaded, but since we planned on catching the first ferry out of Swartz Bay the next morning, I simply ran short of time.  To complicate matters, I'd had to work late on the last day in order to finish an important project, which meant that I wasn't able to get home until almost ten o'clock that evening.  I barely had time to help the gals finish packing the last few articles that we might need on the trip into the back of the Jeep.  Anna and Ellen had already packed most of our clothing and personal goods in the pickup and camper.  While they were doing that, Mimi had managed to recruit some of my tenants to help pack  the utility trailer with the camping equipment from the basement, but I suspected that some extra gear might have crept in there.  I was almost positive of that, because I'd expected to have oodles of extra space in the trailer, but when they were done packing up to leave, all the vehicles were loaded to the gills.  Somehow, the gals had filled almost every cubic inch of 'free' space in the Jeep, the jump seat of the pickup cab, all the cupboards of the camper, and finally the whole utility trailer.  Thank goodness we ran out of time before they thought of anything else, but it was almost eleven at night before they decided they had everything they needed and felt we were ready to go.

Since the ferry left at seven o'clock  the next morning we wanted to pull away from the house by five-thirty, which meant waking around four-thirty so everyone could get ready in time.  Thankfully, Ellen and Mimi were going to spend the night in our spare bedroom, so we wouldn't need to drive to their apartment and pick them up in the morning.  Instead we could all shower, dress, grab a cup of coffee, then leave, planning on eating breakfast and perhaps even having a nap on the ferry.

However, none of us got much sleep that night.  Actually I thought the three women were acting like little kids on the night before a holiday, and all of them were still chitchatting excitedly, even after getting into bed.  I know it was well after midnight before I finally managed to doze off, and even then they were still chattering like three excited magpies.

I was barely out of the shower and still a bit bleary eyed at four-forty-five in the morning when someone surprised me by knocking on my door.  I didn't have a robe handy, so I grabbed a towel, wrapped it around me, rushed to the door and opened it to see who could be there at that time of the day.  Vera and Helen, my cooks from downstairs just grinned, wished me a "Good morning," and "Have a good trip."  Then they handed me a pot of coffee and a huge plate of cinnamon toast before turning to go back downstairs, both of them giggling like schoolgirls.  Holding the pot of coffee in one hand and balancing the stack of cinnamon toast with the other, I had to push the door closed with my foot.  However as I turned away from the door, I almost dropped everything.

In my rush to get to the door I'd forgotten that Ellen and Mimi had spent the night, and I suppose the knock on the door had awakened them.  They must have both leapt out of bed and hadn't bothered dressing.  Since it had been a very warm night and we didn't have air conditioning, Mimi was only wearing a pair of tiny thong panties, but Ellen wasn't even wearing that much.  Of course, I only had that towel wrapped around my waist and since my body reacted automatically to the sight of those two nubile bodies, the situation rapidly became quite embarrassing.

For several seconds the three of us just stared at each other, completely speechless.  Then Anna came scurrying out of our bedroom, pulling on a robe as she ran, probably thinking she'd have to answer the door.  She took in the tableau, and broke into laughter.

"Well, since we'll all be sleeping in the camper anyway, this was bound to happen eventually and although you three are providing quite a show, I think that's enough for this morning," she announced, then walked past me, spun Ellen around so she faced toward the spare bedroom, and swatted her butt just hard enough to make a light slapping sound.  "Just remember that the jock you're teasing is taken.  He's mine and for the next six weeks I'm your boss.  You'd have to really impress me a lot to earn the bonus you two ladies seem to be lusting after at the moment."

Both Ellen and Mimi recovered faster than I did, probably because I was developing a blush, while my heart had been forcing blood to another area of my body, so my brain was getting less oxygen than normal.  Ellen just giggled, but Mimi actually grinned and licked her lips while she was staring at the slightly extended drape of the towel.

"Anna, I am jealous," Mimi announced calmly as she slowly raised her eyes from my midriff to look me in the eye and wink.  "Your lover is something else."

"He keeps me happy," Anna grinned, almost gloating, then laughed as she saw me blush even more.  "Now go get something on, and I mean all three of you.  We have to get moving if we want to catch that early ferry."

Somehow in the next little while we all managed to get dressed, and we each managed to eat some cinnamon toast while drinking a cup of coffee.  It seemed to me to take forever, but eventually everyone was ready to go, which meant we finally left to catch the ferry just before six in the morning.  Then Anna and I had a disagreement just as we were leaving - she wanted to take along the dog, instead of leaving Curly with Vera and Helen as I'd arranged.  Since Anna insisted, saying she was going to look after the dog, and since I didn't want to start the trip with both of us in a bad mood, I gave in, but I didn't like the idea.  I just shook my head and instead of arguing I hopped behind the wheel of the Jeep, while Mimi slipped into the shotgun seat.  We watched as Ellen loaded Curly's bed in the jump seat of the truck and Anna told the dog to get into it, then we followed as Anna drove off in the pickup, with Ellen as her copilot.

We were hardly underway before Mimi snorted, then giggled,  "This morning was most educational."

"Do you mean your near nudity, or Ellen's total nudity, or my discussion with Anna about the dog?"

"Partly all of that, yes.  I was surprised by those happenings this morning and of course by your towel with its growing lump," Mimi grinned as she paused.  "It was more the comments Anna made in speaking of that lump which interests me however.  You must realize that she did not place you completely out of bounds to Ellen and me?  Instead she implied that you might be available, but that we would have to negotiate with her.  From the look on your face, I think each of us should have a nice long discussion with her about what she might mean, do you not agree?"

"Jeez, I thought she was saying 'Hands Off!'  What did you think she meant?"

"Well, she might have meant that she was willing to share you, if the circumstances were right, perhaps?  I really do not know," Mimi laughed, either at my surprise or at the fact that she thought I hadn't caught the second possible interpretation of Anna's words.

Meanwhile Anna went through a traffic light just as it turned amber, but I had to stop, so we watched her pull away down the empty street.  I wasn't worried.  I was certain we'd catch her at the next light, or if not there, then at the ferry terminal.  Still, we were both going to have to watch that kind of thing in the future.  I felt certain it would be much better if we kept in visual contact with each other, just in case one of us ran into some small problem or other.

"Perhaps we should have had two of those small portable radios for times such as this, no?"  Mimi waved her hand toward the departing truck.

"We've got them, but right now they don't work very well.  Every few years there are heavy sunspots that interfere with the CB radios.  Right now we're in the midst of a heavy sunspot cycle and there's a lot of skip.  I doubt if Anna even has hers turned on.  I know I didn't bother turning on this one," I shrugged my shoulders.  "I suppose I should have mentioned something to Anna about checking that we were still behind when she goes through lights, or if we run into other traffic slowdowns."

"I see.  Well, to tie this to the former subject we were discussing, I think your lady may have realized that there are times when we may become separated for longer times than the one taking place now.  I believe she recognises the fact that both Ellen and I find you to be an interesting man, perhaps I might even say a sexy gentleman," Mimi laughed again, but her laugh was tentative as if she was embarrassed to be laying her feelings bare.  "The temptation will be there to play around and tease you, for me at least, and from the way your eyes roamed over my body this morning for you too, perhaps.  I do know that you find both Ellen and me to be arousing, that is one fact you can no longer disguise from anyone."

"Oh, I can't argue that I looked, or that I thought you had a beautiful body, but I don't plan to do anything about it.  Besides, you're too young for me and Ellen is just a kid."

"I think you need to open your eyes and really look at Ellen.  She is a young, but fully grown and very attractive woman, and she most certainly is not lacking in experience.  At the same time I am only a few years younger than you, but my height and hairstyle make me appear younger than I am," she chuckled.  "I doubt if anything is about to happen soon, but you have impressed both of us and Anna has encouraged us to get to know you well.  Now we are to be travelling, living and working together for several weeks, so as I see it, Anna is going to have to be the one who will say how close we may become."

"Well, I think I have just a little say in that as well," I grumped.  "Now, to change the subject, while you and I are riding together, I was going to suggest that we might pass the time by learning from each other."

"Pardon me?  What would we learn?"

"Well, I understand that you speak Cree and French as well as English.  I normally speak English and I speak Michif, the language of the Métis, quite well and understand it even better, but I'm not very good in French and have no Cree at all." The light changed then and I was able to drive on, but I continued to speak.  "I was thinking that we could use French as much as possible, but you could teach me the basics of the Cree language and in return I could teach you the same things in Michif."

"Oh, you silly man," she laughed aloud, but now speaking in French.  "Did you not know that Michif is a bastard language, mostly made up of part Cree and part French?"

"Oh!" I chuckled myself, feeling foolish, but answering in Michif.  "So if I spoke in Michif, you could probably understand me?"

"Mais oui, plupart du temps," Mimi giggled, then switched to what sounded like poor Michif with a few slightly twisted words thrown in.  "And if I speak Cree, most of the time you will grasp the basic meaning of my words."

"So that's Cree?"

"Oui, that was Cree."

"Hmm, do you know anything of the Algonquin language?"

"Not really, but why speak the Algonquin?"

"Because it's another native language.  In fact it's one of the root languages of many North American tribes.  I can get by in that too, but I'm far from fluent and I need practise.  It wouldn't hurt if you learned a bit of it either, you see Peigan, which is the native language of  my cousin Chuck's family is basically an Algonquin language." I grinned.  "Just to confuse you though, his wife's family is from a different tribe, even a different nation, so they speak a different language.  She was born on the Sarcee reserve, so she's a Tsuu T'ina and they speak a form of Na-dene which is part of the Athabascan language group.  When I lived with my cousin's family, I had to learn to get along in both of their languages, so I can teach you some of those as well."

"No wonder you have an interest in languages.  What do you do for a living?  I thought you were some kind of mechanic and I cannot see why a mechanic would want to be able to speak in so many languages."

"I'm a machinist, which is a step beyond being a mechanic, at least it is in the way I approach my job.  I do feel I have to understand the mechanics of things, but only in order to build the parts in such a way that they will operate correctly," I laughed.  "Understanding languages is just a hobby for me.  That little quirk in my character has nothing to do with what I do at work."

"Ah, it is a desire, not a need," she said with a smile.  "Then I understand and shall assist you with your French and Cree.  When I use a word that you do not comprehend, you should ask it's meaning and I shall explain, but what will we discuss?"

"Alright, and you can do the same if I use a word that you don't understand," I grinned.  "Perhaps you could tell me a little about your childhood and earlier life and I'll do the same."

So, for the rest of the way to the ferry we talked about ourselves, but swapped languages at will.  If anyone else had been along with us, it would probably have driven them nuts just trying to understand what we said.  Not only were we gaining understanding of each other's language skills, but also each other's lives and motivations.  In other words we were getting to know each other and I found that she was quite an interesting person.

Chapter 3