Canyon Secret (21 page)

“I see you brought me the latest copy of your rag. Anything of interest this time?”

In his very casual manner, Sutter gingerly unclipped the weekly newspaper, unfolded it, and took a final glance before handing it to the Dam Superintendent. “You’ll be real interested in this edition W.R. You most likely will want to hang my hide up on the back of your door. Like I’ve told you before. I cover the news.”

Scalf picked up his glasses from the white tablet on his gray metal desk. He accepted the newspaper and read the headlines and stared at the crystal clear photographs on the front page. In great detail, Al Sutter covered the accident that killed Shorty Davis. The chaos that unfolded that day a week earlier jumped to life before the Superintendent’s eyes. He focused on the photograph of the destruction the full concrete bucket inflicted on the construction area and on Shorty Davis.

Al Sutter joined his hands in front of him in a pyramid shape. He moved his lips close to his fingers as he watched Scalf digest the content of his writing and photography. Sutter noticed a lone tear slowly roll down the face of the man across from him. Scalf’s lips quivered slightly as he moved his eyes down the written page. Al Sutter knew he missed a golden opportunity for a special photograph, but he didn’t move a muscle. He respected the man too much to disturb him at that emotional moment. So many times he watched warm smiles cross this man’s mouth when he enjoyed a photograph that showed the Dam’s building progress.

Once Scalf gently set the newspaper down on the desk, Al Sutter sat back in his chair. “You’ll get calls on this one. People will want to know why the electrical system failed. I wanted you to have time to get ready for this. I’m sure the union people will want an answer and a solution.”

Without saying a word, Scalf motioned his head forward and nodded his agreement. Again he glanced at the telling photographs. The reality of a good man losing his life struck home. This part of the job haunted Scalf. Each time he sat with the man’s family after an accidental death tore at his heart. To most people the reality of accidents and death on the job sometimes got outmatched by the sheer size of the accomplishment of building a dam. W.R. Scalf struggled to speak. For him, reality had set in ten minutes after the accident occurred.

A
s Mikhail waited for his son to join him for a late dinner at Rocco’s Supper Club, he reread the
Hungry Horse Newspaper
for the third time that day. He anxiously awaited the opportunity to tell Tomas the great news. The newspaper was folded once to the second page. Mikhail read the article that he circled earlier.

On August 10th, 1952, C.F. Kelly, Chairman of the Board, Anaconda Copper Mining Company, announced that Anaconda would build its $45,000,000 aluminum reduction facility two miles northeast of Columbia Falls near Teakettle Mountain.

The Company plans to begin producing aluminum before September of 1955. Initial construction will consist of two potlines with an annual capacity of 67,000 tons. At full capacity with five potlines and 120 pots per line, 185,000 tons of aluminum ingot will be produced each year. Employment at full capacity is approximated to be 550 people. Clearing land for the reduction plant will begin this October as President Truman throws the switch at Hungry Horse Dam to begin producing power. The building process will create over five-hundred jobs.

The Potline building will form the largest single building in Montana, covering 1,750,000 square feet or about forty acres.

Mikhail smiled and folded the paper. His partner Bud told him during lunch that he took a foreman job at the construction site for the Aluminum Plant. He’d agreed to begin once his work at the Dam was finished in early October. Bud invited he, Tomas, and Nolan to join him on his crew at the Aluminum Plant construction project.

It pleased Mikhail to know that at least for the next three years and probably longer, he and his family had solid work lined up. Now he could bring Katya and Anna up to Columbia Falls to join him and Tomas. They would finally be a family together again. He checked his watch and wondered what held up Tomas. The waitress filled his cup with fresh coffee. He looked up to see the front door swing wide open. Nolan and Tomas walked in laughing. Nolan just delivered the final line to his story from his days as a teenager in Butte.

Mikhail pretended not to notice and studied the menu even though he made up his mind about the fried chicken dinner. Nolan broke the quiet of the dining room, “Hey Bohunk, do you remember the name of that girl from East Butte who used to charge us a nickel to look up her dress. Then she’d charge us a dime to—”

Mikhail prevented him from going any further. He pointed to the seat next to him and barked, “Sit down Nolan! You’re in a restaurant. Mind yer manners.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes in Tomas’ direction. The two men sat down, and Tomas fought hard not to burst into a loud laugh.

The waitress returned and greeted them, “Good evening men. Can I get you something to drink?”

Nolan smiled at her and spoke, “Ya, doll. John Nolan’s having a brandy ditch tonight. And my nephew here’ll have the same.”

Mikhail slowly turned and glared at Nolan and answered for Tomas, “My son will be having coffee too.”

Nolan laughed and winked at Tomas. “So Mikhail. What was her name?”

“Who?”

He leaned toward Mikhail and whispered, “The girl from East Butte who used to charge us to look at her snapper. You know. You paid her a quarter on the Fourth of July one time. You probably got to look all the way up to her tonsils for a quarter.”

Tomas lost control. Coffee exploded from his mouth. He coughed and laughed uncontrollably. Nolan had a way of doin’ that to him. He remembered being a little boy and starting to laugh before Nolan even spoke. Just his facial expressions and the way he moved his eyes and cheeks. Tomas tried to sit away from his godfather at serious settings like church. He couldn’t help himself sometimes. Nolan made him laugh that easily.

Mikhail rubbed the space between his eyebrows with his fingers. More thoughts of Nolan from days earlier ran across the screen in his mind. “Nolan. Where does he come up with these things? I wouldn’t play that game with him and that girl. Whatever her name was. I never paid her a cent. Not once.” He backed his chair away from the table and said, “I have to go to the can. When the waitress comes back, get me the chicken dinner.”

The waitress returned with another drink for Nolan. “I guess we’re ready to order up, Doll. My big friend’s back draining his weasel. He told me he wants the chicken dinner. I’m drinkin’ tonight so nothing for me. How about you Tommy?”

The waitress threw a flirtatious smile at Tomas and adjusted her black ponytail with a flip of her head. “I’d like the ten-ounce t-bone with a baked potato, please.”

She smiled at Tomas and said, “Comin’ right up gentlemen.” She wet her lips, twirled around, and shook her hips as she walked away. In her mind, she modeled women in the movies doing all of these feminine things to tease a cute man.

Nolan bent closer to Tomas. “Now I’d bet you pay a quarter to see her little snapper, wouldn’t you Tommy Boy?”

Shaking his head, he coughed again. He set his coffee down in anticipation of something Nolan might say. “She seems like a nice girl. Probably cost more than a quarter.”

Nolan burst out laughing. Tomas caught him by surprise with his quick comeback. “You’re catchin’ on. Stick with me, Kid. You’ll have em’ rollin’ in the aisle.”

After they finished dinner and Nolan drained his fourth brandy ditch, Mikhail retrieved the newspaper. He straightened it out and placed it neatly in front of him. “I got somethin’ here to talk about to the both of ya.”

Nolan interrupted, “Is it a want ad for a dog. My nephew could use a big old dog to keep them nasty waitresses away from him. Why just today—”

“Nolan. I’m serious here for a minute.” He raised his hands in front of him and nodded in Nolan’s direction. “The Company is beginning construction of their Aluminum Plant in October. Right about when we finish up here at the Dam. Bud’s gonna foreman up there and he’s offered all of us good jobs.” He shifted his eyes back in forth between Nolan and Tomas. The painted smile on his face awaited their response.

He slid his chair back a little, stretched, and yawned. “I don’t know about jumpin’ right into more work. Old John Nolan might need a little vacation. All work and no play makes Johnny Nolan a dull boy.”

“How about you, Tomas? We could live together with Anna and your sister. Probably have enough to buy a real nice house. Get our family back goin’ again.”

The look on his father’s face didn’t make what he had to say any easier. His stomach turned and butterflies rolled as he prepared to say what he rehearsed a thousand times. “Dad. I want to talk about somethin’ too. I, I want to join the Navy. But I wouldn’t go until after Kat and Anna got settled up here. I’d work until—”

Mikhail sunk six inches into his chair. He never saw it coming. All he could see was the family living together, and maybe, just maybe down the road bringing in Hannah. Slowly at first. Whatever she wanted to do. He visualized working side by side with Tomas in building the Aluminum Plant. Then later working together in some part of the Plant itself. Now this. The goddamn Navy. “Where did that come from?”

Tomas looked to Nolan to help him. He talked to Nolan about his plans for the Navy two days earlier. Nolan told him it would be a great idea. He blew some air between his teeth before he spoke. “What do you think, Dad? About me goin’ into the Navy, I mean.”

Mikhail straightened up in his chair and swallowed the last cold sip of his black coffee. “Well Tomas, I, I need some time to think on it. I thought you’d like the idea of us workin’ together and that. What gots you thinkin’ about the Navy?”

He gulped as he prepared to answer his father. “Shorty got me thinkin’ about it. He told me of all his times in the service. I want to see all them places he told me about. I want to get trained in somethin’ I can use when I git out.”

“You’d get lots of iron workin’ trainin’ right here at the Plant. You could work and live a fine life right here. This Aluminum Plant is gonna give a good livin’ for a lot of men.”

Nolan saw his opening when the tormenting silence lingered between Mikhail and Tomas. “You gonna ask me what I think about this, Mik? Or do I just bust in anyway?”

Mikhail waved his hand a couple of times, and Nolan followed the cue. “Wouldn’t hurt nothin’ for the Kid to get out on his own for two years. That’s what it sounds like anyway.”

His face flushed red. He stood up, locked his lips, and slowly rolled his head forward and backwards. “Sounds to me that the two of yous already got your minds made up. No sense in me talkin’ anymore. I don’t know nothin’.” Mikhail pushed back, and his chair crashed loudly on the linoleum floor. Other customers tried not to look at the scene developing at Mikhail’s table. He bent over, sat the chair up straight, and prepared to leave.

Tomas stood and softly spoke, “Dad. Let’s go back to the barracks and talk about it some more. I want you to be with me on this. Otherwise, I won’t go.” His words found the back of Mikhail’s head as he made his way to the cash register. He mumbled something to the cashier and laid down a five-dollar bill. The front door swung open, and he was gone.

Tomas rubbed his hand over his mouth and shrugged his shoulders. His stomach heaved and his throat went dry. Now what, he thought. Nolan yawned one more time and flipped down a four-bit piece on the table as a tip. He put his arm around Tomas. “Don’t worry about it Kid. He’ll get the hang of it. Give him some room for a couple of days so’s he can chew on it. It’ll all work out in the end. It’ll all work out.”

Two days later, the ring of her doorbell jolted her as she finished icing the German chocolate cake. Since Shorty’s death, sudden noises frightened Carol Davis as her deep thoughts and feelings of grief dominated her every moment. She jumped back from the kitchen counter, and the butter knife crashed to the linoleum floor. Carol looked out through the kitchen window and saw Tomas standing at her front door. After she picked up the knife, she wiped her hands in the dish towel and went to meet Tomas.

“I’m happy you called, Tom. I’ve been meanin’ to track you down, but there’s been a lot to do with final details. “She hugged him and led him into the kitchen. “You told me German Chocolate was your favorite, so that’s what I made.”

He cautiously entered her kitchen and experienced strange feelings as he quickly scanned the refrigerator photos and knickknacks arranged on the shelves. Shorty lived everywhere in that kitchen. Now Tomas was in his kitchen. The same kitchen where he and Carol had coffee in the morning. The same kitchen where they ate all of her fabulous holiday dinners. “Sure smells good, Mrs. Davis.”

Carol hung her apron on a hook behind the pantry door. “It should smell good. I’m the best baker in Flathead County.”

“Shorty used to tell me that all the time. He even gave me some of your carrot muffins sometimes.” He realized that he mentioned Shorty. “I’m, I’m sure sorry, Mrs. Davis—”

“That’s okay Tom. It’s good for all of us to talk about him.”

Tomas chastised himself as he preached to Clifford on the drive over in Clifford’s car that he would cheer her up and see if she needed anything. “Okay, Mrs. Davis. I’d like to talk if that’s okay with you.”

She sat down at her chair in the kitchen and invited Tomas to take a seat. “We can talk all you want as soon as you quit calling me Mrs. Davis. My friends call me Carol. So please, call me Carol.”

His shoulders hunched as he talked. “Okay, Carol. I’ll sure try, but it’ll be tough to get the hang of it at first. I’ve been using Mrs. and ma’am for so long.”

“What would like to talk about, Tom?”

“I think of Shorty all the time. Goin’ to work just ain’t the same without him. I just can’t believe he’s gone. All of us on his crew feel like that. We keep lookin’ and listenin’ for him.” Tears welled up, but he managed to keep going. “He was just such a good man. I sure respected him. I didn’t even mind him yellin’ at me. Shorty looked out for me right from the beginning. I.” Tears won the battle. He corralled them with his hands.