Chapter 45

Maggie

When Mrs. Fradette pauses, Maggie is at the edge of her seat. Don’t stop, she silently pleads. Harvey stirs at her feet, but only to reposition himself. Mrs. Fradette smiles at him, takes a breath and continues.

“Like I told you before, Dad called every evening at six o’clock. Mom busied herself in the kitchen waiting for the phone to ring. The radio had said things were improving in Winnipeg, but we’d heard that before. No one believed the reports anyway. They weren’t fortune-tellers. That river had a mind of its own and all we could do was stand back, watching and waiting.

“Only this one night, the call never came.

“The first thing Mom did was call Uncle Wilfred’s house. If anyone knew where Dad and Ronny were, it would be he and Aunt Winnie. She called their place, but there was no answer there either. Mom flew into a tizzy. She wouldn’t let herself cry, not in front of us, but she kept wringing her hands and praying under her breath. There’d only been one death in Winnipeg due to the flood, but if the Lyndale dike had blown, well, who knew what might have happened.

“Part of me wanted to escape outside. There was nothing I could do to help Mom anyway. I was about to sneak out to see Peggy when there was a knock on the door.

“I’d seen the wartime movies when a soldier comes to a house to report a fallen comrade. And honestly, that was my first thought. The flood was the enemy and my dad was its victim. He’d sacrificed himself to save our home.

“Mémère looked at Mom across the kitchen where she stood frozen. I wished Pépère were there, but he was still at the garage, or so I thought. If the worst had happened, well, we’d need him with us.

“The knock came again. I couldn’t stand the suspense, so I went to the door and swung it open. ‘I thought no one was home!’ Dad’s voice boomed with laughter.

“Mom flew across the room and clobbered him with a hug. Everyone started laughing and asking questions. Then Ronny showed his face too and behind them both was Pépère.”

Mrs. Fradette pauses and smiles at the memory. Maggie finds that she is also grinning. She bends down and pats Harvey on the head. “They surprised you.”

“They sure did. Dad and Pépère had worked it all out. As of the night before, the river level had gone down. The dike had held and our house was safe. My poor dad though. ‘Haggard’ doesn’t begin to describe his appearance. The fact that the first thing he wanted to do was be reunited with his family taught me something about him that day that I’d never have guessed at before. Mom couldn’t get close enough to him and for one of the first times in my life, I saw them share a kiss. Not just a peck on the cheek, either. A movie star kiss that left Mom gasping and weak in the knees. It made me blush to see my parents do that.” Mrs. Fradette gives one of her trademark cackles at the memory.

“Even though Dad and Ronny were exhausted, Aunt Cecile and Uncle Joe came over with their brood to celebrate. We were loud, all of us. Uncle Joe brought his fiddle, which hadn’t come out since I’d been there, and it turned into a proper kitchen party with dancing and drinking. It was good to see Ronny too. He’d become a different person since I’d been in Laurier, but I think he would have said the same about me.

“Later on, the two of us were sitting on the floor with our backs against the wall since all the grown-ups had the chairs. ‘Looking forward to coming home?’ Ronny asked.

“‘Not really,’ I confessed.

“‘You want to stay here with Mémère?’ Ronny used to joke that her sour face could curdle cream.

“‘She’s not that bad,’ I told him. Since we’d been living with them, I’d seen a different side of her. She looked after Peggy, making sure her water bowl was full, and never complained about the extra work we’d made for her. ‘I just don’t see the point in going back.’ I knew by then that I didn’t want to be a nurse or a teacher, or any of the things other little girls thought about. There was no other job I wanted to do as much as work with cars. ‘I want to stay here and work with Pépère. I want to be a mechanic.’”

Maggie had known this epiphany was coming. But to hear Mrs. Fradette say it out loud makes Maggie want to cheer for her. This part of the story is exactly what she’s been waiting for. She can feel an essay blooming in her mind: “The Hidden History of a 1950s Female Mechanic.”

“I see your smile, Margaret. Just because I wanted something didn’t mean it was going to happen. It was still 1950 and I was girl. There were no female mechanics. It wasn’t even a possibility for me.”

“What did you do?” Maggie knows Mrs. Fradette can’t have given up. But she doesn’t find out, because Mrs. Fradette looks at the clock. “The party starts soon. Maybe we should save the rest of this story for another day.”

It pains Maggie to think of leaving the story there. Did Mrs. Fradette actually abandon her dreams?

Mrs. Fradette stands up. “Shall we?” As she and Maggie go to the door, Mrs. Fradette looks at Harvey, who has roused himself from the floor with a yawn and a stretch. “He’s a sweet dog,” she says.

Maggie looks down at Harvey. It’s hard not to smile at him. He looks so pleased with himself as he holds his tail high and trots ahead of them down the hallway. Maggie thinks she is lucky to have Harvey, and to have met Mrs. Fradette.