THERE WASN’T MUCH of an audience for the show in Chilliwack. No one came out of the mp’s office to watch, even though Saffy and Whisper and I went inside with our flyers. There were two older women sitting behind desks, and a man using a photocopier, and we invited them all to come and learn more about the bees. They were friendly enough and took our flyers, but they said they were busy. Too busy to care about everyone starving to death? That was what I wanted to say. It’s what Mom would have said. But all I actually said was, “Oh, okay. Um, thanks anyway.”
I didn’t bother asking them if we could park in their driveways.
Back out on the sidewalk, Mom did her show for an audience of four: an older woman with one of those wheeled shopping bags, a young dad jiggling a stroller back and forth, and a couple of kids a bit younger than me, who rode off on their bikes as soon as she stopped juggling. Violet and Ty sat on a brick wall a short distance away, drinking out of giant McDonald’s cups. The twins went and joined them, Saffron climbing onto Ty’s lap. Curtis was across the street, the hood of the van propped open, fussing over the engine, which was, he said, overheating.
Even Mom seemed a bit disheartened as she packed up. The young father, whose baby had finally fallen asleep, helped her fold up the poster-board display and carry it to the van.
“Thanks so much,” she told him.
“No problem.” He turned to leave.
“Oh! I was wondering…” Mom touched his arm. “I don’t suppose you have a driveway we could park in tonight?”
He looked a bit taken aback. “Uh, no. No, I live in an apartment building. No driveway.”
I could feel my cheeks getting hot. Did he think we were homeless? I guess we kind of were, unless you counted the storage locker, but I wanted to explain that it was just temporary.
Mom shrugged it off. “Right, right,” she said. “No worries. Thanks anyway.”
He nodded and headed off down the sidewalk, pushing the stroller at a brisk pace. Like he wanted to get away from us before we asked for anything else. Mom didn’t seem to notice. She was busy packing everything away in the back of the van.
The woman with the wheeled bag smiled at me. “This must be an interesting experience for you,” she said. “Traveling about like this.”
“We’ve just started,” I said. “This is only our second show.”
She nodded. “A long way to go then?”
“Right across the country,” I said, my throat tightening.
“My goodness! That is a long way.”
“Yeah.”
“I have a grandson about your age,” she said. “Thomas, his name is. He’s twelve.”
“Me too. I mean, I’m twelve.” I wondered if she had a driveway, and what she’d say if I asked whether we could park our van in it.
“You remind me of him, a little,” she said. “Of course, I don’t see him often. His parents—my daughter and her husband—they live in Alberta.”
I nodded politely. “We’re from Victoria.”
“And will you be staying in Chilliwack for a few days? Or are you moving on?”
“Depends.” I took a deep breath. “We need somewhere to park our van and set up a tent for some of us to sleep in. So, um, we’re hoping someone might let us use their driveway. I mean, not that you have to. I didn’t mean that. Um. Though, you know, if you wanted…”
She didn’t even hesitate. “Oh, you can park in my driveway.”
My cheeks felt hot. “Really? There’s a lot of us. I mean, Mom and Curtis and me, plus I have three sisters…” And Ty, I thought but didn’t say. It was already too much.
“It’s not a problem,” she said. “I had to give up driving last year. My eyesight, you see? So I don’t even use the driveway myself. ”
“Wow. That’s…I mean, thank you so much. That’d be wonderful. Because, you know, we don’t have much money, I mean, we have enough, we’re fine, but…”
“It’s no problem at all,” she said. “My name is Anna, by the way.”
She had an accent—not strong, just a hint of some other language around the edges of her words. Maybe German or something. Her hair was dark, but you could tell it was dyed, because the roots were showing pale where it was parted.
“Wolf.” I held out a hand. “I’m Wolf.”
I introduced Anna to my mom and Curtis, and she gave us directions to her house, which was just a few blocks away. It was a small bungalow, with an even smaller front yard.
“We’re just going to set up the tent there?” Violet asked. “Is that even legal?”
“Of course it’s legal,” Curtis said. “Canada’s not a police state. We still have a few basic rights.”
“Unless you’re a skateboarder,” Ty said.
I got out of the car. Anna must be on her way, walking. It had felt rude not to offer her a ride, but we couldn’t fit anyone else in the van. Plus we had to stop on the way to buy milk and stuff. I looked down the sidewalk and spotted her, a small figure walking toward us, pushing her floral-print grocery bag on wheels.
“I have to pee,” Saffron said.
“I asked you at the gas station,” Mom said. “You said you didn’t have to go.”
“I didn’t have to then.”
“Saffron, that was two minutes ago! If you didn’t have to then, you don’t have to now.”
“Yes, I do.” She got out of the van and squirmed about in that have-to-pee dance little kids do.
“Well, you’ll have to use the bucket,” Mom said. There was a special one in the van, with a tightly fitting lid, that we were supposed to use in emergencies. So far we’d all avoided using it.
“I want to use a proper toilet,” Saffron said. “Not a bucket. I can’t go in a bucket.” She looked like she might cry.
“Hold it then,” I told her. “Anna’s coming, see? I bet she’ll let you use the one in her house.”
Curtis had popped open the hood of the van again and was poking about with grease-stained hands. Violet and Ty were standing on the driveway, arms snaked around each other, and Mom was leaning into the back of the van, hauling out the tent while Whisper clung to her legs, wrapping around them like ivy.
“I see you found my house,” Anna said, walking up the driveway.
Curtis closed the hood of the van with a bang and turned to greet her. “Thank you so much,” he said. “Can’t tell you how much we appreciate this.”
Anna nodded. “You’re very welcome.”
I cleared my throat. “Um, Mrs….”
“Anna. Call me Anna.”
“Anna. Do you think my little sister could use your toilet? She really has to go.” I gestured toward Saffron, who was standing nearby with her legs crossed.
“Of course she can,” she said.
I turned to Mom. “I’ll take her, okay?”
Mom nodded. “Anna, is it all right if we set up a tent for the kids to sleep in?”
Anna hesitated. “I wish I had room in the house, but…”
“No, no. We wouldn’t dream of imposing on you.” Mom dropped the tent back on the lawn. “And the kids love the tent. Really, they do.”
Anna beckoned to me. “Come on, Wolf. And…”
“Saffron.” I pushed my sister forward. “Say hi, Saffy.”
“Hi.” Saffron looked up at Anna. “I like your necklace.”
I hadn’t noticed it before, but Anna was wearing a heavy cross, silver, studded with gems. She must be religious. Maybe that was why she was being so nice to us. “It was my mother’s,” she said.
Saffron and I followed her into the house. “You talk funny,” Saffron said.
“Saffron! That’s rude.” I gave her a shove.
Anna just laughed. “I have an accent, yes? I am from Croatia, but I have lived in Canada for more than twenty years.” She opened a door in the hallway and patted Saffron’s head. “My daughter wasn’t much older than you when we came here. There you go—there’s the bathroom. Go ahead, dear.”