He groaned. “I really don’t want to. I’ve worked four winters up in Grande Prairie. The summers are fine, but the winters with their sixteen-hour nights are brutal. Unfortunately, I might not have a choice. There are other oil companies I can apply to, but if one company is laying people off, the others probably are too.”
“Robby always says he can get work as a mechanic anywhere. I think he’s tired of working up north too. He’s applying around Edmonton, and further south in Calgary and Lethbridge,” Mattie said.
“Well, that’s a problem for me for next month. This month, it’s all about the magic.” He wasn’t going to admit it to Mattie now, but he had already decided he wasn’t going to stay in Grande Prairie no matter how his month of magic turned out. Moving into his parents’ basement in Timmins, Ontario, wasn’t his first choice, but it would give him some breathing room to save money and find a new job and apartment back east.
Mattie leaned forward, pretending to adjust the cooler lid that was already properly in place. “I think Dave the Magnificent’s admirers are back,” she whispered.
Dave looked over his shoulder at the twins next door, then followed their gaze to the trailer. “Nope, I think they’re here for you this time.”
This time, the twins’ mom accompanied them. “Hi, neighbours. I’m Dena, and these are my boys, Ethan and Teddy. I was hoping we could ask a favour.”
“Sure,” he and Mattie said.
“The boys were wondering if they could get a photo taken with your red-nosed reindeer.”
“Of course,” Mattie agreed.
“They also want to know if you really work for Santa Claus.”
“I don’t, not directly,” Mattie said. She turned to the boys. “I work at Christmastown in a place called December, Manitoba. Everybody there loves Christmas, and we have Christmas parties all year long. My boss’s boss, though? She works for a company called North Pole Unlimited, and her name is North Santana. I can’t say if she’s ever met Santa in person, but I’m pretty sure she knows Santa’s phone number.” She tapped the side of her nose. “I think they’re buds.”
Two little jaws dropped in amazement.
“What do you say we stand you on the trailer by Rudolph?” Dave asked. “We need to rewrap him anyway.”
The pictures weren’t in the best light, but the family was grateful. As soon as they were done, the mom chivvied the boys to the bathroom facility building.
“I think we timed that well.” Her head swivelled, first looking into the orange and red sunset, then behind her. When he turned too, he knew what she meant. “That looks bad. I hate thunderstorms,” she said quietly.
Angry, grey-blue clouds flew across the eastern horizon, moving north at speed. The distance across the flat prairie made it hard to judge. “I didn’t see anything on the weather app.”
“We should look again.”
For the first time all day, the air began to move: slowly, lightly, pushing heated air onto their faces. “I’ll put this stuff away. Why don’t you check the trailer one more time before it gets dark?” Dave suggested. He collapsed the canvas lawn chairs and shoved them into their small, designated area under the bed in the back section of the van. He came out to find Mattie tugging on straps and taping the ends of the plastic wrap to ensure the wind had nothing to grab.
The wind died off without warning. “I’m going to run to the bathroom one more time before settling in for the night,” Mattie said. “Do we want to have another early start? If we check into the campsite at Hopewell by mid-afternoon, we’ll have time to get the lay of the land and check out the festival before your first show.”
“Have you memorized my schedule?” he teased.
“I don’t want to miss another chance to see Dave the Magnificent in action.”
Suddenly, the wind picked up again, cold and damp. Dave looked at the clouds, which weren’t so distant anymore. “We’d better run for it,” Dave said. “See you back here.”
He dodged fat raindrops on his sprint back from the bathroom building. Mattie was already waiting for him at the van. She slammed the door closed behind him at the same time a gust of wind rocked the whole vehicle. Lightning flashed outside, and she squeaked when thunder rumbled. “This storm is going to be brutal.”
The night before, they had taken turns changing into their sleepwear inside the van while the other waited outside. That wasn’t an option tonight. Dave helped Mattie collapse the table to form a narrow bunk on the bench between the two seats. Then he climbed over top and lay down on the mattress in his shorts and T-shirt. “Good night, Mattie.”
“Night, Dave.”
He closed his eyes, but sleep didn’t come. If the wind wasn’t rocking the van and howling around them, his brain was racing, thinking about Mattie and how pale she’d looked at the lightning. She’d planned to spend her drive home in air-conditioned hotels, not stuck in the back of a modified van, but she hadn’t complained once about the rustic conditions. Her presence was making his drive much more pleasant than it would have been if he were driving across the Prairies alone.
Dave closed his eyes and tried to come up with a scenario where he could invite Mattie out for dinner once they got to Hopewell, using “thanks for the company” as an excuse. The storm howling outside made it hard to concentrate. When the driver’s side of the van lifted a couple inches and then dropped, bouncing him on his mattress, Mattie let loose a short cry.
“What was that?” she whispered.
“The wind.”
“I think it was more than the wind, Dave.”
