“Ooh, a creative type. I like that. Have you worked on any projects we might know about?”
“No, sorry. I’m just starting out.”
Trey described his work and everything he hoped to do in the future. It was hard to listen to him. I was distracted by his goodlooks, his voice, his pronunciation, the elegance of his hands when he gestured, the echo of his laughter. But then he said something that did catch my attention: a plan he was working on to raise funds for some of the First Nations communities in the Maritimes to improve their dwellings, schools, and public buildings through the profits of his architecture projects.
I was impressed. I had no idea he was someone who would willingly give his time to others. I’d always thought of him as frivolous, living a life of girls and parties, blowing money on cars and trips like the stuck-up rich kid he’d always been in my mind.
I was sitting next to a virtual stranger. He was so different from how I remembered him. So much more complicated. And I wanted to know him now, to peel back all the layers until I knew the deepest parts of him.
Sid seemed to think highly of Trey, too, and offered to help him in the future in any way he could.
“Sid, that would be amazing. Thanks.”
“No worries, man. I’m Mohawk on my dad’s side, Paiute through my mother. I would do anything to help my brothers and sisters.”
Sid went on to tell us a bit about his life. He’d been born on the outskirts of Brantford, on the Six Nations reservation. In his teenage years, he went to live with an uncle on his mother’s side who made his living doing odd jobs on a ranch. In his free time, he did wood carving, sculpting traditional figures and symbols that he’d sell to tourists. He taught Sid how to work wood, and Sid took to it, and he liked being paid for his creations. Soon carving was how he made his living.
“So what brought you to Petit Prince?” Trey said.
“I came here for a relative’s funeral and I stuck around a while to help out the family. Then Adele showed up in my life and, well, we just stayed.”
“You left everything behind, too?” I asked.
Sid shook his head and scooped up a spoonful of blueberry flan. “I didn’t leave anything. I found everything here.”
He leaned over to Adele and kissed her on the cheek, and I thought my heart would melt.
Ridge came by with a bottle of liquor and a tray of glasses. I realized the place had almost totally emptied out.
“How about a drink for you all? On the house.”
“That’s very generous. Thank you, Ridge,” Adele said with a smile.
“Hey, Peter, come on over here and join us,” Ridge said to a customer having his coffee at the bar.
They pulled over another table, and Ridge served us. Peter turned out to be very nice. He was from Petit Prince, but two decades ago, he left the island for college. Once he graduated, he moved to New York, where he worked for a PR agency until he had two heart attacks back-to-back and decided to rethink where his life was going. He’d been home for less than a year, and now he grew potatoes and fished for lobster.
The door opened, and an older woman of medium stature with white hair and big blue eyes walked in. Her expression was stern, even annoyed, as she called out: “So this is the generation that’s supposed to take this country forward? Thank God I’ll be dead by then and won’t have to see it.”
Ridge laughed, a little buzzed. “Come on, Emma. I’ve got a bottle of moonshine set aside just for you.”
“If it’s as bad as that fish you cook, I’d just as soon drink the dishwater.”
“You’re heartless.”
“I’ve got my teeth, though. At my age, that matters more than a heart.”
We all cracked up, and the longer we sat there, the more I lost track of time, forgetting my worries and my constant, painfulself-awareness. Sometimes, to find the answers you need, all you have to do is relax. Being there, I realized I wanted to feel the way those people did. They weren’t afraid of anything. They were happy with their simple lives, with moments like this one, with the honest pleasure of sharing a bottle of liquor.
I wanted that: a modest life.
I wanted a new beginning.
I wanted to be strong enough to achieve it.
I wanted to fill the emptiness in my life.
“I’m going to go take a walk,” I told Trey.
