The Travelling Home Trilogy by Syd Blackwell
PART ONE
At The Barbershop
Under the historic Bank of Montreal
next door to The Cellar gift store
is the shop of Lee the barber
Back when Lee and I were kids
who lived down the alley from each other
it was the shop of Pat Riley
and kids came down
every couple of weeks or so
to get a haircut
and if you were small
you had to sit on a board across the arms
of the old barber chair
so as you'd be high enough
for Pat to cut your hair
Just in town for a couple of days
to visit my aged and ailing parents
I pop in for an afternoon visit
with my old friend
And while we're reminiscing
a mother and a kid come in
and she leaves him there for a haircut
and Lee the barber
with snow white hair and moustache
elevates the new barber chair
high enough for the kid
and starts to cut his hair
The kid's a squirmer
and inevitably the shears cut too short
on some of the kid's moves
and the back of his head's
starting to look like a patchwork quilt
Lee is trying most everything
from his bag of barber tricks for hyper kids
when mom comes back
While she settles in a chair he clips on
before commenting
he charges the same for a good haircut
as a bad haircut
either way it's ten bucks
and it's up to the customer what kind he wants
And mom suddenly refocuses from her shopping
and tells the kid to sit still
and that works long enough
for Lee to blend a few of the patches
and dust the kid off
and collect his ten bucks
We go on talking
until the next customer comes in
I tell some stories
from a recent trip to Europe
and they are both entertained
while Lee the barber plies his trade
After my stories Lee remarks
how people come to the barbershop
to hear stories
and says he makes them up sometimes
and sometimes
eventually
people come in and tell him a story
and he recognizes he's heard that story somewhere
and figures it must be true
Only later does he realize
it's the same story he made up himself
come around on the local closed circuit
to validate itself in its birthplace
Sort of like my visits back to Rossland
my birthplace
As I leave I notice again
on the wall
a framed anatomical rendering
on yellowed paper
that reflects the yellowed wall behind
and am reminded that
Lee the barber was
also Lee the artist
and Lee the student
and Lee the oldest kid in the Flanders family
who played with me
the oldest kid in the Blackwell family
in the dust of a disappeared time
PART TWO
William Henry Toogood
Just a short way up the Kootenay
from Peter Verigin's tomb
is the first of five concrete dams
that tamed the once tumultuous river
Like water through the spillway
thoughts pour from my mind
I'm on my way home
but I can't drive until
I release the pent ideas
Peter Verigin's concrete tomb
is the monument
to the great Doukhobour leader
but these concrete dams are a monument
to William Henry Toogood
a carpenter from Yorkshire
who helped build these dams
back in the early part of the last century
just one of thousands of toilers
he was in no way remarkable
unless you count that he fell once
and busted himself up pretty badly
but that was way luckier
than a few others
who didn't survive their fall
Not that the sign at this roadside pullover
tells about any of that
instead it tells who owns the dams today
and how valuable they are
for the people of the Columbia Basin
and the province
In my travelling bag
I have the Memorial Record
from the funeral of William Henry Toogood
who lived for a full 77 years
and raised his family
beside his concrete monument
His Memorial Record
that my mother says
wouldn't fit in her safety deposit box anymore
after they recently re-wrote their will
should now be mine
I should be the keeper
of the record of
William Henry Toogood
dam builder
carpenter
grandfather who grew roses
PART THREE
On The Way To Chicoutimi
Just before I pulled out
from the viewpoint rest-stop
near the Brilliant Dam
I glanced in my rearview mirror
and saw a somewhat rotund
grey-haired man
with a small packsack
trying to thumb a ride
and I reminded myself
that I don't pick up hitchhikers anymore
'cause you just don't know
what you're getting in to
could be a nice guy down on his luck
or someone who lives up the river a bit
whose car is broken down
or something like that
Or
it could be a criminal
For some reason I suddenly find my finger
on the window button
and as it slides to the bottom I lean out and whistle
He turns his grey-bearded gentle face
smiles and runs as best he can
thankful as only a hitchhiker can be
As he gets in
I surreptitiously eye
my acquaintance of choice
and see worn and frayed jeans
but his clothes are clean
and he smells clean
and this is a good start
He's from Chicoutimi
and he's going home
It's a long way I say
and he says he has patience
only it sounds more French
than English
and I ask him if he's been out in BC long
and he says for the last seven years
and I say that's a long time to be away from home
and he tells me it was spent
in the BC Pen
for armed robbery
I was a bad boy he allows
and I have a second look
at my companion of choice
but his grey neatly kept hair
and beard
match his grey-toned Cowichan Indian sweater
and nothing looks criminal
and he goes on to say
he spent a year in solitary
'cause he punched a screw
and he found god there
or at least his version of a god
who taught him patience
and also taught him that
people are given tests
so they can grow
and now god is sending him home
to find peace in a little cabin
by a lake with fish
and I was a part of god's plan
because I was there to give him a ride
I tell him I was there
to reflect on the life of my grandfather
who died in 1955
and who helped build the dams
and he says
ah
so you are a baby boomer
(with the accent on the last syllable
of course)
and we move through comfortable conversation
the bank robber and me
all the way to Winlaw
where he needs to visit someone
before his god
will lead him to his next ride
on the way to Chicoutimi
on the road between Rossland and Revelstoke
March 27, 2002
NOTES:
Bank of Montreal – heritage building; functioning bank in my youth;
Rossland – small mountain city in southeastern BC
Kootenay – the largest tributary river of the Columbia River
Doukhobour – Russian religious sect who settled in the area in early 20th century
Yorkshire – an area of England; first home of my maternal grandfather´s family
Columbia Basin – the area drained by the Columbia River and its tributaries
Chicoutimi – a city in the French-speaking eastern Canadian province of Quebec
BC - British Columbia; Canada´s western-most province
BC Pen – BC Penitentiary; a maximum-security institution
Cowichan Indian sweater – a distinctive thick, white, grey and black wool sweater made by a Vancouver Island indigenous group
a screw – a guard (prison slang)
Winlaw – a tiny village in the Slocan Valley of the West Kootenay
Bank of Montreal – heritage building; functioning bank in my youth;
Rossland – small mountain city in southeastern BC
Kootenay – the largest tributary river of the Columbia River
Doukhobour – Russian religious sect who settled in the area in early 20th century
Yorkshire – an area of England; first home of my maternal grandfather´s family
Columbia Basin – the area drained by the Columbia River and its tributaries
Chicoutimi – a city in the French-speaking eastern Canadian province of Quebec
BC - British Columbia; Canada´s western-most province
BC Pen – BC Penitentiary; a maximum-security institution
Cowichan Indian sweater – a distinctive thick, white, grey and black wool sweater made by a Vancouver Island indigenous group
a screw – a guard (prison slang)
Winlaw – a tiny village in the Slocan Valley of the West Kootenay
