Blood Stained Wood

[1]

Evangeline sat on her rock-hard mattress, rubbing her arms with her hands to keep warm. The camboose shanty that she had been living in for the past two months was rarely ever warm, but she and Tony had come up with ways to keep warm over the two years they had returned to the shanty.

    "I got tea," Tony said, approaching Evangeline with two cups of steaming tea.

    "Thank the heavens for that." She moved over on her bunk, patting the spot beside her. "I don't know why they didn't send me to the shanty my father's in. Dad always said that he got lucky with his shanty, good people and a nice place to rest your head. Here--," she waved her arms around gesturing to the camboose, careful not to spill tea, "--it's so cold you can barely fall asleep."

    "But then you wouldn't have met me," Tony smirked, sipping on his hot beverage.

    "What a wonderful life that would have been," she sighed playfully. The hot cup warmed her numb hands, almost to the point where it was too hot, but she didn't dare put down her only source of warmth.

    "If you two don't stop blabbering to each other, your tea is goin' to get cold!" Will grunted from the kitchen. He may have seemed like a cranky middle-aged man, but he cared deeply about the two sixteen-year-olds.

    "Tomorrow is Saturday," Evangeline stated.

    "Our day off." Tony slung an arm around Evangeline's shoulders.

    The shanty near Kawartha Lakes was usually quiet, especially on Fridays. No one talked to each other much, everyone was relatively new. Most of the men that made up the shanty came from other shanties that went bankrupt, and no one was really friendly except for the two teenagers.

    "I wonder what our lives would have been like if we didn't have to work here," Tony began, "I wonder what it would have been like if we could have just gotten a normal education."

    "It doesn't matter. Your parents practically walked you here, and my family needed more than what my father made. We're here, most likely until our bodies are unable to move. The foreman would never let us go now that he has us."

    "I know that," Tony snapped, "I just like to wonder. Besides, the foreman has some weird obsession with you. Must be because you're the only girl here. You fascinate him."

    There was a long pause before Evangeline replied, completely ignoring Tony's last statement, "Then we wouldn't have met each other."

    "It always comes down to that, doesn't it?" Will rolled his eyes from the kitchen, Evangeline could practically see his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

    "The rest of the shantymen have no problem keeping their noses out of this." A smirk crept its way onto Evangeline's face.

    "I'm not other shantymen, Evie."

    Evangeline stuck her tongue out, suddenly sensing the rest of the shantymen's discomfort. Her father had told her stories about Friday nights and what fun they were, the shantymen dancing and singing and having a grand ol' time. She sensed something was off the day she set foot into the shanty, but she had felt more at unease than ever.

    "I'm getting tired, want to call it a night?" Evangeline yawned, making her way to the kitchen to return her cup. She soon realized that Tony had picked up on her mood shift as he stalked behind her silently.

    "You alright, Eve?"

    "Just exhausted."

    She had often used that excuse, and it was a good one. Everyone in the shanty worked through the break of dawn to dusk, and Tony never pushed it.

    "Good night, Evangeline," Tony smiled lazily, climbing up to his bunk.

    "Good night, Anthony."

    When Evangeline awoke the next morning, she could still sense the unease with the shantymen. Of course, they were always awkward but they were never this eerie. And when the foreman burst through the door before they had even finished making breakfast, the gnawing in her stomach just grew.

    "Is everyone in this shanty so lazy? Up, up, up! Especially you, Smith," the foreman, Taylor ordered and Evangeline's stomach dropped.

    Tony Smith, why was Taylor singling him out? Evangeline stopped making the tea for a moment to glance at Tony, he looked as worried as she felt. Even though today was their day off, no one dared to protest against Taylor's rudeness. She wished someone had.

    "You are done and I want you out of my shanty!" Taylor growled at Tony. Evangeline almost dropped the tea kettle.

    "Nonsense, Taylor! Anthony has been nothing but outstanding help. I will not let this young man walk out of this shanty without a good reason." Will had stopped kneading the bread and came out to speak with Taylor.

    "I need no reason to fire him, and I certainly don't need to explain it to you!" Taylor fired back.

    The first thing that came to Evangeline's mind was spies, but what did Tony do that was so wrong? The company men had put out the fire known as the union a long time ago, so why was Tony being fired? Evangeline couldn't stop the panic that was growing. No, I can't lose Tony, she thought, Not my only friend.

    "If he goes, I go too!" Evangeline couldn't control the words that came out of her mouth, but she wasn't unhappy with them, "I will walk all the way home with Anthony if you let him off." Her voice was strong, but not strong enough to hide the fear laced beneath it. It was a weak offer at best, and it wouldn't work, but it was the only offer she had.

    The foreman's face grew pale, cracking the stone-hard mask for only a moment, "I will not let two of my shantymen walk out of this door, Ms. Hart. The boss wanted one, and I will give him one. Not two, one!"

    "Oh, please," she wanted to groan. Instead, her lips puckered as she mulled over her next words; she had to choose them carefully, "Anthony has worked harder than any man in this shanty and you know it. I can't believe you would be stupid enough to lay off one of your best workers. And I meant every word: if Anthony goes, so do I."

    "Eve, don't," she saw Tony mouth across the room. She shook her head slightly before refocusing on an infuriated Taylor.

    "You're bluffing," Taylor accused, inching his way across the shanty.

    "Want to bet?" Evangeline retorted, and she regretted it instantly. She was surprised Taylor hadn't sent her back home instead of Tony. Why wasn't he getting rid of her?

    Taylor was inches away from her face, Evangeline could almost hear her heart thumping. She wanted to run from him, but she would not back down.

    "You better watch that attitude of yours, Ms. Hart."

    The foreman stormed out of the shanty without Tony or Evangeline, and without another word. No one had ever said anything like that to Taylor in the past two years that Evangeline had laboured in the shanty, and the exact same words kept replaying in her head. Why didn't he fire me?