Err on the Side of Violence: Terribly Acronymed Detective Club Series (Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-One: Joe, Summer, 1984

Joe's family moved away from Queensborough, and Lauren's followed them. At least it seemed that way to Joe.

It probably wasn't that simple. A lot of things went into the decision to move house. Joe's parents claimed to want to move closer to BCIT, the British Columbia Institute of Technology, so that Joe and Johnny didn't have to travel far to get to their place of post-secondary education. Joe's dad didn't need to be close to the mill anymore because he was on disability leave following an injury that had occurred on the green chain. He'd made his way up to sawyer before his mill had shut down and he'd had to find work at another mill. He'd had to start at the new mill at the very bottom again, and his body was not used to the constant grabbing, pulling, twisting and launching of boards into skids. He was frankly too old for the work, and no one was surprised when he was injured. It wasn't life threatening, but it meant he couldn't work on the green chain anymore, and the mill wasn't going to offer him anything higher up because those jobs were already occupied by people with more seniority there. Luckily the IWA had a decent Long Term Disability plan on which the family could rely for a steady income while Joe's dad collected rent from his other properties, his entire work now being the maintenance of those properties, which was much easier than the green chain. He also still helped Mrs. Anderson landscape her grounds from time to time, but that was more leisure for him than work. He loved gardening; it was as if he'd smuggled his native soil in his shoes when he'd immigrated to Canada, and it had absorbed into his skin and travelled through his bloodstream, so that he never felt right unless he was outside getting his hands dirty. 

Joe and Johnny found BCIT the best institution to go to for studying trades. Joe's mom liked the idea of moving to Burnaby North because it also had a large Italian population, and St. Helen's Parish also had services in Italian. Housing prices were still relatively low, and they could purchase outright after selling their house, avoiding the sky-high mortgage rates at the time. It seemed like the best option for a move, and the timing seemed right.

And yet. And yet Joe seemed to notice a fever in his mother's eyes lately, a kind of cornered animal look that unnerved him. He noticed it most whenever she saw him with Lauren; whenever she came over for dinner, and Mom fussed over her, fidgeted with the cutlery, offered everyone more helpings when their plates were already full, and generally did everything to avoid meaningful conversation with her; whenever he drove away with Lauren on a date, and Mom implored him not to stay out late because he had work the next morning, even though he was still of the age where he could be out all night and still put in a full day's work. He wondered whether at least part of the reason for the move, in Mom's mind, was to put some distance between Joe and Lauren.

It wouldn't have worked anyway, even if it had been the entire reason. Joe drove now, so he could always drive from Burnaby to Queensborough to see his love. And she was his love. They made love. They professed their love for each other. They talked about marriage, even though they were barely out of high school. There was no way he would be separated from her now.

Joe knew Mom didn't approve of Lauren. She'd been the strange little tomboy who'd severely injured Mr. Trybek when they'd broken into the Trybek house to rescue Rachel, something Mom still couldn't wrap her mind around, it had been so reckless. Years later, he would agree with her, especially when he pictured his own children in that same situation.

Lauren had only dropped the tomboy look in the last couple of years, but Joe knew Mom still wasn't satisfied, because there were two things Lauren wasn't: Italian and Catholic. The former she couldn't do anything about, and the latter she probably wouldn't. Joe never brought up conversion to her, because he knew Lauren had no time for his religion, and it wasn't that important to him that she be Catholic. He liked her as she was and didn't want her to change herself for his sake.