When Dale Hanson looked at his phone and saw it was his sister calling, he set his wrench on the workbench and answered.
“Good morning, Margaret.”
Her response was garbled.
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“I’m not going skiing with a bunch of older boys,” nine-year-old Jenny said on Saturday morning. “They won’t wait for…
“What’s that?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
She answered, but Dale still couldn’t understand.
“Is something wrong with Aunt Margaret,” Dale’s son Jeff called over from the other side of the shop.
Dale shrugged.
Margaret tried again.
“It’s Richard,” she said. “He’s gone.”
Richard was Margaret’s fiancé. He’d been sharing her Ottawa condo for years.
“That’s too bad,” Dale said. He’d liked Richard the few times they’d met. “Was it a stroke?” Richard looked healthy and he was well under 80.
Margaret took a few deep breaths before answering.
“He’s not dead,” Margaret said. “He met someone else. He moved out!”
“Oh,” Dale said. “Maybe you want to talk to Donna?”
Donna talked to Margaret, and by the time Dale went in for lunch, their plans were already made.
“We’re going to Ottawa,” Donna said.
“What?” Dale asked.
“For three days. Leaving Friday.”
“We can’t go jetting around the country,” Dale said. “Jeff needs my help.”
“Jeff and Elaine can get by without you. We haven’t been East to see Margaret for years. And she needs our help.”
“Margaret’s never needed my help,” Dale said. “She’s always been too busy telling me what I’m doing wrong.”
“That’s exactly why we have to go,” Donna said. “She doesn’t usually ask for help.”
“We can’t convince Richard to go back,” Dale said.
“No,” Donna agreed. “But we can keep her company.”
“Margaret lived alone until she was 60,” Dale said. Margaret had left the farm for university, travelled the world, then worked in Ottawa for a decade before she’d met Richard. “And remember the last time we went to Ottawa? She made me feel like a hick when I didn’t know what to order in that Ethiopian restaurant.”
“That was years ago. Besides,” Donna said,“he took his TV and the WiFi router. We can get her set back up.”
Dale knew better than to argue with Donna, and he knew he shouldn’t complain about Margaret. Before their father died, Margaret had made a point of reassuring Dale that, even though the farmland they expected Ed to leave to Dale in his will had appreciated much more than the insurance policy he’d planned for Margaret, she hoped Ed hadn’t changed his will to even things up. Margaret had told Dale that even if Ed had revised his will, they should ignore it and proceed as they’d planned; she didn’t want any farmland.
They were driving to the farm in the dark when Margaret said, “I don’t want you and your family to have to worry about your future.” Dale knew she was a good sister. Just a little hard to tolerate.
Soon it was Friday night and the plane had landed in Ottawa. Dale and Donna had greeted Margaret and were waiting by the airport conveyor belt for their suitcase.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Margaret said. “I’m fine.”
“It’s nice for us to see Ottawa again,” Donna said.
“I’m surprised you checked a bag, Dale,” Margaret said. “That’s a real risk.” She peered down at the empty belt. “I don’t think it’s coming.”
Dale bit his tongue and went to wait in the lost luggage line. When he’d filled out the forms, Margaret drove them to her condo where she poured drinks for the three of them and they settled into the TV-less living room.
“How are things on the farm, Dale?” Margaret started. “Have you and Jeff thought about growing quinoa? None of my friends eat gluten anymore.”
Most of the next day was taken up with fruitless calls to the airline to find their suitcase and a trip to a shopping mall so Dale and Donna could buy clothes to wear until their things were returned. Then they went with Margaret to two electronics stores so she could choose a router and a SmartTV. “This one’s good,” Dale said. “Jeff and Elaine bought one of these.”
Margaret was consulting her phone. “This brand has a more environmentally friendly rating,” she said, nodding at a TV on the other end of the shelf.
Back at Margaret’s condo, Dale quickly learned that he didn’t know how to set up a router. “The plug goes here,” Margaret said. Netflix was streaming on the new TV before Dale and Donna were changed into their new clothes.
“Tomorrow,” said Margaret, “I’ll take you sightseeing.”
After breakfast the next morning Margaret drove them by the Parliament buildings and the Chateau Laurier before parking near the National Gallery.
Dale was barely out of the car before he found himself standing next to a 30-foot-tall metal spider. “What the heck?” he asked.
“It’s art,” Margaret said, looking at him over the top of her glasses like she was doing her best not to call him an idiot. Dale was familiar with this look.
Donna tried to make peace. “It’s very … interesting.”
“At least we don’t have to pay to see it,” Dale said.
“Maybe we’ll skip the inside,” Margaret said. “There might be someone I know in there.”
Margaret took them to the Byward Market for lunch, where Dale read through an unfamiliar menu at some type of Middle Eastern restaurant. He never did work out what country the food had come from, but he didn’t mind the pita bread. “You could try something more adventurous,” Margaret advised.
After lunch, Margaret took them to a shoe store at the end of the street. “These are for adults?” Dale asked, confused by the selection of colours and shapes.
“This is my favourite shoe store,” she said pointing at her bright green heels. “You’re used to Saskatchewan shoes.”
Donna found a relatively plain pair of shoes at the back of the store and tried them on.
Back at the condo that evening, Margaret had more questions.
“So you’re still helping Jeff out at the farm. Are you sure he really wants your help? I thought he was pretty happy with that young guy he’s hired.”
The next day Margaret drove them to the airport. About halfway there, Margaret said, “I didn’t need help,” she said. “I’m fine without Richard. I’m happy on my own. But it was good to see you both.” Then Margaret turned as if to look out the window.
From the back seat right behind her, Dale saw a tear rolling down her cheek. Margaret wiped it away when she thought Dale and Donna weren’t looking.
Back in Regina, as soon as they started down the airport staircase Dale and Donna saw their daughter-in-law Elaine and their grandchildren, Connor and Jenny, on the floor below waiting to pick them up. The kids waved up at them as if their grandparents were celebrities.
Once they’d greeted Elaine and the kids, Dale and Donna headed for the door.
“What about your suitcase?” Elaine asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dale said. “Let’s go home.”
Elaine wasn’t even on the highway before 12-year-old Connor griped from the back of the SUV. “Jenny won’t move over. She’s the most annoying person in the world.”
“Sisters are like that,” Dale laughed. “But we’re stuck with them.”
