The Hunk of Long Bay

Donald Foley’s funeral was well attended. Chris noticed that people were looking at him, pointing him out to one another. Chris Cutter’s return to Long Bay was as much an event as Donald’s death. Maybe even more so.



He saw Eddie Strombeck with a blond woman. Probably his wife or girlfriend. James Lennox also had a female companion. If James had stayed remotely the same man he was ten years ago, this would be his current girlfriend-for-a-day.



He caught his former friends’ eyes. They stared. He nodded. They gave him a small nod in return.



The mortician requested everybody to take his seat, in the soft and quiet tone that was so familiar to Chris. He had braced himself for this, and rightfully so. This was what he had fled. This was why he had come back. Ten years hadn’t been able to wash it away.



He wasn’t prepared for the shock on Neil’s face as he saw Chris among the people present, however. Neil stared, turned pale, then red. He didn’t speak for a few seconds. Then he cleared his throat and started the ceremony.



Chris tried to breathe deeply and evenly as Neil introduced Julie and Amy. They spoke of their father. What a swell job he had done raising two daughters after their mother had died. (Amy rightfully mentioned that he had had great help from Julie, who had been twelve at the time, and who had been not only an older sister but also a second mother to her.) They recalled a couple of Donald’s jokes and told a few anecdotes. Curling was only mentioned as a sport he so much had loved. His capacities as a coach were not spoken of. Nor was the disgrace of ‘the Cutter Rink’ a decade ago.



The ceremony continued. Chris watched Neil’s moves and listened to his voice. To him, the gestures and words were unrelated to deaths and funerals. All that mattered was seeing and hearing Neil.



He was fully absorbed in it, and he only realized that he had heard a door open as he turned to follow Neil’s gaze. And saw his father standing in the back of the room.



He immediately turned again, and by the time the ceremony was over, and Donald’s coffin disappeared behind the curtain, Gordon Cutter had gone.



Chris tore his eyes away from Neil (who was avoiding their gazes to meet, he was certain) and moved outside the room, following the crowd towards the coffee.



Julie and Amy were receiving condolences. After he had waited in line to kiss their cheeks – Julie’s as well (‘Wait for me when it’s over,’ she said. ‘Make sure the boys do too. You all have to see the videotape.’) – he dragged his feet towards the table Eddie and James and their partners were occupying.



They were gauging him. He saw indignation in their eyes. And anticipation. He straightened his back. Sure, he had left town in disgrace, ten years ago. He had tumbled off his pedestal. But he had been the leader of their pack since they were twelve, and Eddie and James were still expecting some alpha male behaviour of him. He couldn’t let them down.



‘Hi,’ he said.



The women looked curious and eager to be introduced. The guys obliged.



‘So, you’re back,’ James stated.



‘For the funeral,’ Eddie assumed.



‘I might stay a while longer,’ Chris said.



‘What for?’ It didn’t sound like James was looking forward to Chris being around for long. Then he smirked. ‘Are you going to try to win Julie back?’



Chris sighed. James and women … nothing had changed.



‘No,’ he replied. ‘But she wants to show us something. Donald apparently videotaped his will. It involves the four of us.’



‘How?’ James inquired.



‘I don’t know. We’ll soon find out.’



Eddie was looking at something behind his back. Chris had a hunch what it was. He didn’t turn.



‘Neil!’ Eddie hollered.



Now he turned. Slowly. As alpha male-ish as he could muster. As in: self-confident. Not as in: prying a potential mate.



‘Hello, Neil,’ he said, keeping his voice steady, and deciding that he would be able to manage a handshake.



‘Hello, Chris,’ Neil returned nervously, barely touching the hand that was held out to him.



‘Chris is going to stay for a while,’ James said. ‘Something to do with Donald Foley’s videotaped will, apparently.’



‘It’s at the notary’s,’ Chris explained. ‘Julie expects us to join her to watch it afterwards.’



‘I think it’s very mysterious and all,’ Joanne put in. ‘Maybe it’s about a big secret, involving dead bodies and a lot of money, and … such.’ Her voice trailed off as James scowled at her.

‘We’ll know soon enough,’ Chris said.



He noticed that Neil was standing a bit aside from the rest of the group. It seemed that he was intentionally keeping a safe distance from Chris. He realized that Neil was reacting very nervously to seeing him today. He appeared significantly more uncomfortable than Eddie and James, in fact. Neil was of course prone to nervousness, but his behaviour might also indicate that … oh, god … that he knew.



Chris swallowed. Avoiding looking at Neil, he glanced around the room. It was almost empty now. He met Julie’s gaze, and she nodded at him. It was time to go.



‘It’s time to go,’ he said.



‘Are you coming as well?’ James asked Neil.



‘I’ll … I’ll have to leave the crew instructions to lock after cleaning up,’ Neil stuttered.



Staring at Chris (daring? knowingly?) James said, ‘We’ll wait for you.’



It didn’t take long for Neil to join them and for their group of five to head to the notary’s.

Chris was walking in front, along with Julie. Eddie and James were right behind them. Neil, he knew, was taking up the rear, alone. Lily and Joanne had gone home. And, after Julie had shaken her head at her sister, so had Amy and Brandon.



They all stared at the screen, uncomfortably, as Mr. Mitchell started the video. Donald appeared. Alive (of course). ‘This is my last will and testament,’ he stated. ‘When I’m dead, which I will be soon, this videotape is to be shown to Chris Cutter, James Lennox, Eddie Strombeck and Neil Bucyk.’



In his instructor-tone (that Chris remembered so well) he continued that his ashes were to be placed in the Copernicus stone which he had retrieved from the lake – along with the other stones that Chris Cutter had thrown in ten years ago – and that the rink was to get back together and place the stone on the button during the Golden Broom tournament. And finally – finally – win it.



‘Jesus,’ James said, as Mr. Mitchell stopped the tape.



‘I haven’t held a broom in ten years,’ Eddie put in.



Neil didn’t say anything. Neil never said much.



‘At least we owe him our efforts to try,’ Chris said.



‘We?’ James spat out. ‘I think not. You do. You were our skip. You messed up the tournament. You threw the stones in the lake. You disappeared. Not us.’



Silence ensued. Chris didn’t know how to respond to this. James was in part right, after all.



Then Neil said softly, ‘I think Chris is right. We should try.’



They all stared at him. Chris awaited Eddie and James’s reactions.



Their joined history had proven that Neil’s opinions had a tendency to be overruled. But then, most times Neil ventured an opinion it was in stark contrast with the views that were held by the others, including Chris. Whenever they were planning a joint after school activity, Neil used to object to anything that was dangerous and/or prohibited. While to James, Eddie and Chris, danger and prohibition obviously served as incentives for certain enterprises, not as discouragements.



They always told Neil to shut up, and he always caved in, never declining to come along. Still, upon refection, Chris thought that Neil’s words had cautioned him to be extra-careful. As the leader of their pack he felt responsible, and he had always made sure that nobody was harmed or caught during their endeavours, especially not Neil.



He had always felt protective of Neil. Even against James and Eddie, who more than once had suggested excluding him from their bond, because ‘girls had no place in the pack.’



Every single time, Chris had made sure that Neil stayed. Because it wouldn’t be fair to cast him off, he said. Because he didn’t want to, in reality. With Neil, his position never was in jeopardy. What he got from Neil was not just quiet acceptance of his being the leader; it was pure admiration, unmixed with envy or the desire to fight the ranking in the pack that especially James so often displayed. However exasperated he might feel by Neil’s girlish demeanour (his seriousness, his quietness, his obedience) his loyalty was wonderful. It never faltered. It made Chris feel like he could conquer the world.



He snapped out of it as Eddie yielded and said, ‘It would do no harm to try, I guess.’



Chris turned to James. ‘Are you in?’



‘Yeah,’ Lennox growled, looking away. ‘Yeah, I’m in.’