been super laid-back aside from training I’m sure I’ll have more to say once I actually start working Be nice to Mum do your homework etc No boyfriends until I get back okay Miss you Love Talk to you later Lewis I reread the letter twice before sealing it in an envelope making sure there weren’t any errors for Chrissy to latch onto and berate me for At fifteen my sister was three years my junior but that never stopped her from making sure I remembered we grad uated together She was starting university this coming September majoring in biophysics And I was here earning less than what my rent cost trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life To balance out health and hunger I decided to jog to a nearby pizza parlor for lunch after posting the letter Then triple checking I’d gotten the time right I 6
hopped on a bus to my boss’s office The neighbor hood was typical of North Vancouver a mismatched collection of multimillion-dollar West Coast contem porary styles and more demure split-levels Some were hidden behind massive hedges or wrought iron gates others boasting wide open driveways to show off a collection of cars that were worth more than I’d ever touch in a lifetime This was the land of new money nestled in the space left between the cedar forests mountains and Pacific Ocean It was also home to my employer I stood at the driveway of one of the neighbor hood’s more luxurious properties and pressed the buzzer on the gate That you Crake Uh yes Should I have added sir Or is that too formal Is it possible to be too formal I mean I already have the job It can’t matter too much The gates swung open I realized then I was wear ing my athletic gear Excellent planning as per usual on my part 7
The boss didn’t open the door his assistant did Because yes he was rich enough to have a live-in assistant Lewis Crake she smiled pronouncing every syl lable of my name Can I take your coat It’s the middle of July I pointed out I’m not wearing a coat Tea then Water would be fine Ice Sure Lemon Rachelle my boss laughed from somewhere else in the house Let the poor boy go Just come through to the main sitting area Lewis The inside was all white marble and glass and stunk of some artificial air freshener It was the type of place I imagined was freezing in the winter David Swierenga lounged on a clear plastic chair his bald forehead glinting in the sunlight He could’ve been anywhere between thirty-five and sixty-five 8
depending on the angle and I’d never found any evi dence pointing to which end of the spectrum he likely belonged in I knew from our previous meetings that he’d come from money then doubled it as a real estate specialist and now ran a multitude of small businesses just for fun One such business was Golden Tours That was why I was here Enjoying the weather Swierenga asked gesturing to the panoramic view The skyscrapers of downtown Vancouver could just be seen through the trees of his neighbor’s garden as well as the waters of Burrard Inlet riddled with cargo ships yachts and sightseeing vessels It’s a different kind of heat than Australia I said But yeah I’m enjoying it Just you wait until winter Ever experience subzero I shook my head I’ve never even seen snow Swierenga’s grin widened Well you just might have that pleasure sooner rather than later Which 9
