leads us back to why you’re here You said you were willing to take our next tour group northward I nodded even now questioning how ready I actu ally was I knew everything there was to know from a tourism perspective at least about half the munic ipalities in British Columbia I’d taken numerous workshops and courses I’d successfully completed a series of tests and interviews for Swierenga and on occasion Rachelle But when it came to practical experience I had nothing Cariboo Gold Rush Trail Swierenga said laying out a map with a flourish Popular nothing too com plicated about the route You aced this section on my test if I remember correctly I nodded again I Now I like you Lewis I don’t usually hire for eigners but you’ve got it Charisma charm whatever kids are saying these days And ultimately that’s all a tour guide has to have So long as you make the paying guests happy the rest is inconsequential Swierenga leaned forward and something in his stomach made 10
a sloshing sound Good tour guide good tour Bad tour guide bad tour It’s that simple This company is my pet that’s why I’m talking to you directly not through a manager and the reputation of it rests on your shoulders Nowadays one dissatisfied customer can be enough to sink an entire ship You get where I’m going I’d had to bite my tongue to stop myself from pointing out that Golden Tours ran an ad in an Australian magazine specifically targeting students who might want to work a summer abroad I shook that thought away and grinned Of course I’m hon ored you’ve put so much trust in me already Swierenga slid back in his chair basking in the flat tery Mostly old fogies on this route anyway They ask a lot of questions but they don’t get too caught up in the facts They’re suckers for bright young things like you kid Just make sure you keep an eye on health concerns and all that Nobody’s died on my watch yet I managed to force a chuckle Nor on mine yet 11
Well all right Swierenga stood up offering me a hand to shake Give me or Rachelle a call if you have any issues Oh and before I forget here’s your advance Do your job and I’ll see you in two weeks to hand over the rest My hand closed around the envelope Rent food flights Thank you I said I won’t let you down Home was a basement flat in a shabby complex in the more industrial part of outer Vancouver Chrissy pointed out to me that I was paying more to live here than she was paying for tuition pretending she didn’t have a scholarship of course and Dad even calculated how nice a car I could’ve bought instead You’re wasting the best years of your life he’d told me You’re going to come home more broke than your Uncle Stewart and with what to show for it 12
I remembered arguing that I was going to Canada not some rinky-dink resort on a Queensland beach He’d retorted by saying that if I wanted to travel I should do it properly not waste all my money board ing in one of the world’s most expensive cities for a job in the tourism industry But me being me I’d gone anyway I was still trying to convince myself I’d done the right thing Cole You here mate I called hitting a light switch with my fist on the way in It took a solid minute to turn on No answer I was safe My roommate commuted to a nearby college every day which worked out well for both of us We were rarely ever in together I didn’t even know his last name I ended up lying on my bed for far too long staring at the ceiling in an effort to summon enough energy to do something anything Dang I miss home Eight weeks That was all I had left Swierenga had hinted at being able to get me another job over winter 13
