Catholic Guilt and the Joy of Hating Men - By Regan Wolfrom Page 0,37
felt a little stupid.
He grinned. “Could be. Are you that girl in my building who sings ‘Gagnam Style’ in the shower each morning?”
I laughed. “I have a few more songs on my playlist.”
He brought us up to an overlook with a small bench. It was hard for all four of us to even fit there, and Paul just stood to the side like he was part of the scenery.
Breccan kept giving me weird looks while we ate, but without saying much I couldn’t tell if she was creeped out by Paul’s very existence or just creeped out that I was being nice to him.
I didn’t think there was anything creepy about him; after a week and a half with Darrel and Jon it was nice to meet a guy I didn’t want to whack with a paddle.
After we ate Paul led us back down to the changerooms, and then we showered and tried the hot spring pool by the beach. Breccan had snuck a flask into the water but I didn’t feel right drinking from it. I wasn’t surprised to find I was the only one who felt that way.
It started to rain again.
“Do they ever have a day without rain?” Breccan said.
“It’s part of the mystique,” Jon said. “I feel like this is the perfect setting for some kind of fantasy epic. A Song of Fog and More Fog.”
“You’re seriously the funniest virgin I’ve ever known,” Darrel said.
“I’ll be glad to get home to sunny Vancouver,” Breccan said. “It’s like the Sahara compared to this place.”
“I like this place,” I said, hoping that Paul was listening. I imagine that’s part of the job of a watchman. “The Realm of Fairy is a strange shadow land, lying just beyond the fields we know.”
“It’s rainy here because Raven stole the sun,” Darrel said. “That is the story.”
“That’s not the story,” Paul said, stepping towards the pool. “A chief was keeping the light in a treasure box, leaving the rest of the world in darkness. Raven tricked him by sneaking inside the chief’s daughter and emerging as a baby.”
“Virgin birth,” Jon said. “I read about that somewhere.”
Paul didn’t acknowledge the interruption. “He grew into a small child, and begged his grandfather to let him see the light. The chief finally gave in and opened the box. He took out the light and threw it to his grandson, but Raven transformed into a bird once again and grabbed the ball of light with his beak. He flew up through the smokehole of the house and brought the light up to the sky, where it remains to this day. And scene.”
“You’re telling us there’s a sun somewhere up there?” Breccan said. “Sounds like your Raven Jesus didn’t do that great of a job.”
“That’s not funny, Breccan,” I said.
“It’s a little funny,” Darrel said. “Besides, I was the one who was telling the story in the first place.”
“Sorry,” Paul said. “I get carried away sometimes.”
“I guess it’s your job. Telling fairy tales to tourists.” He gave a little nod, obviously impressed with himself.
Paul shook his head but he didn’t take the bait.
I was feeling a little hot and a lot uncomfortable. I stood up from the pool.
“Fun’s over?” Darrel asked.
I shrugged.
Breccan followed me out of the pool, and we went together to get changed.
Darrel and Jon were still in the pool when we returned.
Paul had stepped back a little, and I could tell he didn’t feel particularly wanted.
“We took a vote,” Jon said. “We’re staying in this pool forever.”
“Sounds good,” I said. I nodded to Paul. “Do you know how to sail a ketch?”
“How do you think I got here?” he said. “Have you seen how much the ferry to the mainland costs?”
“You sailed up from Vancouver, too, eh?” Darrel said. He sounded a little pissed off.
“It’s a pretty long trip by canoe.”
“Heh. I guess you’ve got plenty of time to sail in your line of work.”
“That’s true. Mortgage brokers can get a lot of papers signed out on the water. You learn to compensate for all the rocking on the boat.”
“Mortgage broker. So you’re like a bank teller?”
“Pretty much,” Paul said, unaffected. “I got my start as an ATM machine. The 24-hour shifts were murder.”
“I... I guess it’s good that there are jobs for people who don’t have degrees.” He was flailing. He couldn’t think of anything clever.
I loved watching him squirm.
“So didn’t you say there’s a village site on the island, Darrel?” Jon