Page 47 of Repentance and Absolution
I cleared my throat and gazed down at the polished wood floor, in case I let my true feelings for Oscar out by mistake. I was surprised when Clarence slapped an affectionate hand on my back.
“You smoke, Jimmy?”
When I turned, Clarence was filling a pipe with tobacco.
“Nasty habit,” Irene muttered but she didn’t look too mad about it, since she was smiling as she returned to her stirring.
“You told me you like the smell of it,” Clarence said gruffly, patting down the leaves and adding more in the bell of his pipe. “She does. You watch. She’ll be sittin’ there sniffing like t’was perfume.”
“All right, now,” Irene said. “Oscar, you want to help me with something?”
“Sure,” Oscar said, leaving me with Clarence, who gestured for me to follow him into the sitting room.
“I don’t,” I said. “Never took it up.”
Clarence sat down in an armchair by the window and picked up a book of matches from the little wood table beside it.
“Just as well,” he said, taking a match out and striking it. “’Tis a nasty habit.”
He lit the tobacco and sucked on the tip of the wooden pipe, making a red flair in the bell as the leaves caught. I smiled at the good-natured way he had about him, now that he had relaxed in my presence.
“It ain’t so bad,” I said, remembering how the men in the gang had liked to spend their time. But I didn’t want to think about that right now, in this cozy and friendly place with people who cared about other people and didn’t wish them harm.
I realized then that Oscar, sweet Oscar, had led me here, to this place. I’d escaped the gang, sure, and made a kind of a lonely life for myself. But if I hadn’t come upon Oscar in Dawson City and brought him with me to Whitehorse, I’d have never had the chance to follow him here, where we’d found a welcome and a place of friendship.
It hit me all of a sudden that Oscar, in a multitude of ways, was the reason I was so happy now, in this moment.
“You all right?” Clarence asked, his eyes narrowing as he puffed on his pipe.
“Yes, I—” I cleared my throat and tried to quell the emotion that had risen inside me at that sudden realization. “I guess I just been thinking how lucky me and Oscar are, to’ve found such a friendly place to call home.”
“Hmph. Not everyone in town’s so friendly,” Clarence muttered. “But I s’pose you’re right, that it’s mostly a good place. I reckon all towns have got a few nasty folk in ’em.”
I gazed at Clarence with concern and wondered who had been nasty to him. But I figured he was right. I wouldn’t expect there not to be ornery people. But we hadn’t encountered any as of yet, and I hoped it would be a while before we did. Anyway, now that we were friendly with Clarence and Irene, they could let us know who we could and couldn’t expect kindness from.
Port Essington was a better and more promising place than I’d ever been, truth be known. T’wasn’t a burned down house where my parents had died, and t’wasn’t the wilderness in the midst of a group of bloodthirsty hoodlums.
“You wanna try?” Clarence said, offering me his pipe. “’Tis good for relaxin’. I reckon it won’t do you no harm, and ’tis Christmas Eve.”
I felt honored that he’d offered it to me. So I took it, put the pipe to my lips and breathed in a lung-full, just as Oscar came around the corner from the kitchen.
My lungs burned and I coughed, pulling the pipe out of my mouth and trying to hold it steady as I choked and sputtered, an embarrassment to men everywhere. My cheeks were hot as I passed the pipe back to Clarence, who watched with an amused smile.
“Clarence, don’t poison our guests, for heaven’s sake!” Irene hollered from the kitchen.
Oscar was watching me with a strange expression as I tried to catch my breath.
Clarence offered him the pipe. “You want a pull, Oscar?”
“Well now, I don’t mind if I do,” Oscar said, taking the pipe so casually from Clarence that my eyes widened. He held my gaze as he lifted it to his lips and took a few inhales, puffing the smoke out of the side of his mouth like he’d done it all his life. Hell, for all I knew, maybe he had.
“There you go. Oscar’s smoked a pipe before,” Clarence said with some satisfaction.
“‘Course I have. I won one in a card game in Dawson City once. Learned to smoke it. T’was a fine thing when I could get my hands on some tobacco.” He took it from his mouth and examined the bell. “This is a good blend you got, Clarence. It’s real smooth. I can feel my bones relaxin’.”
My coughing fit waned, but I stared at Oscar, hardly believing what I was seeing as he took a few more pulls and passed the pipe back to Clarence.
“Thank you, kindly.”
