Chapter 5

As his kids took off running for the beach he followed the path to the garden and the cow pasture. There seemingly wreathed by her beloved irises stood Mary. he thought of the old nursery rhyme every time he saw her in the garden. He could never bring himself to think of her as ‘quite contrary’. He unlatched the gate to the cow pasture and grabbed the wheelbarrow and shovel alongside of the fence. Regardless of all of the old wives tales about how to make your garden grow, he had always stuck to his own adage of ‘feed the cows well, and they will make great fertilizer’. As he went about the enclosure shoveling one cow paddy after the next into the wheelbarrow he hummed the old sea shanty about the Black Ball Ferry Line. He pushed the now half full wheelbarrow out of the gate and to the edge of the garden, still humming along. Mary turned around at him, smiled, and opened the garden gate.
“Coast Guard will be here tomorrow” he said, watching her smile fade.
“I am going to hand our guest over to them when they get here” he added.
She looked at him, silent for what felt like an eternity and said “you really ought to talk to him”
“Hmpfh” he grunted in response as he tipped the wheelbarrow, spilling its contents upon the compost pile.

That night during dinner he sat at the head of the table watching his family eat, and there opposite him, eating his wifes’ cooking from his plates with his silverware sat Jules. An interloper to their nightly ritual. he started cutting into his steak watching his knife slide back and forth across the tender meat and said “Nice to see you feeling better”.
“Thanks only to your lovely wife” Jules replied as he smiled at Mary. Was that a wink he just gave her, did she just blush he thought to himself. The once delicious food quickly tasted of bile, but he continued to chew the piece of meat. He would not allow this intruder to affect him so. After swallowing the offensive piece of food he looked across the table at Jules and asked “Exactly why are you here?”

Jules set down his silverware and proceeded to tell him how the Coast Guard hospital supply ships were being routinely attacked by opium smugglers and stealing the morphine supplies on board. In an effort to assure the safe delivery of the much needed medicine, the Coast Guard had hired several trusted fishboat captains to deliver the supplies. he finished his story by saying “Some of the bastards caught up with me just outside of Vancouver and shot up my boat. I was able to slink away in the night, but one of their bullets passed through my leg and a terrible infection set in. A few days later I drifted up on your shores and the Angels of Mercy smiled upon me”.

He had sat there silent, listening and thinking through Jules story, and he slowly felt his anger ebbing away. The smugglers and the pirates in this area had become particularly brutal and his story did seem to have a ring of truth about it.
“The Coast Guard cutter will be here tomorrow and we will sort this whole mess out” he said as he stood up pushing his chair back. The adults left the table for the children to tidy up and headed off to their respective parts of the house.

The next morning after a silent breakfast, the family dropped what they were doing at the sound of a long blast from a horn. As was tradition the family ran to the dock to greet the incoming cutter. Although they were only supposed to bring replenishment supplies for the lighthouse, they often brought over much needed supplies for the family and treats for the kids. Before the family could issue their customary greeting, Jules came limping down the dock, his footsteps shuddering the planks before he came tot he gangplank and disappeared onboard the cutter. Mary turned to her husband and shrugged with a smile before walking towards the sailors at the first bollard. He followed her a few steps behind and walked to the gangplank in preparation for receiving the captain. As he stood there waiting Mary moved to the next batch of sailors and offered them cookies and fresh coffee from her basket.