The Eighth Part of Chapter 17: Three Families, Three Christmases

Melvin and Juliana, on the other hand, were luckier in the endeavours of romance: Melvin had married a woman named Adrienne, who would also be coming, and Juliana had married and had children, both of whom were at the breakfast table, discussing which of their teachers they liked.

Melvin followed up. “Do you think you’ll ever succeed? Maybe this Kevin just doesn’t like you; perhaps he has something else going on.”

This, along with geographical distance, was one of the reasons that she didn’t get together with her siblings and meet face-to-face that often. They were not supportive of her, as this was a continuation of an intense sibling rivalry from their respective high school days. It was a wonder that their rivalries were as intense as they were given that Juliana was six years older than Belinda and Melvin five years younger.

“Maybe you should be pursuing other avenues,” said Juliana, unkindly.

“I know perfectly well what I’m doing,” she snapped.

“You are getting on; forty is not what you would call youthful, you know,” put in Adrienne.

“I remember when I met Adrienne: it was at Casino Rama.”

The look of incredulity on Suzanne’s face was evident to everyone.

“Why am I only finding out now?” She asked.

“I had just won at blackjack, and Melvin here told me that gambling was a sin, and shouldn’t I be a bit ashamed. So of course, I said, ‘it’s no sin if you win.’ And I kept winning throughout my life.” This much was true: Melvin was a successful car dealer, the two had collaborated with Myron and Juliana to purchase an expensive cottage west of Parry Sound, and they had a houseboat in the Barrie Marina. They also seemed to always get the latest expensive gadgets: they had flat-screen televisions in their house and cottage back in the day when they were about as expensive as a car, they had Macbooks, a sophisticated surround-sound stereo in their home that they ostentatiously showed off when they had guests over, and a Ferrari in the driveway. Belinda could only look on jealously whenever she came over, which was rare, as her gadgets and toys were nowhere near as shiny; she only had cable, a poor aging television, and as she spent plenty of nights eating at fancy restaurants rather than at home, she did not have much savings despite the well-paying job she had had.

Suzanne thought that the axiom just stated by Melvin was a very dangerous one to live by, particularly when gambling. “I hope you dropped that belief soon enough,” she said tentatively, hoping against reason that this was true.

“Why would I? It has served me well over the years.”

Suzanne tried to steer conversation away from this topic and toward something else. “So, what do you think of the election?”

Juliana offered her opinion. “I think Duff is going to be Prime Minister. I was talking to a friend from university who lives in Sault Ste. Marie now, and she says the whole town’s in an uproar over that patronage scandal. Their MP is Angus Ross, so it’s puzzling how that all works out. She said that a radio host from there had put it well: ‘he’s gone Ottawa’. I also heard similar sentiments from a friend from North Bay who drops in from time to time; that riding went to Meach by the slimmest of margins last time, and now partisans are saying that Celina Coleville can be unseated this time around.”

“You mean the Minister of Public Works?”

“That’s the one. In Barrie, though, there’s not much of a contest: there are a lot of very big fans of Duff around there, and they are none too pleased with the patronage scandal; they expect hard work for their tax dollars, after all.”

“I think I shall be voting for the socialists, you know, because of their transportation policies; Via Rail needs more money, the train I rode here has seen better days, and I quite like the idea of building up rapid transit systems.”

Juliana said, “I quite like the idea of getting more trains. The drive here from Sudbury’s a nightmare, and the train is not much better, it doesn’t even come every day, and the station isn’t conveniently nearby. I don’t think it should be just Belinda who gets good train service from where she lives.”

“I don’t mind the car. It’s pretty convenient to drive around Barrie; here, on the other hand, driving is a nightmare.”

The conversation wended its way until dinner, and Belinda could never seem to find a good point to say that she had been laid off, but of course saying that she was laid off would be a form of denial; she was actually a bit ashamed of the way her job at Cognos had ended. Of course, she had actually been fired but she would rather spare her family that information; it would only invite ridicule. For this reason, it was not entirely the lack of an opportune time to mention her new unemployed status; it was more that she would rather keep her family in the dark. Still, they were going to find out one way or another. At least I didn’t drop dead, she thought.

“Did you say something?”

“No,”

“I thought I heard you mutter ‘drop dead’. That’s not a threat, is it? I mean, I’m not too passionate about viruses spreading among the squirrel population producing a mass die-off myself, but it’s nothing you would get enraged about,” said Melvin, who liked pushing his sister’s buttons. He knew perfectly well that Belinda was thinking about something to herself, but didn’t want to share; he would get it out of her eventually, needling and nagging a person relentlessly always does that, especially in Belinda’s case.

“You know, about transportation, I think it defines neighbourhoods; my neighbourhood is quite walkable, for instance, and people talk to each other on the way to their shopping, on their way to work, and everywhere generally. I don’t think there would be that sense of camaraderie had the neighbourhood been more oriented towards the car.”

“I think the neighbours might also have something to do with that; in Sudbury, there are some good people, and some people you just don’t get along with. There’s this guy Steve who I share a fence with, for instance; he’s always hanging his underwear out for all to see, his garden looks to be on the overgrown side in the summer, and he doesn’t like me in general. Just last week, the kids were on their snowmobiles in the gully, when his underwear blew off the line and into Myron’s face; Myron wasn’t pleased, let me tell you that.” Myron provided well for the family, Juliana was thankful for that, but when she married him, he was brawny and muscular, the epitome of masculinity as portrayed in the media. Now, however, he had a beer gut; she still loved him; what woman would not love a man who made so much money working for Inco?

Due to the strained relations with her family, Belinda left early on Boxing Day, not caring to spend the day in the crowded Eaton Centre, which she had done when she was married, long ago. She caught the first train home that day, which left at 8:30, and was home in time for a late lunch; at home, she was greeted by a mess on the driveway; there had been a snowstorm on Christmas eve and another one on Christmas, so Eunice told her, and since the snowplough came through, she had to step over a mound of snow that nearly reached her elbows; on top of that, there was a thaw that day, and all six metres of her driveway was covered in a slushy mess, which would freeze and become treacherous at night, and all the more difficult to remove the next day; hence, she spent twenty minutes clearing her driveway.

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