MY CHRISTMAS SOJOURN AT BRACEBRIDGE'S ALBION HOTEL - A WINTER'S EVE WITH AN "ANIMAL"
TO BEGIN THIS HUMBLE, INTIMATE, TIME-WORN CHRISTMAS STORY, I MUST FIRST CLARIFY THAT I DIDN'T SPEND ALL OF CHRISTMAS EVE DROWNING MY SORROWS IN CHEAP DRAFT BEER, AT THE FORMER ALBION HOTEL....NOW A RUBBLE OF OLD BRICK, DOWN ON BRACEBRIDGE'S "MAIN STREET," OPPOSITE THE FORMER TRAIN STATION. THE "ANIMAL" I REFER TO, IN THE HEADING, WAS ACTUALLY THE NAME OF MY ADOPTED CAT. SOMEONE HAD DRIVEN BY THE HERALD-GAZETTE OFFICE, ON DOMINION STREET, TWO YEARS EARLIER, AND HURLED THE KITTEN ONTO THE TARMAC IN FRONT. IT USED TO HAPPEN THAT PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T WANT THEIR PETS ANY LONGER, FIGURED THAT THE NEWSPAPER OFFICE WAS THE PERFECT PLACE TO ABANDON THEM. THEY FIGURED WE'D PUT AN AD IN THE PAPER, OR WRITE A SAD STORY FOR THE FEATURE PAGES, AND SOMEONE WOULD COME IN TO ADOPT THE PARTICULAR DOG OR CAT. THERE WAS NO HUMANE SOCIETY OPERATION BACK THEN. IT HAPPENED SO FAST, I DIDN'T CATCH THE PLATE NUMBER, AND I WAS SO CONCERNED ABOUT RESCUING THE CAT FROM THE BUSY STREET, BEFORE IT GOT HIT, I COULDN'T EVEN RECALL THE MAKE OF THE CAR, OR ACCURATELY DESCRIBE THE PERSON, WHO SO INHUMANELY TOSSED IT OUT OF THE MOVING VEHICLE. I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A CAT LOVER, SO I WAS ALL OVER THAT LITTLE BEAST, IN THOSE FIRST FEW MOMENTS, TRYING TO DETERMINE WHAT INJURIES IT HAD SUSTAINED IN THE ROLL ALONG THE ASPHALT.
WELL, THE LITTLE FELLOW WAS A PRETTY BADLY SCRAPED-UP, BUT NOTHING APPEARED BROKEN, AND THERE WAS NO SERIOUS BLEEDING ANYWHERE I COULD DETECT. I TOOK IT TO THE VETERINARIAN, A FRIEND OF MINE, AND THE WORD WAS GOOD. THE KITTEN WOULD SURVIVE. SO OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS OR SO, WE WOULD BE PARTNERING IN MY SMALL APARTMENT AT THE MCGIBBON HOUSE; AND THEN FOR A FEW MORE YEARS WITH MY BRIDE SUZANNE, AT TWO RESIDENCES, ONE BEING OUR FIRST PURCHASED HOUSE, AT THE BOTTOM END OF QUEBEC STREET, BELOW THE FORMER BRACEBRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL. THIS IS THE HOUSE, I'M SORRY TO SAY, THAT CONTRIBUTED TO ANIMAL'S DEMISE. IT WAS A BUSY STREET, AND IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS WE MOVED OUR YOUNG FAMILY TO A LESS HEAVILY TRAVELLED NEIGHBORHOOD OF MUSKOKA. THERE WERE A NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS ON THE STREET, THAT OCCURRED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STEEP AND WINTER-SLIPPERY TANBARK HILL, AND ONE OF THESE ENDED ANIMAL'S SHORT LIFE. SHE GOT OUT OF THE HOUSE, AND BEGAN CHASING A SQUIRREL, PUTTING HIM DIRECTLY IN THE PATH OF AN ONCOMING CAR. HE SURVIVED FOR A FEW MINUTES IN SUZANNE'S ARMS BUT DIED ENROUTE TO THE CLINIC. I WAS WORKING THAT NIGHT AS AN ELECTION SCRUTINEER IN A PROVINCIAL ELECTION, AT THE FORMER BRACEBRIDGE CENTENNIAL CENTRE, JUST A BLOCK AWAY. WE WERE MOVING TO OUR NEW HOUSE, AT GOLDEN BEACH, THE NEXT MORNING, AND IT WOULD HAVE MEANT, HAD ANIMAL SURVIVED, THAT ITS NEW HOME WOULD HAVE BEEN IN A NICE RURAL SETTING WITH SOME ROOM TO ROAM. IT JUST DIDN'T WORK OUT SO WELL....AT LEAST AS WE HAD INTENDED.
LET'S GO BACK A FEW YEARSS. ANIMAL WAS STILL IN THE KITTENISH PERIOD. AS A RESULT OF ME BEING SINGLE, AND THE FACT THAT MY PARENTS HAD GONE TO FLORIDA FOR THE WINTER, LEAVING ME TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS WITH ANIMAL, I GOT SADDLED WITH BEING THE ON-CALL REPORTER FOR THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. AFTER HAVING SUFFERED THE UNCEREMONOUS HEAVE-HO FROM A LONG TIME GIRLFRIEND, A FEW YEARS BACK, I WAS CONTENT TO BE MISERABLE ON MY OWN....WITH MY STRAY CAT. OTHER THAN WORKING THROUGH THE DOLDRUMS, DAY BY DAY, THERE WAS ALSO A PLAN TO JOIN UP WITH THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION, WHERE I COULD LOSE MY IDENTITY. AMIMAL AND I WERE CERTAINLY A COUPLE OF MISFITS, SORT OF LIKE RUDOLPH AND HERBIE THE DENTIST, FROM THAT CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CARTOON I ENJOYED SO MUCH AS A KID.
ON THAT PARTICULAR CHRISTMAS EVE, I'D BEEN OUT AT A FIRE SCENE FOR MOST OF THE AFTERNOON, AND HAD BUMPED INTO MY OLD RINK RAT PAL, ALISTAIR TAYLOR, WHO HAD BEEN CHRISTMAS SHOPPING. AS IT OFTEN TURNED OUT, WE RETREATED, TO WHAT HERALD-GAZETTE REPORTERS CALLED "THE PRESS CLUB," WHICH WAS AN UNBALANCED CORNER TABLE, WITH A FOLDED COASTER UNDER A LEG, AT THE HISTORIC ALBION HOTEL, OPPOSITE THE FORMER TRAIN STATION. WE ARRIVED AT AROUND THE DINNER HOUR, BUT YOU WOULDN'T DARE EAT THERE....EVEN THE PRETZELS ON THE BAR, WERE IN PROXIMITY TO THE COUGHING OF OLD FARTS WHO COVETED THE LINE OF STOOLS, AS THE PLACE OF HONOR IN THE CAVERNOUS TAVERN. THE FOOD WAS JUST ON THE CHALK BOARD TO SATISFY TERMS OF THE LIQUOR PERMIT....OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. I IMAGINE THE SANDWICHES WERE GREEN BY THAT POINT OF THE WEEK....MADE FRESH EVERY MONDAY. THERE WERE ONLY A FEW SOULS LEFT FROM THE AFTERNOON AUDIENCE. SO AL AND I HAD A JUG OF DRAFT BROUGHT TO THE TABLE, OF NUMEROUS JUGS THAT EVENING, AND FOR HOURS ON END, WE SAT AND RECOLLECTED OUR RESPECTIVE PASTS....UNBURDENED OURSELVES OF TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS, WHILE GETTING REGULAR REPORTS ON THE WEATHER, WHICH WAS GETTING WORSE BY THE MOMENT. AL AND I WERE SNOWED-IN AT THE ALBION HOTEL IN ALL ITS GLORY. THERE WERE NO STRIPPERS BOOKED THAT NIGHT, AND THE BARTENDER HAD TO WAIT ON TABLES. SO WE DIDN'T GET TO HUG OR MILDLY PINCH THE FEMALE SERVERS, WHO WE LIKED TO TEASE. I WOULDN'T HAVE PINCHED THE BIG GUY WITH THE BEER TRAY FOR LOVE NOR MONEY, AS THEY SAY. AL LIVED A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE AWAY, AT BALSAM CHUTES, AND EVEN THOUGH I HAD ONLY TWO BLOCKS TO TRAVEL.....IT SEEMED THE BEST THING TO DO.... WAS JUST TO STAY AT THE PRESS CLUB TABLE AND CHAT. IT WAS A LITTLE DISTURBING TO WATCH AS SEVERAL OLDTIMERS, FEEL ASLEEP AT THE TABLES, WITH DRINKS IN HAND, FEELING DESOLATE ABOUT THE LIVES THEY HAD, AND WHAT THEY HAD TO LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN THEY GOT HOME. NO, ON THAT NIGHT, WE WERE TWO OF THE MOST OPTIMISTIC SOULS IN THAT BUILDING. AND PEOPLE AT THE BAR WERE EATING THOSE SNEEZED-OVER PRETZELS....AND ASKING ABOUT THOSE SANDWICHES, WHILE THE BAR-KEEP SHOOK HIS HEAD. AMIDST THE SMOKE AND DIN OF COUGHING AND CONVERSATION, IT HAD ITS RESIDENT HAPPINESS NONE THE LESS. THERE WAS ACCEPTANCE HERE, IN THOSE HOURS, AND THAT'S WHAT COUNTED.
I WON'T KID YOU. IF YOU HAVE, OR ARE STILL, A FREQUENT TAVERN-GOER, YOU CAN EASILY IMAGINE WHAT THE CROWD OF PATRONS MUST HAVE LOOKED LIKE THAT NIGHT. FOLKS THAT DIDN'T WANT TO GO HOME.....FINDING NO REASON TO HEAD BACK TO A PLACE THAT WAS HOLLOW AND FOSTERED THEIR LONELINESS. AT LEAST IN THE BIG ROOM, THAT SMELLED LIKE STALE BEER AND WET FEET, THEY COULD CLAIM TO BE WITH LIKE-MINDED MATES.....WILLINGLY COMMITTING TO AN IMPOSED EXILE FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD. THIS WAS THEIR PLACE ON EARTH; THE HOME THEY PREFERRED, NO MATTER WHAT IT COST TO SIT AT ONE OF THESE STICKY TABLES, WITH WET RINGS FROM WHERE THE LAST GLASS LIFTED OFF. AL AND I TALKED ABOUT LIFE AND WORK, AND OF COURSE, ABOUT THE RINK RATS, OF WHICH HE AND I WERE FOUNDING MEMBERS. HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT HIS WIFE AT HOME, BUT THE SNOW WAS COMING DOWN HEAVY, AND THE WIND WAS MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE TO THE END OF THE BLOCK.....WHEN AL WOULD LOOK OUT THE DOOR TO THE WORLD BEYOND. IT WOULD SETTLE DOWN SOON, AND AL WAS ABLE TO SECURE A RIDE HOME WITH A NEIGHBOR, WHO HAPPENED TO STILL BE IN TOWN.....STRANDED BY THE SAME BLIZZARD. I SWALLOWED THE LAST FEW DROPS OF WARM BEER, BUTTONED UP MY COAT, TOSSING MY SCARF AROUND MY NECK, MITTS AND TOQUE APPLIED, AND WE BOTH HEADED TO THE DOOR. I LOOKED AROUND AT THE REST OF THE CLIENTELE, THAT WOULD LIKELY BE HERE UNTIL AFTER LAST CALL, WONDERING IF I'D BE BACK HERE NEXT CHRISTMAS EVE TO JOIN THIS LONELY HEARTS CLUB. AL CALLED ME LATER THAT NIGHT, JUST TO LET ME KNOW HE HAD ARRIVED SAFELY HOME, DESPITE A HARROWING MOTOR TRIP.
WHEN I HAD ARRIVED IN MY ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT, AT THE FORMER MCGIBBON HOUSE, THAT OVERLOOKED THE BANDSHELL OF MEMORIAL PARK, I FOUND MY CAT "ANIMAL" SITTING ON THE ARM OF THE SOFA, AWAITING SOME COMPANY. I ASSUMED HE WAS LOOKING FOR HIS DINNER, WHICH WAS LONG OVERDUE. MY FAULT. I HAD NO BUSINESS OWNING A CAT IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUT HE WAS A LOYAL SORT OF BEAST, AND HE FORGAVE ALL OF MY TRESPASSES, BY JUMPING UP ON MY KNEE, AND PURRING BOTH OF US TO SLEEP. I WOKE UP BEFORE MIDNIGHT, WITH MY NECK STIFF FROM THE WAY I WAS SLUMBERING IN THE CHAIR, AND ANIMAL WAS STILL SNORING ON MY LAP. I LOOKED UP AT THE TWINKLING CHRISTMAS LIGHTS ON THE ARTIFICIAL TREE, AND I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE HOW BEAUTIFUL IT LOOKED, OUT OVER THE TINY PARK, ALL FRESHLY ADORNED WITH THAT EVENING'S SNOW. I DON'T GET MISTY-EYED OFTEN, AND THIS WAS ONE OF THOSE OCCASIONS. NOT BECAUSE I WAS LONELY, OR FELT ABANDONED, WITHOUT ANY FAMILY TO VISIT FOR CHRISTMAS.....BUT BECAUSE I WAS WITH A WONDERFUL FRIEND THAT I HAD REALLY ONLY KNOWN, TO THAT POINT, AS ANOTHER MOUTH TO FEED. I SAT THERE FOR A LONG TIME, PATTING THE LITTLE FELLOW, AND I SOON CAME BACK AROUND, AFTER TEMPORARY DISDAIN, TO THE PLEASANT REALITY, THAT CHRISTMAS IS A FORGIVING TIME.... OF GOODWILL AND KINSHIP; OF THIS, I COULDN'T ASK FOR MORE THAN THE CREATURE COMFORTS OF MY SMALL LITTLE HOME, AND FURRY COMPANION, THAT ASKED FOR NO MORE THAN A FEW CANS OF FOOD EACH DAY, SOME WATER, AND A GENTLE OWNER WHO WOULD BUDGET A FEW MOMENTS EACH DAY.....TO CURL UP TOGETHER IN A CHAIR, SITUATED SUCH, AS TO AFFORD A NICE VIEW UPON THE REAL BUSTLING WORLD, SO SILENT THEN, BEYOND THE PURRING.
FOR ALL THAT IT DIDN'T HAVE OF CHARM AND ELEGANCE, I HAD ACTUALLY ENJOYED THE COMPANY OF BAR PATRONS THAT NIGHT, IN THEIR OWN PURSUIT OF CONTENTMENT, AND MY ENJOYABLE CHAT WITH AN OLD FRIEND AT THE PRESS TABLE IN A LOW-LIT CORNER OF THE FORMER ALBION HOTEL. WHEN I DRIVE BY IT, ON MY TRAVELS TO BRACEBRIDGE, I'M PLEASANTLY REMINDED OF THAT CHRISTMAS EVE, OF LONG AGO, WHEN I FOUND SOLACE WITH GOOD COMPANY....IN THE MIDST OF A WINTER STORM. I CRIED FOR A LONG TIME, THE NIGHT SUZANNE HAD TO TELL ME ABOUT "ANIMAL'S" TRAFFIC MISADVENTURE, OUT FRONT OF OUR HOME. I WAS HEARTSICK FOR A WEEK AFTER, EVEN WHILE TRYING TO RE-ESTABLISH OUR FAMILY IN THE HOUSE AT GOLDEN BEACH. I MUST HAVE MADE TEN OR MORE SLOW TRIPS PAST THE OLD HOUSE, DURING THAT NEXT WEEK, TRYING TO RECONCILE HOW IT HAD HAPPENED AS GOD'S PLAN, BEING A MOTOR VEHICLE AND ALL....COMPOUNDED BY OUR HUMAN ERROR; AND TO ADJUST TO THE NEW REALITY, THAT THE TABBY WAS NO LONGER. YOU KNOW SOMETHING....WHAT A TREAT IT WOULD BE, ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS....A NEW AGE CHRISTMAS EVE, TO FEEL THE LIGHT, WARM WEIGHT, OF THAT LOVING LITTLE CREATURE, IN SPIRIT, JUMP BACK ONTO MY LAP....FOR OLD TIMES SAKE. HE KEPT ME FROM BEING LONELY ON THOSE LONG WINTER NIGHTS....AT A TIME WHEN I WASN'T AT ALL SURE WHERE I WOULD WIND-UP MYSELF IN GOD'S DETERMINATION. I HOPE, AS A MATTER OF CONSIDERABLE FAITH, THAT GOD'S FOUND HIM A NICE PLACE TO ROAM UP THERE IN THE GREAT BEYOND.
PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING A DONATION TO THE ONTARIO SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS, IN BRACEBRIDGE, OR IN YOUR COMMUNITY, TO HELP FEED AND HOUSE ALL THE STRAY AND UNWANTED ANIMALS IN OUR REGION.....AND IF YOU HAVE PLACE IN YOUR FINE HOME FOR A PET LIKE "ANIMAL" THE CAT, PLEASE CONTACT THE SHELTER FOR INFORMATION ON ADOPTIONS
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.....AND BE KIND TO OUR FURRY FRIENDS.
No comments:
Post a Comment