TEMPUS CHAPTER SIX

 

 

I’m amazed every time I come back to Vancouver at how much it’s changed. You go away for a month and there’s three more skyscrapers.

Bryan Adams

He woke up to the sound of hammers, saws, horses, and gunshots. He quickly rubbed his eyes and ran to the window.

It was morning, as he looked out he could see the new city. This wasn’t the concrete and asphalt jungle he would someday grow up in. The city was not yet a smog-ridden bumper to bumper madhouse.

No Police sirens, traffic lights or cement sidewalks. No garbage trucks or 69 Camaros here. Instead, sidewalks made of rough planks, streets paved with dirt, mud, and horseshit.

Every direction he could see out of his window, someone was building something, hundreds of workers turning piles of lumber, brick, and granite block into a city of opportunity and industry.

There was a mix of residential and commercial buildings being built without power tools. It was amazing, only likened to worker ants building a colony. He marvelled most at the gaps between buildings, thinking about how every square inch would be utilized in the future.

He cracked the window open for some fresh air. “Shit” He wrinkled his nose. The past stank, the rot from the carcass of what used to be a prime forest of old-growth  Spruce, Cedar, and Fir. He could see garbage piled beside and behind every building.

More gunshots came from a lone gunman with a small calibre rifle, killing rats in a root-bound garbage dump that passed for a vacant lot. The disease-borne rats, big as cats, taking shore leave from the ships that brought trade goods from places around the world. They would remain a problem for years to come.

This was the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A deal made in a secret meeting, the Government gave the C.P.R. over 6000 acres of soon-to-be downtown Vancouver or what used to be called Granville or Gastown by some. A city would form around the railway that established a trade route from the Orient to Europe.

Speculators (a lot of them the original city officials) bought the land from the C.P.R. at auction. Just to resell it again at a higher price, exactly what he was here to do, except he would hang on to the land until the future, then sell it for a lot more.

As he looked across the inlet, he eyed the familiar north Shore in its former glory covered with trees not apartments or high-rises or a thousand stores and restaurants, just beautiful trees.

“They Paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” He heard the counting Crows singing a Joni Mitchell song through his mind. “Don’t it always seem to go , that you don’t know what you got till its gone.”

In the water steamships, tall ships, small sailboats, steam-powered tugboats, fishing boats and rowboats were everywhere. The harbour actually looked busier at this moment than he could remember at any time in the future.

The tall ships were awe-inspiring. He recognized that they were British Warships, four of them. Masts and rigging were covered in flags. Uniformed men attending to their stations, busy about the ships. Man that was sailing, oak, teak, real hemp rope, flags made from silk, not like the diesel and steam-powered steel ships he would serve on in the future. Sailing these ships took skill, a skill he admired. He was guessing that was the entire west coast fleet. When he served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the late seventies, the entire west coast fleet consisted of only twelve sadly outdated ships.

“Cristian that is the entire Ironclad British Pacific Station fleet the names of the ships are the H.M.S. Swifsure, Champion, Icarus and the Amphion.”

“Thanks, Watcher.”

He spent an hour just gazing out the window and imagining the future, remembering the Second Narrows Bridge, the Lions Gate Bridge, Harbour Centre, Canada Place, B.C. Place and many other future Vancouver buildings. He felt overwhelmed with emotion.

This was his home city taking its first steps, and he was here to see it. He was conflicted knowing what the future really held, the trees would be traded for smog, crime, and corruption.

“I should have brought a camera.”

“You did, Cristian, I can record everything your eye sees.”

“Now that is fucking handy.”

“Where do we start, Cristian?”

“With steak & eggs Watcher, then we need an office and a Lawyer.”

After wolfing down breakfast and inhaling a couple of cups of coffee, he stopped at the front desk. Charles was at his post.

“Charles, could you send Arthur to my room with today’s newspaper.”

“Arthur is occupied, could I send someone else?” He answered in a condescending tone.

“When he is free Charles” He replied a little louder, sporting a slight grimace.

“Sorry sir, as soon as he is free, I will send him up with a copy of the Daily News Advertiser.”

“Watcher that is a dyed in the wool asshole. I guess they have those here too.”

Without another word thought or said, he went back to his room and spent more time looking out the window. Arthur arrived some twenty minutes later with a knock at the door.

“Arthur, please come in.”

“Your paper, sir, I apologize for the delay.”

“Watcher this could be our first employee, check his reactions and give me your impressions.”

“I can already tell you he is sincere, trustworthy and intelligent, Cristian.”

“Tell me, Arthur, about your plans for the future. Will you always do what you are doing now?”

“No, sir, I think I am capable of much more. I hope to find a higher paying job so that I can afford to marry the woman I love.”

“So your ambition revolves around the woman you love?”

“Yes, very much so.”

“Admirable Arthur. What would be the wage you would like to earn?”

“I would like to earn at least 50 dollars a month, sir.”

“I am looking for a manager and assistant to look after my interests here. I need someone to be the face of my business while I am away. The job, however, does not pay $50 a month.”

“How much would a job like that pay, Sir?”

“You can stop calling me Sir, my name is James or Jimmy, Arthur. The job would pay $50 per week to start. It would be a long-term position. Are you interested?”

“When do we start, Jimmy?”

“Now.”

“I will get changed and inform Charles.”

“Meet me back here when you are done that. Arthur, here is a bonus for agreeing to leave your current job with short notice.” He handed him ten, ten-dollar bills. “You will need a suit.”

“I understand Jimmy.”

“I also need to book an appointment with Ken Dumont or his partner for later today. Can you arrange that?” He thought all Lawyers evil, that is until you needed one.

“Yes.” With that, Arthur went out the door.

“I think he will make an excellent manager, Cristian.”

“So do I Watcher.”