A Keeper of the Secret
He polished his
boots until they gleamed, proud
of his new career
as a rookie officer in the Ontario
Provincial Police
force. At twenty-seven, he served
five years in the
navy, earned a commercial pilot’s
license, and
worked for IBM for four years where his
father worked as
head of security before joining his
uncles in the
police force; and now he’s a proud owner
of his first house
on a street overlooking Lake Superior
in the northwestern
community of St. Jude. His mother,
a realtor from southern
Ontario, made the deal for him,
and his retired step-father
helped him renovate the living
room and kitchen,
his electrician buddy doing the wiring,
and in a month’s
time he would be getting a raise of six
thousand dollars
because he passed his probation. He got
his house for forty-four
thousand, but he had Sears install
new windows and
vinyl siding; so, with the renovations,
he more than doubled
the value of his investment, and
this put him ahead
of the game. Life worked well for him,
like it did for
his father, his two uncles, and grandfather
in Scotland; and
wherever he went, he knew who to see
and what to do to
beat the game of life, and it showed
in his quick blue
eyes and ready boyish smile. A decent
young man, his
ethics were for real, and they would
continue to propel
him to the top; but his morality
was self-serving, because
he had been weaned
from the cradle to
be a keeper of the secret.
Composed
in Nipigon, Ontario
Date
unknown: 1990-2000
