Canadian Dreams (Part 1)

You MUST read “Passing By” and “Gray Valley” before reading this. It will give you much more context, and you will enjoy it more. Enjoy the book!

“I had a brother. I had a friend. I had an ENEMY.” I said loudly.

“My brother was named Kevin. My friend was named Jonas. My enemy was named Curtis.”

“All of them are dead now, and they ain’t coming back. I, Ted, will avenge Jonas, and Kevin and I will give more reason to keep Curtis in hell.”

“I have something to admit, my friends. I am not from Alberta. I am from Alabama, USA. I escaped with plenty of cops chasing me, planning to murder me.” 

The crowd gasped.

“Get out of Quebec, you thief!” A man yelled.

The crowd started yelling and throwing food at me. I jumped off the stage and started running. I was nothing but a coward. I left Kevin, and that was wrong of me. I walked into my office, where I worked as…well…not anything. For most of the day, I just sat there. My boss hired me to sit down and make people think we were working. Quebec has an economic problem, but whoever is in charge isn’t doing anything. My boss told me the problem is being worked on.

I whistled and I whittled. A man walked into my office.

“Howdy, Ted, is it?” The young man said.

I nodded.

“I liked your speech, I’m sorry about your brother. Did you say your friend is named Jonas? Did his last name happen to be Barker?” 

“His name is Jonas, he never told us his last name. Why?” I asked.

“Did he have brown hair? Did he look like he was about in his twenties? Did he work as a ticket-man?” The young adult asked.

“He fits all those.”

The young adult gasped.

“My name is Henry. Jonas saved my life. I am from Alabama, and I escaped.” 

I gasped.

“I'm sorry you had to go through that,” I said, with a frown.

A man burst through the door.

“Boss!” I said quickly.

“Hello, Mr. Daniels! Why is there a stranger in your office?” Mr. Jameson said quickly.

“I- 

Mr. Jameson stopped me. 

“My boss would like to speak with you!” 

I sighed.

“Can I take Henry with me?” I asked.

“No! You may not! Quickly now, follow me!” 

Henry nodded.

“I’ll find you later,” Henry told me.

I nodded. 

Mr. Jameson pushed me out the door.

“Rapide! Rapide! Rapide!” 

“I don’t speak French yet!” I responded.

We eventually made it to the door.

Mr. Jameson walked away, and I slowly opened the door.

“Bon matin, Mr. Daniels.” The man said, sitting in the chair.

“I am Monsieur Brûler. I am here to make…profit with you. Simple profit.” He said.

He picked up a nickel with his wrinkly hand and threw it to me, and I caught it.

“You are what they call a negro. Nowadays, you’re worth a lot. You would get a légendaire amount of money.” 

I growled lightly.

“I am a rich man. I can give you riches, just serve as my slave, and gain profit. There is nothing in it for me. Avons-nous un accord?” 

“I cannot be your slave, I escaped from Alabama to forget about that life.” 

Monsieur Brûler chuckled.

“You will never escape from that life. Your past will follow you. I heard your speech, and I reached out to Sheriff Bentley. He will come to get you, and he will do what he wants with you. It’s your choice, not mine. Be practical, garçon.” 

I didn’t say a word. He threw me a bag of coins. 

“There is a hundred dollars worth of coins in that bag. You could earn that every day. Keep the bag, and think about it. Use that money as you please, and think about everything else you could get with it.” 

I took the bag and left the office. I ran and tried to find Henry.

Three hours later I found him raking leaves.

“Henry! I need to leave Canada, before I become Monsieur Brûler’s slave, or be sent to Sheriff Bentley. I have to escape.” I said quickly.

“You’re not going to be sent to Sheriff Bentley,” Henry said with a gasp. 

A horse-drawn carriage was coming up the road with officers on it.

“Follow me!” Henry said quickly. 

We ran towards a house and hid behind it. We quickly transitioned to my office and hid inside of it. Mr. Jameson was inside of it.

“Mr. Jameson! There are officers here to take me back! I haven’t made my decision yet!” I yelled.

“What? That’s absurd! They were only supposed to come in a week if notified. I’m sure Brûler will deal with them.” 

I heard the officers yelling outside and they were knocking on doors. 

“Both of you go to my boss's office. I will handle these hooligans!” Mr. Jameson said.

Henry and I fled to Brûler’s office. Mr. Jameson went to deal with the officers.

“Why are you boys here? Who’re orders have you respected?” Mr. Jameson said angrily.

A man walked out of the wagon.

“My orders, the Sheriff of Alabama. My name is Bentley.” 

“Leave this town!” Mr. Jameson said angrily.

Bentley pulled out his revolver and shot Jameson. He fell to the ground.

“Find Ted Daniels, and bring him to me!” Bentley yelled.

Henry and I ran and ran, and we finally made it to Brûler’s office.

“Monsieur! Sheriff Bentley and the officers are here! I haven’t made up my mind yet!” I yelled angrily.

Henry nodded.

Brûler’s smirk turned into a toothy frown.

“I’ll deal with him, he has the nerve to defy me.” He said angrily.

He stood up from his chair and slowly walked to a safe.

He slowly opened the safe, and there was a revolver in it.

“Hide it in your coat,” I whispered.

“You boys, run. I’ll send men to find you once I deal with these fools. Go, now. Go into the woods, and go to the train station, use that money I gave you to get out of Quebec, or at least somewhere far from here. Run.” 

Henry and I nodded and we ran out the back door, I had my bag of money in my pocket.

Brûler walked out in front of the officers.

“You’re early.” He said slowly.

Bentley smiled.

“I want the boy NOW! I will pay well.” Bentley yelled.

Brûler made an evil smile.

“I do know where they are, but it will cost you extra,” Brûler said with a smile.

Bentley grinned and handed over the money.

Henry and I were running and running.

“I have some money at my house, let me sneak and grab it. I’ll be right back. Meet me at the edge of town.” Henry whispered.

“No! Don’t!” I whispered back loudly.

But Henry already ran to get it. I started running towards the edge of town, and I was careful, officers were everywhere. I snuck past most officers, and one nearly saw me. 

“I hear a noise,” An officer said.

“It could be the negro.”

The other officer nodded and pulled out his gun.

“I heard the noise over here!” The first officer said.

I had to come up with a plan. I climbed on top of a wagon that wasn’t being used and I quickly whistled the horses on the wagon started freaking out and they ran. 

“THE HORSES!” The second officer yelled.

The two officers started running and the wagon ran over the second one.

The first officer ran up to the second officer who was on the floor.

“Damn it, Jim! I’m sorry this happened to you, I’ll catch the negro, just watch me.” The first officer yelled.

The officer pulled out his gun.

“Come on out, boy. We don’t have to be rough, just come on out, and you won’t get hurt.”

I quietly walked to the edge of the town and the officer saw me. 

“Gotcha!“ He yelled.

He started chasing after me, and I ran. I tripped on a stick and I fell right into the floor.

“You! Put your hands up! I will not hesitate to shoot!” 

I slowly put my hands up. I started to sniffle.

“Now, I’m going to arrest you. Stand still.”

I frowned and I put my hands behind my back.

“Good boy-

The officer stopped talking. He stood still and then he fell onto the ground. Blood poured out of his mouth. A pocket knife was stabbed into the back of his neck.

“Henry! You saved me!”

Henry took his pocket knife out of the officer's throat.

“Jonas gave me this pocket knife. I didn’t want to kill him, but I didn’t have a choice.” Henry said in a sad tone.

I got up and hugged Henry.

“Did you get some money?” I asked.

“I got around fifty dollars, we can probably get a train to go to Alberta, or anywhere that isn’t Quebec.” 

I nodded and we quickly ran. 

Meanwhile, Bentley found the two dead officers laying on the ground.

“That bastard!” He said angrily.

Brûler slowly walked towards Bentley and pointed a revolver at him.

“Don’t call for your officers, Bentley.” Monsieur Brûler said.

Bentley put his hand up.

Brûler walked towards Bentley and grabbed his gun from his holster and slapped Bentley in the face. He pointed one of the guns at Bentley’s head. 

“Officers! There is a new deal.” Brûler yelled.

The officers came running and gasped when they saw they’re Sheriff having a gun pointed at them.

“All of you drop your guns, or he will have a bullet in his head.” 

The officers still pointed their guns at Brûler. 

“DO IT, YOU FOOLS! PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN!” Bentley yelled.

Brûler smirked.

“Cowardly fool.” 

Brûler hit Bentley in the face with his gun, and he was unconscious.

“You, officers. Put the sheriff in the prison, and keep him there. And if you betray me…” Brûler said slowly.

“You!” Brûler said as he pointed his wrinkly finger at the officer.

The officer came forward and Brûler smiled at him.

“Sir, what do you want from me?” The officer asked.

Brûler shot him in the face.

“If any of you betray me, I’m afraid you will suffer the same punishment as this fellow. Now, find me Ted Daniels and his friend, and make sure they become my SLAVES.”

Three hours later….

“We finally made it!” Henry yelled.

Henry and I walked to the train station desk.

“Hello, how much for two tickets to southern Alberta?” I asked the ticket man.

“It’ll be fifty each, you got that money, boys?” The man asked. 

I nodded and handed him the money.

“The train will be here tomorrow, there’s a hotel over there you could go into, it’s not too much money.” 

We nodded and smiled. Henry and I went into the hotel, and we looked outside the window and gasped. Men in masks were walking toward the train station. They were all white, with white masks. The masks were creepy.

“Ku Klux Klan! They’re going to try and kill us!” I yelled. 

“What’re they doing in Canada?” Henry asked 

“Hide!” I said quickly.

The klan leader was wearing all black and walked up to the ticket man.

“Have you seen any negros? We could get them off your back.” 

The ticket man cleaned his glasses.

“I haven’t seen any. As of now, we have no residents in the hotel. Look somewhere else.” He said slowly.

The klan slowly walked away and the ticket man walked into the hotel and knocked on the door.

“It’ll cost you ten extra, hand it over,” Ticket-man said quickly.

Without hesitation, I threw him the amount of money he asked for. Henry and I ran down the stairs to hide in the underground area. Henry slipped down the stairs and there was a giant crash.

The KKK heard it.

“The negros are in the hotel! GET THEM!” The leader yelled.

I helped Henry up and we ran to the basement.

The Klan leader grabbed the Ticketman and threw him on the floor.

“I’m sorry! Don’t kill me! I have a family!” 

One of the klan members picked him up and threw him back onto the ground.

Some of the klan members stole the money from the register.

“Please! Don’t take that! I need to feed the little ones!” 

One of the klan members shot him in the chest.

“Please…” The ticket man said slowly.

The Klan leader pointed at two members.

“You two, throw the man in the river, let him drown.” The klan leader said angrily.

“As for the rest of you, catch the negroes! Find them!”

“We need to save the ticket-man, they’re throwing him in the river. He can help us escape, let’s sneak out, quietly.” I said.

Henry went along with my plan and we slowly crept up the stairs. We quickly escaped through the door and started running towards the Klan members who were carrying the ticket man. But, we were shocked.

The ticket man was tied to a tree, but there was still a body in the water. Only one klan member was standing by the river. We slowly went to the river and saw the second klan member with a knife in his neck floating down the river. We snuck up to the ticket man.

“We’re here to save you. How bad is the bullet wound?” Henry whispered to the ticket man.

“It’s painful, but I’ll live. Please, let me out. I have a horse-drawn wagon we can escape with.” The ticket man whispered back slowly.

Henry took out his pocket knife and cut off the rope very slowly. The rope fell onto the ground, and we started running, but the klan member noticed.

He didn’t say anything but started chasing after us.

“RUN!” I yelled.

Other Klan members heard us. We kept running, but the ticket man had an idea.

“Boys, take the klan member chasing us hostage, you know what to do.” The ticket man said.

We didn’t know what to do, but we both nodded. The ticket man ran towards the wagon, and we were going to take the klan member hostage. I jumped on him and distracted him. Henry grabbed his gun and pointed it at him.

“Stop! All of you! This man will be killed if you do not back away.” I yelled.

The men growled. I used the rope the ticket man was tied with to tie the klan member's hands. We slowly walked him to the wagon and we put him in the back of the wagon. Henry and I sat in the back with the klan member, still pointing the gun at him.

“Ticket-man! Go!” I said quickly.

The ticket man nodded and the horses started running. 

“What is your name, sir?” Henry asked.

“I’m Jedediah, what are your guys' names?”

“I’m Ted, and this is Henry,” I answered.

The klan member growled in anger in the back of the wagon. I tied his legs so he couldn’t do anything.

“Go as far away from Quebec as you can. Thank you.” I said to the ticket man.

Later that night….

Brûler and the officers went up to the train station and saw the klan members asleep.

“I know you fools tried to kill my new slaves. You are all under arrest!” Brûler yelled loudly. 

The officers nodded quickly and grabbed the klan members. The leader of the KKK walked up to Brûler.

“WHO are you to tell us what to do?” The leader yelled angrily.

“I am Monsieur Brûler, tell us where the boys went, and I will send you free.”

“They went right, they’re heading to southern Alberta!” The klan leader said angrily.

Brûler took out a knife and stabbed the Klan leader right in the face.

“Take the rest of them to the prison, we have some negros to catch.”

PART 2 WILL BE OUT NEXT WEEK!