Free Provider's Son by Lee Stringer

their business broken into.
    When Levi went to supper he forgot his ID card and had to walk back to his room again. His mind was wandering too much to concentrate. On the “healthy” line the main course was stirfried pork, and on the junk food line was pizza and pasta. He went with the pork. Following it with mashed potatoes, beets, cooked carrots, a slice of apple pie, four cups of coke, a glass of milk, a cup of coffee, and a dish of ice cream. It still amazed him that he didn’t have to pay for any of it. And if he didn’t like some of it, he could just throw it away. He had sat next to a kitchen worker the day before and overheard her talk about how dumpsters full of uneaten food were taken to the landfill every day.
    Sinead was already eating with her coworkers by the time he got his meal, and he felt like he was intruding if he sat down with her. There was a table full of pipefitters from his crew at the back, and although he didn’t feel like eating with them, he didn’t want to eat alone either. He went to their table and sat down.
    â€œShale might be in some deep shit with Erbacor,” one of the fitters was saying. “Not good on the old safety record. Dropping tools is one thing...” Everyone nodded.
    â€œTwo-day shutdown I heard,” another said.
    â€œOne-day I heard.”
    â€œTwo days sitting around camp and not getting paid. Fuck sakes.”
    â€œI whudnt complain. Our company could be kicked off site yet.”
    â€œTheres going to be a full investigation. Anyone who actually saw it will probably be questioned again.”
    â€œDidnt you see it all?” a fitter said to Levi.
    â€œThat I did,” said Levi. “Never get it out of me head. I seen him when his father swung the floorplate around, and I seen him when he fell.”
    Levi felt guilty for entertaining them with another man’s tragedy, probably because he had been so close to one. He had seen up close, with David, his brother Frank’s son, the horror of losing a child, and it was nothing for entertainment. The scaffolder had not been killed, but his father had thought he was.
    â€œWhat did you tell them about the lanyard?”
    â€œThat he was switching to a new area right quick,” Levi said. “Unhooking and re-hooking.”
    The men nodded in approval. Tradesmen didn’t rat on tradesmen. Especially in a case like this.
    As he was walking across the dinner hall the tingling sensation set into his shoulders again, followed by the shortness of breath. Gas bubbled in his stomach. Sinead called out to him as he was passing her table but he pretended he didn’t hear her. The burping started in the hallway. He rushed to the lobby, swiped out, and headed out through the door into the fresh air, and for a smoke. It worked to some degree, but he still felt like running ten laps around the building, no matter how cold it was. Anything to calm his nerves.
    Someone having a conversation at a picnic table screamed with laughter and Levi flinched.
    The rails of the front terrace were made of pressure-treated pine. Even though it was solid from the cold he ran his hands over it and found himself calming. Sometimes when he drank too much and found himself getting sick all he had to do was step outside and breathe deeply.
    â€œThis could be a long winter,” a voice said next to him. It was Jon. Levi was hoping to see a little embarrassment from their first encounter at the security gate, but found none in those heavy lidded eyes.
    â€œHow much longer do you think?” Levi said.
    â€œIve seen it last until June.”
    â€œAt least the air smells clean here in Alberta,” Levi said. “In Toronto, as soon as I stepped off the plane all I could smell was shit...or something like it.”
    Jon grinned. “Itll soon be the same here. When they start that up” — he nodded towards the project — “itll smell worse than shit. Just like Oilcor