One Good Story, That One: Stories

How Corporal Colin Sterling Saved Blossom, Alberta, and Most of the Rest of the World as Well

How Corporal Colin Sterling Saved Blossom, Alberta, and Most of the Rest of the World as Well This page intentionally left blank The bright prairie sun was just above the tops of the trailers when Ralph Lawton's wife, Bella, rolled over and shook Ralph. "Are you awake?" Ralph grunted. "Did you hear those damn Indians?" "Coyotes," said Ralph. "I know Indians when I hear them. Drinking, I suspect." "Coyotes." "Did they pay you in advance?" "It was the coyotes you heard last night." "Then they've flown the coop by now." There was snow on the ground, and the air was cold. Ralph looked out of the window of the office. Room sixteen seemed quiet enough. He put on his robe. "Dead drunk, the lot of them," Bella yelled from the bedroom. "Coyotes," said Ralph quietly to himself. Ralph walked down to room sixteen. The pick-up that the 52 « Thomas King Indians had arrived in was still parked in front of the room. He knocked on the door. The knock was perfunctory. The pass key was already in his other hand. "Maid service," said Ralph, and he opened the door and stepped inside. Inside the RCMP detachment at Blossom, the air washeavy with the warm smell of fresh doughnuts and hot coffee. Corporal Colin Sterling sat behind the large oak desk. He rubbed the side of his nose, picked at a hair growing out of a brown mole near his ear, and considered the cardboard box on the desk in front of him. There were few things that Corporal Sterling liked better than the doughnuts that Bernie, over at the Chinook Cafe, made. He cleared his throat and reached out, helping himself to a large chocolate-covered cake doughnut . "Mrs. Post," he said to the woman at the switchboard. "Would you care for a doughnut?" Normally, Corporal Sterling would have had to compete for the doughnuts with Constable Takas and Constable Gromski, but both men had been called to the reserve. "I went yesterday," Corporal Sterling had said. "It's your turn." Both Constable Takas and Constable Gromski grumbled a bit, but they put their jackets on. Constable Takas threw several of the glazed and jelly-centereddoughnuts into an exhibit bag. "Not too many, now," said Corporal Sterling, wagging a sugar-coated finger at Constable Takas. "Too much sugar is bad for you." Corporal Sterling leaned over and selected a glazed with a raspberry center. Corporal Sterling was just finishing his eighth doughnut when Thelma Post turned in her chair. "It's Ralph over at the Corporal Colin Sterling - 53 Chief Mountain Motel," she said. "Says he's got a mass murder on his hands." Corporal Sterling had been with the RCMP for sixteen years. The last four had been spent in Blossom. "Ask him if he's been drinking again." "He says," said Thelma, "to get your 'you know what' over here." Corporal Sterling pushed away from the desk and stood up. "Fiddle," he said and reached for a spice with white frosting. Room sixteen at the Chief Mountain Motel was just like room twenty-two or room seven. They all had showers, two beds, a plug-in pot for tea, and a color television set. Room sixteen also had six bodies. "Bunch of Indians came in last night," Ralph Lawton said, and he waved his hand around the room. "Told them not to bust the place up. Business has been pretty slow, you know. They paid cash. Just don't bust the place up. That's what I told them." Corporal Sterling leaned over the first body, which was on the floor beside the bed. "Bloody hell, Ralph," said Corporal Sterling. "These fellows aren't dead. They're still breathing. This one's singing." Ralph took one of the Indians by a foot and shook him. "Oh yeah ... oh yeah?" said Ralph. "You ever see anyone this stiff who wasn't dead?" Ralph shook the man again. It was like wiggling a two-by-four. "You ever see anything like this?" Corporal Sterling looked at the Indian and then leaned closer as if he were trying to hear what the man was saying. "That's odd," he said, and he stood up. Corporal Sterling rubbed the side of his nose and picked at the hair. "When I was stationed at the subdivision in Lethbridge," he began, "we [3.146.221.204] Project MUSE (2024...