~ 57 ~

Saturday, April 3rd Cathedral Grove

He was exhausted. Ted didn’t want to think about anything, and he knew the perfect place to do just that. He pulled on his favourite jeans and a heavy sweater and headed to visit the giants. Wilma had told him about the trees; he’d been there a few times. ‘Trees and pie,’ he thought. ‘That’s all I need.’

The drive north was rainy, especially over the Malahat, but traffic was light and the roads were good. When he arrived at Cathedral Grove, rather than walk in deep, Ted sat on the cedar bench under the giants near the entrance. At first, he thought about nothing, feeling only the pleasant cool mist on his face as he tried to see the tops of the trees.

He had waited a week, after his trip to Calgary, before contacting the Alberta Provincial government in Edmonton. When he’d called to request a meeting with the Premier, he was surprised when Premier Halsted picked up the phone. "I understand what you want to meet about, Ted, and I don’t think its necessary. Whatever arrangements you make will work out fine for us up here. You have our full support." Stunned, he quickly called and was immediately put through to the Prime Minister. "Sir, I’ve met with all of the parties we talked about. If you decide to do this, if and when you are ready, you will have your soft landing. Yes, the provinces have agreed. Washington is receptive – but emphatically state that it is your decision."

Slowly, he realised that he’d done it; Alberta had been the last piece of a fragile puzzle. It had used internal energy resources he rarely had to tap. When the mist stopped he opened his eyes. Heady from all the oxygen, he made his way to the car and coasted down the Arrowsmith Pass towards the New Moon Café.

"Hey, hi." Wilma had decided to just hang out that day, too. She grabbed a fresh cup and pot of coffee and headed towards the back table they all used now. "You’ve been up to the Grove," she said to him.

"Are you psychic? How do you know these things?"

"Easy. You smell like the giants."

Ted sniffed his arm and laughed. "Yeah, okay." No wonder Adam was crazy about her. As she set the coffee down he asked, "Did you and Adam get everything worked out?"

She couldn’t stop her smile. "Well, working so closely on the project and all, you know…"

Ted did know. Adam could be infectious. They had been friends since their days at the National Security Agency. Ted was the analyst, strategist; skills the agency had identified were his strengths. He had been trained to figure out people, groups, nations; what they would or would not do in a million different situations. Adam, in contrast, was the technician, the hardware guy. His skills went to figuring out what computer and communications these same groups would exploit for their own ends, how all the new systems might be used, or abused, in their scenarios and story-building. Many times he’d listened and watched as Adam had described to him how it all worked. Ted never saw a piece of equipment that Adam wouldn’t want to take apart and put back together. They had nicknamed Adam the ‘toy-maker’. He thought how perfectly their strengths melded over the years; their team-work approach: Plan the work then work the plan.

What a joy it had all been. ‘And what a joy this pie is,’ he thought, as he bit into the fresh piece of raspberry.

Wilma poured herself a cup and sat down with him.

Between bites, he asked, "How’s Debbie working out?"

"Really well. She’ll make a great manager. This place has been under her watch for a while anyway. I miss being here every day. Hey, I’m not complaining. Life is just different now, that’s all." And better, she felt. With Adam in Nanaimo getting the Centre ready, they were only 45 minutes apart. And when they’d meet under the giants, well, life didn’t get any better than that.

She watched him focus on the pie. "Oh – I meant to ask. How was your trip to Alberta last week?"

"It went well," he told her. "That was a good idea of yours. It looks like there will be some honour to the end of Canada after all."