Green Center Fiction

Gabriel and his dad used to fish and camp from the island on Macmillan Lake. These days Gabriel’s dad, Raymond Arthur, just goes there to be alone and drink. Raymond will usually bring along two or three quarts of whiskey and he doesn’t come home until the liquor is gone.

Now, Gabriel spends most of his time with his friend Jesse Roush. Jesse is a couple of years older than Gabriel and received his driver’s license at the beginning of the summer. Sometimes Gabriel will be invited along on the “road trips” Jesse and his best friend Clyde take.



Trees whiz by and dust from the dirt road trails behind Jesse’s pickup, making the air yellow and brown. “Why do I always have to sit in the middle?” asks Gabriel. “I need the window seat, you don’t smoke” answers Clyde, blowing hash smoke in his face. Gabriel doesn’t smoke and he doesn’t drink. Clyde and Jesse smoke and drink as much as they can.

“Your dad out getting hammered on Macmillan again?” asks Clyde. Gabriel wants to tell him to mind his own business.

Raymond Arthur had been on the island for three days. He would go there because he wasn’t allowed to drink in the house anymore. After several strong drinks and many beers Raymond would try to go to sleep. Whenever he would close his eyes he would see wolves, large, demonic wolves with red eyes. They were crouched and snarling at him, snapping in hatred.

One night, Raymond lay down on the couch to sleep. He’d been drinking since he closed his hardware store at seven. He may have even snuck a beer or two during the day. Gwen was in the rocking chair with Cassandra and Gabriel had fallen asleep in front of the TV.

Raymond’s eyes opened and his tortured screams filled the room. His eyes were black and his face contorted in pain and fear. His words were indiscernible, but between his howls Gwen and Gabriel were able to make out words like “eyes” and “blood”. Gwen ran upstairs with Cassandra while Gabriel had to watch his father cower on the kitchen floor, scratching at his skin and kicking at the walls.

The next afternoon, after Raymond woke up, Gwen came to their room and told him that he wasn’t to drink in the house ever again.

“Let’s go find your dad” says Clyde. Gabriel ignores him, hoping Jesse hasn’t heard.

“I’m serious. We’ll go get my dad’s boat and go find your old man.”

“Why the fuck do you want to do that?” asks Jesse. Clyde and Gabriel are surprised at this sign of opposition. Clyde just stares at Gabriel then turns his head to flip the remnants of the joint out the window.

“What do you think Gabe?” asks Jesse. “You wanna go see what your dad is up to?”

Jesse is trying to placate Clyde, who can get mean when he’s drinking. Clyde has been drinking since before noon, about three hours. The boys decide to go to Jesse’s house and get his canoe. They make it out to the lake before five o’clock. Clyde has drank and smoked even more.

Gabriel feels sick. He’s not even sure if his dad is alive and he isn’t about to be the first one to find out. Raymond had been gone about this long before, but he appeared sick and very fatigued the last time Gabriel saw him.



Raymond was an alcoholic, but he loved his wife and his family and he always did as she asked him. He would go to the bar after he closed the store. He could sometimes find a friend who would drive him, but he would often stay until closing, requiring Gwen to come out in the middle of the night and pick him up. One night, Raymond passed out in the car and Gwen had to wake Gabriel to help her drag his father into the house. Gwen left Raymond the next day, a week before Christmas.

Northern Ontario winters are long and cold, and even more so when you’re alone. Raymond drank for five days straight, never opening the hardware store. He didn’t eat and he barely slept. He sat in his chair, in front of the television and he sipped whiskey. He would call Gwen at her mother’s, but she wouldn’t speak to him. He would call and demand he talk to his son, but Gabriel wouldn’t speak to him either. Finally, Gwen’s father took the phone off the hook.

The fifth day was Christmas Eve, Raymond was alone, drunk, and the wolves were after him. He was cowering in the corner of his son’s bedroom. He thought he heard the wolves tearing apart the kitchen and he knew they would find him soon and they would kill him. He jumped up and went staggering through the house, knocking pictures off the wall and tipping over lamps and end-tables. His skin crawled and he could barely breathe. After crashing through nearly every room in the house, he found his way into his daughter’s room. He calmed down, the peaceful implications of a toddler’s belongings had somehow affected him. He sat down on her small bed and found her baby book. Gwen had arranged the pages with pictures, locks of hair, and hand and footprints. The pictures of his daughter gradually growing from infanthood to a child silenced his mind. The wolves were gone, and he was merely drunk. He started to cry.

He was sober for three more days before he called Gwen again. She moved back in on New Year’s Eve, but the kids stayed with her parents until Gabriel returned to school.



“I don’t want to go. I’ll wait with the truck.” Gabriel is standing on the beach, staring across the lake at the island where Raymond camped. Clyde starts yelling.

“You’re dad won’t even know who we are. He’s probably fucking dead anyway you said so yourself.”

“Shut up Clyde” shouts Jesse while loading the paddles and cushions into the canoe.

“Hey fuck you Roush! This was your fucking idea”, Clyde is cracking open another beer and leering at Gabriel.

“My dad’s a drunk, but at least he can keep his hands off my mom.” Gabriel half-mutters this, but Clyde hears him.

In an instant, Clyde throws down his beer and grabs Gabriel by his shirt. Clyde throws a punch, but Gabriel moves and takes the blow to his shoulder instead of his face. This doesn’t deter Clyde as he responds by delivering repeated blows to Gabriel’s stomach. Jesse grabs Clyde from behind and throws him on the ground.



Two years ago, Gabriel and Jesse were spending the night at Clyde’s house. In the middle of the night, Clyde’s parents started fighting. The boys could hear Clyde’s mom screaming as his dad hit her and Clyde started crying. Jesse and Gabriel could only sit there and watch him cry. That night, Gabriel told Clyde about Raymond’s drinking and everything that had been going on his house. Gabriel thought they had become closer friends that night and for awhile they were.
All of this runs through Gabriel’s mind as he lies on the ground trying to catch his breath.

Clyde has walked down the beach to cool off and smoke while Jesse sits by the canoe.

“You okay Gabe” asks Jesse.

“Yeah. Fucking asshole can hit.”

“You wanna go home?”

“No, I wanna go see my dad.”


Jesse and Clyde paddle with Gabriel in the middle. Gabriel stares at the water. He won’t look at the approaching island. They reach shore and there is no sign of Raymond Arthur. Gabriel gets out and begins walking towards the east side of the island while Clyde and Jesse stay by the shore to smoke and share the last beer.

Gabriel finds his dad’s boat. “He’s still here” says Gabriel out loud, but heard by no one. He smells campfire. His dad is near. He walks inland for no further than thirty feet when he sees his dad’s orange tent through the dense bush. Raymond is seated by the fire. He is waving his hands and muttering to himself. He isn’t wearing a shirt, only khakis, suspenders, and rubber boots. Gabriel backs slowly away and goes to find Clyde and Jesse.

“He’s here” says Gabriel. “You guys can leave whenever I’m going to stay here tonight and go back with Dad in the morning.”

“Okay” says Jesse. Clyde won’t look at either of them. Gabriel makes his way back to his dad’s campsite. He decides to approach from the west so as not to come up from behind. Raymond looks up and smiles once he notices his son.

“How’d you get here Gabe”, Raymond looks pale, gaunt. Gabriel sees no evidence of food.
“Some friends brought me.”

“The fire keeps the bugs away”, says Raymond, absently. A half filled-whiskey bottle is propped beside Raymond’s foot and another empty one lies blackened in the fire.

“We should head home in the morning, mom is worried about you.”

“Your mother…I love her so much.”

“You need to come home dad. The store is busy we need your help.”

“Your mother …”

Raymond begins to moan and rock in his chair. Gabriel is close enough now to smell his father. The odor is a combination of sweat, alcohol, and smoke. His stomach is hurting from Clyde’s beating and hunger.

“Is there anything to eat Dad? I’m starved.”

“Your mother…she’s … I love her.”

“Have you been eating Dad?”

“Sometimes a rain absolves hell…”

“What?” asks Gabriel.

“Hell!” Raymond is standing up and swaying. “Sometimes it rains, even in hell. And the demons they have to hide because they can melt in the rain in hell.”

“Dad, we should go home tonight. I can drive a stick. We’ll get you home.”

“I… am … in … hell!” The fire illuminates Raymond’s face from below. The shadows play on his face emphasizing his high-cheeks and making his eyes appear hollow.

Gabriel is crying, “Please daddy, just come home.”

Raymond sits back down and reaches for his bottle. “Don’t cry Gabriel. My little angel Gabriel…you’ve come to take me to heaven. I just want to go to heaven”, Raymond can’t pick up the bottle and instead he lays down beside the fire.



Rain comes in the morning, waking Raymond up. He is surprised to find his son asleep in the tent. He wakes Gabriel and the two pack the boat and head for shore. The closer they get to Raymond’s truck the harder the rain falls. By the time they reach the truck they are soaked.
Gwen Arthur has been awake all night, on the phone with the police and her parents. She has knocked on the door of each one of his friends she could, finding out from Jesse Roush that Gabriel was with his father. Little is said when Raymond and Gabriel arrive home. Raymond is starting to sober up. He will be sick for several days.

A week later, Gwen leaves Raymond, this time for good. She takes Cassandra and Gabriel and moves to Thunder Bay. She gets a job as a receptionist in a clinic on the north end of town. Gabriel visits his father while on Fall-break from school. Raymond is gaunt, drunk, and nearly oblivious to his presence. The wolves come every night. Raymond knows someday they will kill him, but until then he will try to hide.

© 2008 Craig M. Skinner