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“But what is the underlying reason for this?” he asked. “Why do you
want the Portuguese government to do this?”
“I love Portugal and I love the people,” Ken said. “Unfortunate circumstances
caused us to leave, but the good times were still the good
times. The people are still wonderful, and the country is still beautiful:
but underneath all that, if a government officially does the inviting, every
embassy, and every consulate, has to react. Consequently, the Canadians
have to react, and what I wish to do is split the atom in such a way as to
cause a chain reaction – one that forces my government to pay attention
because of the force of will of others.”
“So – you are a politician,” the ambassador said.
“No, not really,” he said. “I am a strategist.”
Ken was preparing for the exhibit when Ehor Boyanowsky, a professor
of criminology at Simon Fraser University, called. Ken had met him at
Peter Hope Lake and through his urging had joined the Steelhead Society
of Canada.
Ehor had bad news. The Caroline Mines, in the Coquihalla area, had
for many years been storing arsenic and cyanide, used for processing metals,
in tailing ponds behind large dams. Flying over those ponds, members
of the Steelhead Society had noticed cracks in the structures. Letters,
to both the mining company and the government, had been studiously
ignored. A recent heavy snow pack and a sudden melt, combined with
torrential spring rains, had destroyed the dams; spilling toxic chemicals
into the Coquihalla River, renowned for its steelhead trout. All life in the
river had been destroyed.
“Please help,” Ehor pleaded.
“What can I do?”
“Could you do a major drawing of a steelhead, and a fisherman, and a
river? We need a very special painting.”
Ken covered a wood panel with many coats of gesso, alternating horizontal
with vertical layers. Then, he drew a pencil through the gesso, creating
an almost three-dimensional and lifelike effect. He completed “The
Return of the Wild One” in twenty-four hours, then bought a plane ticket
and flew it to Vancouver, where Ehor met him at the airport.
A printing house volunteered to reproduce the painting and run off
hundreds of copies at no charge. The society had hired a team of lawyers
while its members manned the telephones, repeating the story of the
tragedy to the media.
Ten days later, Ken flew back to Toronto and, two days after that, moved
his things into Marsha’s apartment. She supported him without question,
yet she questioned everything he did. The subject of his finances was
constantly on her mind. What did he intend to do with his life?
Hellenic Canadian Literature 