Being Pete

By Noelle Jack

Obsessed with meeting her cowboy hero, 12-year-old Natalie opens a real Pandora’s Box with her letter to the judges at The Tex Canyon Foundation. In a misguided effort to impress them, she lies about her parents and her brothers and most critically her best friend’s uncle. And all this before passing herself off as a boy.

When confronted with these falsehoods, Natalie’s only escape is to design an even more complicated set of untruths which compel her to face the young soldier whose identity she used in her letter! Only then does she learn what a real hero is made of. But is she too late to set the record straight? The alarming unspooling of her plans and the shaky reconstruction of a more admirable outcome drive the plot forward.

It is a tale of pathos and humor, family drama and friendship that includes a cast of characters from all walks of life. Set in Montreal in the early 1950’s, this story lives and breathes the atmosphere of that postwar city.

“In this wonderful book, Noelle Jack weaves a story that is excitement-filled and deeply heartwarming. Each character brims with personality, and the compelling friendship between Natalie and Rhoda makes their efforts to comprehend and help to heal the wounds of war, unexpectedly credible.” —Robert Bell, author

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Dec 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781480899230

Noelle Jack

Noelle Jack A career teacher and librarian, NOELLE JACK has loved books and writing all her life. Her family immigrated to Canada in the early 1950’s but instead of the promised ranch in Alberta they settled in Montreal. The spirit of this time and these places live in the pages of Being Pete, her second novel.

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Copyright © 2020 Noelle Jack.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

In this novel I have referred to actual historic events: The Battle of Dieppe and the sinking of HMCS Esquimalt. The characters surrounding these events are fictitious but I have strived to present them in such a way as to honour those who served.

The setting is Montreal in 1952. Many street names will be familiar but specific addresses and establishments are fictitious. Locations and descriptions of other places may be different today.

All characters are the creation of the author’s imagination.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: John Little

ISBN: 978-1-4808-9922-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-9923-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020922108

Archway Publishing rev. date: 12/19/2020

Contents

Dedication

A Letter from the Author

1. Wanted

2. Who is Pete?

3. Dreaming

4. The Sidekick

5. War Stories

6. Gunfight at Red Gulch

7. Falling Out and Falling In

8. Above it All

9. Trials of a Tricky Polecat

10. Charlie Helps

11. Into the Dust

12. At Rhoda’s Place

13. Twisting in the Wind

14. A Plan

15. Corporal Billy the Kid

16. Now What?

17. Desperate Measures

18. Thrown

19. The Patient

20. What Lies Inside

21. The Shift

22. Stray Bullet

23. About Turn

24. A Gamble

25. Ambushed

26. Sunrise

27. The Way Out

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Dedication

For Rod, who made me believe in myself as a writer.

This was my brother

At Dieppe,

Quietly a hero

Who gave his life

Like a gift,

Withholding nothing.

His youth…his love…

His enjoyment of being alive…

His future, like a book

With half the pages still uncut―

This was my brother

At Dieppe…

The one who built me a doll house

When I was seven,

Complete to the last small picture frame,

Nothing forgotten.

He was awfully good at fixing things,

And stepping into the breach when he was needed.

And that’s what he did at Dieppe;

He was needed.

And even Death must have been a little shamed

At his eagerness.

Mona Gould

A Letter from the Author

This book takes place in 1952, a good chunk of time before you were born. If your birth year was 2008, for example, you will discover that this story takes place 56 years before you even came into this world!

At that time, World War II, which was fought from 1939 until 1945, was very fresh in people’s minds. Lots of kids had parents, aunts and uncles who had taken part in that war. Some were soldiers, some were nurses, or even spies. Lots of these people were killed and never came home again. Others were seriously wounded so that when they did get home their lives were totally different. I clearly recall the Remembrance Day services held at Lachine High School when the names of former students who had died in the war were read aloud. These were kids who walked the same halls as I did and maybe even sat at the same desks.

In this story, Rhoda’s Uncle Billy lied about his age and joined the Hamilton Light Infantry when he was only 17. His regiment was one of several Canadian regiments that fought in the Battle of Dieppe, in France, in 1942. Uncle Billy’s experiences are based on those of Lt. Colonel Cecil Merritt who was captured, then later awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. Nearly one thousand Canadians died in that battle and another two thousand were captured and thrown into Prisoner of War (POW) camps where they remained until the end of the war. As a result of these horrible experiences many suffered from an invisible injury called shell shock or battle fatigue. Today, it is called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As you will read, Uncle Billy fell victim to this affliction.

History tells us that, although Dieppe was a tragedy at the time, this bravely fought battle provided valuable information for the allied forces. The success of the Invasion of Normandy in 1944, which took France back from the German forces, depended heavily on the information (intelligence) learned from this earlier, desperate fight. In other words, had it not been for the sacrifices at Dieppe, we could have lost the war and Germany could have won.

Natalie’s father served in The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) which patrolled the Atlantic Ocean throughout the war and engaged enemy ships that threatened the allied forces. Another duty was to keep shipping lanes safe for commerce. Great hardship was suffered on board these vessels that also protected the shores of Canada and the United States from deadly German submarines.

As for the rest of the story, when I was a child, I had two older brothers just as Natalie does. It always seemed to me that my brothers had a far more exciting life than I did and were free to do things that I was not allowed to do simply because I was a girl. I figured this out when I was very young and, again like Natalie, I decided to take on a boy’s name hoping this would make a difference in the way I was treated. The name I chose was ‘Pete’. I have since forgotten how long I pretended to be a ‘boy’ but the fact that I did, I do remember very clearly, and this was my reason for bringing Pete back to life between the pages of this book.

It was also true that I was a great fan of Western movies and of Roy Rogers in particular. He was the film star who became Tex Canyon in my book, and his faithful horse, Buckshot, was modelled on Trigger, the golden palomino Rogers rode. When a contest to meet Roy Rogers showed up in the newspapers in my hometown, again like Natalie, I wrote to the contest in hopes of winning. But I wrote in as a girl not a boy. I never received a reply. My disappointment is reflected in Natalie’s determination to win and her outrage that these chances were denied to her simply because she was a girl. This is the reason she was driven to lie about her gender and to use all the ammunition she could think of to persuade the judges to select her as a winner.

The story unfolds in Montreal, a beautiful island city surrounded by the St. Lawrence River, where I lived through my teenage years from 1953 until 1963. I have many happy memories of being there and a few of them have crept into the novel as well. A lot of French is spoken there, some appearing in the novel, so watch for it, and if you have never tasted real French Canadian frites you are missing a treat. And right smack dab in the middle of the city is a mountain. What views there are from there! Especially at Christmas time.

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Chapter One

Wanted

The high-pitched whistle of the bosun’s pipe split the air at 35 Madison Avenue, shattering the morning calm for its young residents. Natalie’s dog whined, all sixty silky pounds of him, and jumped off her bed scrambling under it to escape the blast. Without Rex’s warm head to muffle the sound she had to stuff her fingers in her ears instead. It was truly a rude awakening, and though, at twelve, Natalie should have been used to her father’s sense of humour, neither girl nor dog found it the least bit funny. Her brother, Charlie, asleep down the hall, would have certainly agreed. Being jarred awake after a late night really ticked him off. A fifteen-year-old guy needed his sleep for Pete’s sake! He flung his pillow across the room, then immediately regretted it. The sheet underneath was icy cold. But who said life was fair? Because if it were, Colin, the elder brother by two years, should have been the most disturbed and provoked. He was forever disturbing and provoking his younger siblings, yet he alone managed to sleep on, undisturbed.

* * *

Meanwhile downstairs Gordon McIntyre, their father (Royal Canadian Navy, Commodore Retired) grinned broadly, lifted the whistle to his lips and blew again, before wandering back into dining room. His wife, Beth, was laying the breakfast table.

I love Saturday mornings! he announced, still smiling. "Such a blast to rouse these kids navy style.

You are not a kind man, Gordon, Beth replied, smiling, then turned and called up the stairs, Breakfast is ready, troops! You better get down here! Your father’s ‘Saturday Eggs’ won’t taste so hot if they’re stone cold!

There was a scrabbling of paws across the tiled hallway and a large dog arrived and obediently stopped right next to the table. He looked up, waiting for approval, while his feather duster tail swept a fork and two spoons onto the carpet.

Not you, Rex, sighed Mrs. M., picking up the cutlery. But if you want to be helpful, go and jump off your doggy energy on those slug-a-beds upstairs!

He barked happily and shot up the stairs again nearly knocking Natalie off her feet. I’m here, okay, old boy, she said yawning and clutching the banister, "but feel free to jump on Colin. He’s the one who made everyone late with his stupid Scrabble contest!"

This was true. The whole family had slept in after the marathon game the night before. It lasted for hours because Colin was determined to beat all of them and had drawn up a roster with detailed scores. What had started as fun had brought out everyone’s worst competitive streak.

* * *

Great eggs, Dad, said Charlie, stabbing his fork into his last piece of toast and wiping his plate.

Yes, I did a fine job again, didn’t I? Mr. M. directed this at his son Colin who didn’t look up from his crossword.

Does this look straight, Gordon? asked Beth McIntyre, rushing back into the dining room in her nurse’s uniform. She squinted at her image in the buffet mirror and adjusted her starched white cap.

Perfect, he winked, I love a woman in uniform.

Gordon, you haven’t forgotten you’re driving me to the hospital, have you?

Alert now to others in the room, Colin interrupted. I could use another driving lesson with some winter tips, Dad. Can I come with you? Drive around a bit after you drop off Mum? He gulped the last of his coffee. I can be ready in two minutes.

You better be. My shift starts at nine, sharp!

Thanks, Mum, sure thing. Colin could be pleasant when it suited him.

You know, Natty, said Charlie after his brother left, that guy is a real pain.

* * *

Charlie unclipped Rex’s leash and let him dash into the kitchen.

Did you take my favourite bro’ for a nice walk? crooned Natalie, stooping and smiling into her Golden Retriever’s doggy smile, stroking his soft neck. Rex barked a loud ‘yes’ with two more to make his point. He kept turning around trying to look at his two most loved people at once and making Natalie dizzy.

I’m heading over to Allan’s now. Charlie picked up his skates and looped them over his shoulder. We’re pushing a puck around on his backyard rink with some of the guys.

What he was doing didn’t matter much to Natalie, but Charlie would often tell her anyway. He made her think she was special, so she smiled and said, Right. See you later. Have fun.

Then he was gone. Poor me, thought Natalie, casting herself as just another Cinderella, stacking the dry breakfast dishes in the cupboard all by herself. She slid the dish rack under the counter and sauntered into the empty living room in search of the Saturday comics. Rex trotted at her heels. The Montreal Gazette sports section, Charlie’s top choice, was tossed all over the coffee table. Sports really weren’t her thing, but Natalie picked up the paper anyway to see if there were any new developments in the story of ‘Queen Elizabeth and the Hockey Puck’. Rocket Richard, the Montreal Canadians superhero, flying high on the record breaking 325th goal he had scored for the home team the previous week, had sent the Queen his winning puck. What nerve to think the Queen of the whole Commonwealth would be as thrilled as he was!

There were no reported reactions.

Setting aside the sports pages in favour of the entertainment section, Natalie flopped down on the living room couch and patted the cushion. In a flash Rex was up beside her and all snuggled in.

When Natalie got her dog a couple of years back, she had planned to call him Tex but then changed her mind. She didn’t feel like explaining to everyone why she had named her dog after a cowboy film star, so she settled on Rex instead, loving him all the more for her own secret reasons. He was certainly no lap dog but bundling up together suited them both very well. Natalie rubbed his soft ears and let him rest his golden head next to hers, then flipped the pages till she got to the comics: The Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, and of course, Tex Canyon: Hero of the Wild West.

Rex shifted his body around and pushed a friendly paw into the papers resting it against Natalie’s arm. She began with the lesser heroes, leaving the best until last. To her delight, this weekend included a full page spread of Tex Canyon’s adventures, along with features on his personal life and movie career. Ignored for now, Rex’s eyes drooped shut, his whole body rising and falling more slowly as his breathing grew deeper. When the hall clock chimed the hour neither of them heard it.

* * *

Ah well, Tex, I guess that’s it for another week, eh? Natalie yawned and stretched and began to fold the paper back together. But Rex, alert again, kept pawing at the pages. Silly boy, she said, pushing him away. And that was when she noticed the contest ad. It was at the bottom of the facing page, surrounded by a lasso border.

A big howdy to all Tex Canyon’s faithful Canadian fans! Now’s your chance to win a trip to meet our famous cowboy and ride the prairie alongside Tex on his golden palomino, Buckshot. And, you get to stay right here on ‘The Lazy T’ Ranch and live the life of the old Wild West. Simply write to Tex …

Oh, wow! Write to Tex! Will I ever! Natalie hugged the paper to her chest. Of course she would write to this brave and glorious cowboy; this handsome daredevil who had won the hearts of thousands of adoring fans. He was, in her estimation, simply everything a hero should be. And oh, when his movies ended and he took out his guitar and sang, it gave her goose bumps.

Paper in hand, Natalie