The bits and pieces continue with Silas arriving in Fort Williams Canada. He is a young man starting his adventure.
The railway station was packed with men working on the continuing expansion to the western plains of Canada. A young, strong man of sixteen jumped off the train as it pulled up to the station. He was lean and muscular from working on the docks in Toronto and shoveling the coal on the train he just departed. His dark hair was shaggy, and his eyes were a brilliant blue, full of hope with adventure in his heart.
He scanned the platform and saw a new life and adventure he had always dreamed of as a child in the orphanage. In his left pocket, he had a picture the nuns had given of his mother along with the note she had left for him.
He walked down the platform and decided this was the place he would start his new life. He had a few dollars in his pocket and a hearty appetite. He was looking for a place to lay his head and have a good meal. When he left the platform, he saw a bar advertising rooms for let; it would be as good a place as any.
As he walked through the door, he noticed the crowd was rough, full of fur traders in their heavy clothes and girls dressed in frilly dresses. He was pretty sure there were a few fights here as well as some extracurricular activity upstairs for a price. He walked up to the bar and grabbed the bartender’s attention.
“I see there are some rooms for let. I’ve got cash and am looking for a place to lay my head for a few nights.” The bartender looked him up and down and pointed over to a woman sitting at a table in the corner.
Silas smiled and walked to the corner table and removed his hat; he wasn’t a man with no manners and asked, “Do you have any rooms for let that I could have for a few nights?”
The woman smiled and said, “You new here, young man?”
Silas nodded and said, “Yes, I am, ma’am.”
“My name is Sally, no ma’am. It will be $1.50 a week.”
Silas nodded and said that would be fine. She reached behind her into a small box on the table behind her and pulled out the keys for his room. She started to hand him the keys and then pulled them back and said, “No funny business unless it is with one of my girls, understand?”
Silas nodded, took the key, and headed upstairs to his new home for the week, but before he could reach the stairs Sally called to him, “You look familiar young man. I don’t know how but you look familiar.” Silas smiled and walked up the stairs to his new home for the week.
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