Still Waters

excerpt

crossed her legs and contemplated the toe of a fuzzy slipper. “Well,
yes, I am. I’ve been dating Cam Tournquist for the last month.”
Millie’s eyes flew wide open. “Really? Oh well, that doesn’t surprise
me too much. Does your dad know?”
“Not from my telling. I haven’t breathed a word. Maybe Cam’s dad
has, but I wouldn’t know.”
“Well, your father won’t hear it from me, either, you can rest assured.”
Tyne got to her feet. “I’ll put the kettle on. You must be ready for
tea after your trip.” At the door she stopped and turned towards her
aunt. “Do you ever see Morley, Auntie?”
“As a matter of fact, I saw him two nights ago at a hospital society
meeting.” Millie looked up and searched her niece’s face. “He asked
about you.”
Tyne could not have anticipated the rapid acceleration of her
pulse. She felt as if her heart would leap out of her body. Making an
effort to keep her voice normal, she said lightly, “And what did you
tell him?”
Millie shifted her weight on the sofa. “I told him you are well, and
enjoying your work, and that you haven’t been home to Emblem in
months.”
It was easy to detect the note of accusation in Millie’s voice. But
Tyne didn’t want to get into a discussion of why she had not been
home. All she wanted at this moment was to hear how Morley had
reacted to Millie’s news.
She turned again and went into the kitchen. As she prepared the
tea and set a tray with cups and cookies that Millie had brought, the
questions buzzed in her head – questions she wanted to ask her aunt
but for which she lacked the courage.
Do you think he misses me? Did he ask any more questions about
me? How does he look? And, oh please don’t tell me, but is there anyone
else in his life?
As Tyne served tea in the living room, Millie said, “You’ll be happy
to know the hospital society is making progress. We’ve convinced the
council to put a by-law to the people.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful news. Do you think it will pass this time?”
“If we can get out and canvas the district and do a good promotion
job, we stand a pretty fair chance of it passing in spite of …

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763068

Ken Kirkby, Warrior Painter

excerpt

Initially surprised, Ken agreed that environmental law was a good fit
with Karen’s interests and abilities. The timing was opportune as Isumataq
had been successfully launched and the establishment of the Inuit territory,
Nunavut, had been achieved. It was now Karen’s turn to shine. Fortuitously,
Ken’s son, Michael, was also making plans to attend university in British
Columbia. So, despite the demands of promoting the gigantic painting,
currently on display in Ontario Place and drawing the attendant circus of
citizens, students, media and others attracted to the unusual, Ken arranged
to move the family to the west coast.
Settling back into Vancouver was not without its challenges. Ken threw
himself into his perceived role as house-husband, but his dedication to the
woman he saw as his soulmate bore unexpectedly sour fruit.
In his mind, he was reciprocating Karen’s faith in him during their
chaotic years in Toronto. However, without the aura of fantastical public
relations stunts and media frenzy that had shaped their life in the spotlight,
his golden lustre seemed to fade in Karen’s eyes. She became argumentative,
disdainful and secretive. It is said that 80% of our lives are actually lived
at the subconscious level, and it seemed that he was being relegated to the
minor part of her consciousness.
Hindsight is perceptive, and when Ken thought back to their long drive
from Toronto to Vancouver, restricted to close quarters in the truck hauling
their belongings, he’d occasionally questioned just how well he knew this
woman he loved so deeply. There was an element of Alice in Wonderland
about her—she had reinvented herself more than once in the past, leaving
relationships, friends and colleagues behind. No question, she was a woman
of strong will, and in part Ken had successfully navigated those exhausting
years at the end of the Isumataq project because of the security he’d found
in their partnership. But, in retrospect, he began to wonder if she had
metamorphosed again in her anticipation of a new career on the West Coast.
Karen was very clever but continually at war with the way she believed
she was perceived. The problem was that she didn’t know when to stop
fighting, even if you were entirely on her side.
Ken had always dreamed of belonging to someone and that need lingered.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CB8W4CG

Kariotakis-Polydouri, The Tragic Love Story

Lives
And lives go on until they wither
I talk of lives that gave themselves
to light, serene love, lives which
go down like babbling brooks
hiding in them this light
the sky reflects into the rivers
and the sun flows in it.
I speak of lives that gave themselves to light
about the little lives that hang
like rubies from the lips of women
like offerings that hang from
church icons, silver hearts
exquisitely humble, yet in love
with the lips of a woman.
I speak of little lives that hang.
The unsuspicious lives
that silently follow
darkened, foreign, saddened steps
image of a delicate woman
who hasn’t sensed them following
and who will lean onto the earth
and vanish silently: the unsuspicious lives
that vaguely and doubtfully pass
like stars of the morning twilight
in the thought of a morning soul
that hasn’t seen its life
withering slowly just as it ran
joyously and unfettered passing.
Lives that doubtfully and vaguely have passed.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763459

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562951