Editor’s note. In the summer of 2075, during the production of Daniel Turner’s biography, I had been assured by those who knew the man that I would find unusual things in his personal writings and notes, which were publicly released five years after his death. I had not expected to find evidence to suggest that he and his friend Dale Cromwell were either delusional or, as their diaries suggest, from an alternative universe. Just writing…
You know it’s a bad day when you wake up in hospital and you hear, “Mr. Turner; I’m a nurse. Do you understand me?” It was worse when I realized I could not speak and could only nod an acknowledgement to the nurse. She said, “You’ve been in a coma.” The advantage of no speech was that it avoided really stupid and self-injurious questions. My hands were also too wobbly to write on a pad…
Todd believed he had hit bottom. The chair in which he sat felt other worldly, despite it being his familiar comfy chair in the living room. His wineglass was real, but he had lost count of the drinks. He noticed his shallow breathing and feared this could get worse – beyond bad health and the crushing guilt. His daughter was dead and his wife had gone: off to relatives to grieve and Todd had not…
December 23, 2004 My routine had been uninterrupted for weeks. It was 5:35 p.m. and I was returning from the gym. Nothing was different when I keyed my security code into the door of my apartment. (Yes, I had a special reinforced door with a dual code and key lock that the Strata council hated because it would make emergency access tougher. But my job and job history made this a requirement.) As always,…
February 10, 2003 CBC News presented footage of George W. Bush giving a press conference. The camera followed the President of the United States as he walked to the podium. In the background a brown-skinned man – not African, not Arab, not Indian, but clearly not white – was conferring with Donald Rumsfeld. Karl’s stomach formed a knot. Shortly the camera focussed in on George W. as he started talking about how to win in…
Timothy McFarrell walked briskly down an alley north of Broadway in Vancouver. It was his custom on Christmas Eve – bordering on a tradition – to do last minute shopping. The lane provided a quicker way to London Drugs than the crowded street. He hoped to find some favourable “stinky stuff” for his mother in the cosmetics section of the all-purpose drug store. A back door to a bank burst open and two men with…
December 23, 2001 Renihan admired the lights on the houses as the limousine passed through the Arlington neighbourhood. Across from him, the serious young man who had been sent to collect him was not looking outward. Since they had left San Francisco that morning, Renihan had tried to engage his chaperon in conversation but had given up somewhere over Idaho. It was all a little cloak-and-dagger even for a man who was a card-carrying member…
“This climb had better prove worthwhile,” said The King. The Wizard pulled his cloak tight around him to help keep out the mountain wind. “Of course; it’s just another few steps away.” They plodded through snow and kicked aside rock. The Wizard was unaided; The King had Protection, a veritable giant standing more than a head taller than anyone else. Protection looked unhappy to be on a cold mountainside. With Protection were six other members…
James Castle was going home for the holidays. His dark basement suite on Dupont wasn’t much of a home, but it was a huge improvement over his GenX veal fattening pen and chair to which his bottom had been adhered during the eighteen months of the Y2K project. It had included excessive OT, five vacation days (non contiguous), five sick days (contiguous) and one funeral day for a friend who had taken his car and…
Prelude In 1983, Dr. Riley was an obstetrician and gynaecologist who also performed abortions when he felt the case merited it. He was a nervous man. The controversy surrounding the practice of therapeutic abortion brought with it notoriety and perceived personal security risks. Despite being off the well worn path to the Toronto clinic of Henry Morgantaler, a man who had spent time in jail for performing abortions, Dr. Riley’s clinic regularly received bomb threats. …