Gert was sleeping outside the door. His body was very small, like a ball, leaning against the wall and hugging himself. A door opened at the other end of the hall and a woman came out, dressed in clothes to go to work. Her keys jangled and Gert groaned but didn’t wake up all the way.
“I didn’t want to call the police,” the woman said, walking by and putting her keys in her purse. “But he was crying all night.”
I bent down. It was not a nice thing, to see the way Gert looked. He had pizza sauce on his shirt and he smelled like warm beer. It made me feel bad that I didn’t want to be by him. I got up and went back inside my apartment and stood in the hallway. Then I went to my bedroom and got my Minnesota Vikings sweatshirt, which I had bought for myself with some money from a paycheck from the library (even though Gert likes the Patriots).
I went back into the hallway and touched Gert’s arm. His eyes opened slowly. They were red and puffy.
“Hey,” he said, sitting up and cricking his neck. “Is that a Viking sweatshirt?”
“Yes, because it is a team I like, Gert.”
I gave him the sweatshirt. I helped him stand up. I told him he was at my home now and it was time for him to come inside.
acknowledgments
Like any good Viking saga, Zelda’s story has an entire horde of people who made its publication possible.
First, many dabs to my superlative, indefatigable agent Grace Ross, who made magic with this book and saw its potential from the start. Big thanks as well to Markus Hoffmann, Joe Regal, and everyone at RHA.
Skål to the Scout tribe, especially my brilliant editor and powerful champion, Alison Callahan; my favorite double-doctor, Jen Bergstrom; the always-at-the-ready Brita Lundberg; and to Aimée Bell, Meagan Harris, Emi Battaglia, Stuart Smith, and the many publishing warriors at S&S who made Zelda possible. Special thanks to Carolyn Reidy, for believing in the book.
And thanks to the mighty Canadian contingent: Nina Pronovost, Felicia Quon, Kevin Hanson, and the rest of the team.
To the master, Larry Garber, who spilled the soup of his mentorship and good grace upon this humble schlemozzle. To mentors Edie Meidav, Sabina Murray, and Jeff Parker. Thanks as well to Annie Liontas for early draft feedback.
To my family, surrogate and otherwise: Mom and Dad, the Mitchells (especially L, an early adopter), the Maecks, Melissa Carroll, Beaker and George, and the Beckermans.
Wide-eyed love for Team Good Egg: Tim Alamenciak, Shannon Alberta, Shastri Akella, Amy Cunningham, Erin Pienaar, JoAnna Novak, Ali Ünal (note correct umlaut placement), Morgan Bruner, Catherine Stryker, Kathryn Pilkington, Margaret DeRosia, Trenna Sharpe, Julia Kramer, Arielle Bernstein.
And many, many others, to whom I tip my hat and open my heart. You know who you are.
Thank you to the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts for much appreciated financial support.
To learn more about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, to donate, or to get involved, please contact, in Canada, The Canada Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Research Network (https://canfasd.ca/), and in the United States, the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (www.nofas.org).
about the author
Andrew David MacDonald grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He won a Western Magazine Award for Fiction, was short-listed for the Canadian National Magazine Award for Fiction, and his work has been anthologized in four volumes of The Journey Prize Stories, which collects the year’s best Canadian stories from emerging writers. He has an MFA for Poets and Writers from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Scout Press hardcover edition January 2020
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Interior design by Michelle Marchese
Jacket design by Lisa Litwack
Jacket illustration by Shutterstock
Author photograph by Ali Unal
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-9821-2676-6
ISBN 978-1-9821-2678-0 (ebook)
When We Were Vikings Page 29