Don't Stand So Close to Me

by Eric Walters

  “I love you too, Dad.”

  “And I’m assuming you both must really love me,” Isaac called out from his driveway.

  I hadn’t heard him coming.

  “That goes without saying,” my father said. “You did an amazing job tonight too, buddy.”

  “Who would have thought that causing trouble in school would be the perfect training for being a DJ? Although I wasn’t able to get Quinn dancing very much.”

  “I was too busy.”

  “Are you busy now?” Isaac asked.

  “Not really.”

  “Then you should walk out to the square directly in front of my house.”

  My father got up from his chair. “I’m going to see how your mom is doing.”

  “Well?” Isaac asked.

  I walked over to the square as Isaac returned to the sound system.

  “And our last, last song of the night is dedicated to the person responsible for this whole evening,” he said. His voice was quieter but coming through the two speakers that were still hooked up. “For Quinny…the best person I know.”

  I felt myself blushing.

  The music started—“Love at the End of the World.”

  “I love this song!”

  “I know,” he said. “That’s why I saved it for you.”

  Isaac walked to the end of the driveway. “Can I have this dance?”

  I looked around. “There’s nobody else left.”

  “I know. I didn’t want an audience because I’m not much of a dancer,” he said.

  “I know that too,” I said.

  He laughed. “You really do keep me honest, Quinny.” Isaac started dancing.

  He really was bad. And that’s what made it so wonderful.

  I started dancing too. Somehow I knew it wasn’t the end of the world. It was just the start of this dance. It was going to be all right.

  Acknowledgments

  A book has an author’s name on the front. But the creation of a story is always a complex partnership between so many people. With this novel, that was even more true.

  Great thanks to an amazing group of beta readers in Florida, Arkansas and places across Canada, for their time, efforts, energy and feedback, which helped shape this book. Thank you, Helen Kubiw, Maddie and Kristen Badger, Luke, Coco and Melanie Mulcaster, Kyla Ross-Day, Fiona Ross, Luke and Stephen Hurley, Kim Moss, Sharon Freeman, Elly Daniels and, of course, Anita Walters. This book is better because of you.

  This book, more than any other I’ve ever been involved with, was a full team effort from the wonderful Orca “pod." I want to acknowledge and thank designers Rachel Page and Ella Collier; Susan Adamson and Mark Grill in the production department; Leslie Bootle and her marketing team—Olivia Gutjahr, Kabriya Coghlan, Kennedy Cullen and Michelle Simms van Orden; as well as Naomi Lee, Margaret Bryant and Vivian Sinclair. Special thanks to Tanya Trafford for her input and energy. And finally, Andrew Wooldridge and Ruth Linka, for immediately understanding, accepting and embracing this idea.

  I hope this book will entertain, inform, and provide inspiration as we move forward. The future may be unknown, but it is guaranteed.

  Eric Walters has degrees in psychology, social work and education. He is trained as a family therapist and worked for 18 years in a hospital emergency department, including time in a mask, gown and gloves during the SARS outbreak. Eric began writing as a way to get his fifth-grade students interested in reading and writing. A Member of the Order of Canada, he has now published more than 100 novels and picture books. He is a tireless presenter, speaking to over 100,000 students per year in schools across the country. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.