Home Schooling
Page 23
He thought of Elvis. Elvis back on Earth. He thought of Elvis walking up and down on the face of the Earth. He thought of the Earth going about its process of subtraction and addition, taking away, building up, taking away, a planet that operated like a god, hoarding and spending, and people trying and failing and trying again to accommodate themselves to this process. For a moment he thought he glimpsed his mother in the trees, her dress leaf-green, dappled with the last faint rays of evening light, her hand stretched forth, saying: Why are you always afraid, Graham? What is there to fear?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank Thora Howell and Kathryn Mulders for their encouragement and assistance, and thanks also to Irene Mock, Kim Goldberg, Joan Skogan, Jennifer O’Rourke, Cynthia Cecil. Special thanks to the Canada Council for financial support with the writing of these stories.
“What Saffi Knows” received a Western Magazine Award for Fiction, appeared in Event and Best Canadian Stories; “Felt Skies,” appeared in Event; “The Joy of Life” appeared in Paper Guitar: 27 writers celebrate 25 years of Descant Magazine, edited by Karen Mulhallen.