Waiting for the Cyclone

by Leesa Dean

  She put the notebook aside. Lying on her back, she felt the extra weight in every part of her body. Even her hands felt fat. Soon, the baby would be kicking, doing somersaults. On Friday, her parents would arrive in Halifax. Her mother would know immediately.

  She was almost asleep when she heard a new kind of noise upstairs—a sharp cry. When she heard it again, she got dressed and went up the fire escape. Through the window she saw Louise, tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. Patrick was pacing in front of her, smoking a cigarette.

  Chelsea opened the door.

  “Patrick—”

  “She doesn’t like it when the paramedics come,” he interrupted. He crouched in front of his mother and smoothed back her hair. Louise screamed through the rag while Patrick shushed her. Underneath the restraints, her feet kicked. Chelsea looked at his arms. He was thin to have tied up a grown woman. She wondered how many times he’d done it in the past.

  The doorbell rang. Chelsea looked at Patrick and realized he was crying. She walked to the livingroom window and saw the revolution of red and blue lights in the street. A few people stood nearby, waiting to see what would happen. Chelsea went downstairs to unlock the door for the paramedics while Patrick stayed with Louise. She started to follow them back upstairs but changed her mind. From her own window, she watched Louise come out on the stretcher with Patrick following close behind. Before he got into the ambulance, he looked up and caught Chelsea’s eye. It was difficult to guess what his expression was meant to tell her, but she immediately regretted what she’d said—I hope I don’t have a kid like you.

  PATRICK STAYED AT the hospital until the doctor insisted he get some rest. He took a taxi home and stood on the lawn for a while, looking at the fallen oak, a tree planted by a father he didn’t remember. He’d drawn his first picture up in those branches. He climbed the stairs and lay on his bed, surrounded by what had once been his plane ticket and visa. In his Moleskine, he scrawled a reminder to print new copies once the library reopened. The night air through the broken window was fresh and crisp and he stayed up the rest of the night, drawing wind and rain by candlelight, thinking about Germany. He wondered whether or not he’d ever get there. Downstairs, Chelsea fell asleep to someone playing “Shelter from the Storm” at the bonfire next door. In her dreams, she was a mother, holding her baby close in a soft blue blanket.

  THAT SAME NIGHT, thousands of kilometres away, a cargo ship docked in Puerto Escondido. A gang of unshaven sailors, filthy from weeks at sea, filed down the ship’s worn ramp and staggered a little when their feet hit land. They walked through the shipyard and headed for the nearest cantina to finish the night with women and mezcal. One of the men, however, did not follow. He said a quiet goodbye to his crew and walked north to hail a taxi.

  “Adónde vas?” the driver asked, yawning.

  “Al aeropuerto,” Marco told the driver.

  He put his bag in the trunk and slid into the back seat. The taxi drove fast through green lights while the red digits from the meter reflected on the dashboard. Marco reached into his pocket and took out a paper with the address 122 ALMON STREET, HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA written on it. His new home. There was something else in his pocket—a ring. A small silver one he’d been carrying for months. On the inside, engraved in small, cursive writing, was a phrase, a promise—MI MEDIA NARANJA.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First and foremost, I’d like to thank the New Quarterly for their continued support. Extra special thanks to Susan Scott, Kim Jernigan, and Pamela Mulloy for being particularly incredible. Two stories from this manuscript, “Waiting for the Cyclone” and “Shelter from the Storm,” first appeared in their pages.

  Thanks to SSHRC, the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and Canada Council for financially supporting me while I wrote and researched this book.

  Thanks to Taryn Boyd, Colin Thomas, Pete Kohut, and everyone at Brindle & Glass for being awesome, and making my book cover beautiful.

  A big thank you to Samantha Haywood, my agent, for her confidence and insightful advice.

  Thanks to my wise mentors: Catherine Bush, Caroline Adderson, Michael Winter, Josip Novakovitch, Russell Smith, and Sina Queryas.

  Gratitude for my readers/editors: Alexia Papadopoulis, Lauren Stein, Julia Campbell-Such, Roseanne Harvey, Jon Harding, Emily Wilson, Jack Allen, Michael Juretic, Nick McArthur, and everyone who critiqued my work during the University of Guelph MFA program.

  Thanks to past housemates Efrat Gold, Cosima Herter, and Rachel Cameron for their friendship and for putting up with my less than desirable behaviour while I wrestled with this manuscript. A special thanks to Meghan McKiernan and Ashley Weese for giving me wine and scheduling sleepovers when I needed a break.

  Thanks to my ninety-four-year-old grandmother, Margaret Sanche, who still reads everything I publish and brags about me in her housing complex.

  Thanks to Ayelet Tsabari for modelling how to write about badass women and for making me look good in my headshots.

  Thanks to Selkirk College, especially Almeda Glenn Miller, Renee Jackson-Harper, and all my creative writing students. We are creating something wonderful here in the Kootenays.

  Much love to Will Johnson, aka Literary Goon, and my irreplaceable platonic life partner Kathy Friedman, for their wisdom, companionship, and editorial suggestions.

  Love and gratitude to my mother, Theresa Dean, who unfortunately passed away before I could finish this book.

  LEESA DEAN is a graduate of the University of Guelph’s Creative Writing MFA program and teaches English and creative writing for Selkirk College in Nelson, BC. She’s been a finalist for the Irving Layton Award, the Lit POP Award, and the Quebec Writing Competition. She is the interviews editor for the Humber Literary Review and a regular contributor to the New Quarterly. Waiting for the Cyclone is her first book. Visit her online at leesadean.ca.

  Copyright © 2016 by Leesa Dean

  Brindle & Glass

  An imprint of TouchWood Editions

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For more information contact B&G at 103–1075 Pendergast Street, Victoria, BC, Canada V8V 0A1. Or visit our website at brindleandglass.com.

  The information in this book is true and complete to the best of the author’s knowledge. The author, editor, and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information.

  Edited by Colin Thomas

  Cover photography by Francisco Garcia

  Cover and interior design by Pete Kohut

  LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

  Dean, Leesa, author

  Waiting for the cyclone : stories / Leesa Dean.

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-927366-50-9

  I. Title.

  PS8607.E24W34 2016 C813'.6 C2016-903303-1

  “Waiting for the Cyclone” and “Shelter from the Storm” have previously been published in the New Quarterly magazine.

  We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and of the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.