Fog, a Novel

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Fog, a Novel Page 20

by Rana Bose


  One evening I came home and Myra was walking around in high heels, a scarf around her neck, pacing the apartment. Her eyebrows were raised and she had changed her hairstyle. I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t answer.

  A week later I returned home early and noticed she wasn’t there. I hoped she had picked up a voice-over advertising gig somewhere. She was beginning to get those types of contracts lately. They liked how she could capture different personalities, all with a distinct and individual voice. I slumped down on the couch and fell asleep.

  The door opened around midnight. I saw Malia framed against the door, the black dress on, the hair raised on both sides of her temples. She looked down at me on the couch. The blue light in the lobby shone through her dress. She did not know me. Agony swept through me.

  I stepped out into the blustery night and hailed a cab. I hadn’t shaved for a few days and my stubble felt like a mat. When I arrived on St-Laurent, it was choking with people. An outdoor stage had been set up in one of the back lanes. I watched as a band slowly prepared for its second set. I went to the café at the corner of Napoleon, but the line-up was too long. Instead, I sat on the steps outside, took my hat off, and crossed my hands around my knees. I looked at the row of street lamps glowing dimly, and then gazed up at the moon with its halo around it.

  Then a woman walked by in torn fishnet stockings and red lipstick. She looked at me and dropped a loony into my hat. The coin spun for a while, then hobbled to a halt.

  End

  Acknowledgements

  There is no moment of doubt. There is a continuum of internal conflicts. What we say we are and what we do not feel comfortable bringing up. What is easily said and done and what is difficult to live by. We are caught in a web—our public stands and our private angst. About not letting the world know, our deepest fears. About hiding behind a smokescreen, a pall of non-descript inanities, a fog cover—behind which we make ourselves acceptable to the public. We play safe. We live between two aspirations. One that we really wish we could live by and what we actually live. This novel is about that conflict. About crossing over to the other side. It is not easy.

  I have had some very good well-wishers, close friends and writers who have read the manuscript for this novel, in its various versions. It has gone through many changes. I would like to thank them first. Lisa Foster, Mark Silverman, Michael Springate, Julian Samuel, Cora Siré, Sylvie Martel, Rimi Chatterjee, Jody Freeman, Deirdre Silverman, Sam Boskey, Maya Khankhoje and a few others who read excerpts from it. Every single comment they made or the hesitation they expressed, registered in my brains. I wish to thank Robin Philpot, my publisher at Baraka, for taking up this challenge and also deeply acknowledge the sound advice and guidance I have received from my colleagues at Montreal Serai, who for thirty-two years have been at the core of my literary endeavors.

  Available from Baraka Books

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  A Novel by Murielle Cyr

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  A Novel by Douglas Gary Freeman

  (October 2019)

  NONFICTION

  Israel, A Beachhead in the Middle East

  From European Colony to a US Power Projection Platform

  Stephen Gowans

  Patriots, Traitors and Empires

  The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom

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  The Einstein File

  The FBI’s Long War Against the World’s Most Famous Scientist

  Fred Jerome

  Motherhood, The Mother of All Sexism

  A Plea for Parental Equality

  Marilyse Hamelin (translated by Arielle Aaronson)

  From Qc Fiction *

  2018 GILLER FINALIST

  Songs for The Cold of Heart

  Eric Dupont

  (translated by Peter McCambridge)

  Explosions: Michael Bay and The

  Pyrotechnics of The Imagination

  by Mathieu Poulin

  (translated by Aleshia Jensen)

  * QC Fiction is an imprint of Baraka Books

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Bone Crunch

  Chapter Two

  Debris from the Skies

  Chapter Three

  Diamond Dust

  Chapter Four

  Broken China

  Chapter Five

  The Way It Happened at the Majestic

  Chapter Six

  Like a Warm Blanket

  Chapter Seven

  Pieces of Napkin

  Chapter Eight

  Finally, Ms. Banks

  Chapter Nine

  Blown from the Inside

  Chapter Ten

  Two Reflections

  Chapter Eleven

  Khyber, No One Passes

  Chapter Twelve

  Things to Do

  Chapter Thirteen

  On Board

  Chapter Fourteen

  Shadow Pictures

  Chapter Fifteen

  Letter from Hell

  Chapter Sixteen

  African Diamonds

  Chapter Seventeen

  Puffs of Smoke

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kandahar will Devour Us

  Chapter Nineteen

  Salvage

  Chapter Twenty

  Documentarian Dies

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Sound of the Scythe

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Nomad

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ten Paces Ahead

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  It’s Over

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  You Only Live . . . Once

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Quels Diables!

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The Thaw is Official

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Blossoms

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Blue Skies and the Colour of Blood!

  Chapter Thirty

  The Two Things That Happened in the Beginning

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Not Coming Back

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Double Funeral

  Acknowledgements

  Guide

  Couverture

  Page de Titre

  Page de Copyright

  Epigraphe

  Remerciements

 

 

 


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