STORY EXCERPTS

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From Rhythm. Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Short Story Competition Prize for Canada and Europe.

The boy's toes tapped against the stone floor under the wooden bench whenever the choir sang loud enough to mask the sound. If he timed it right, he could get in at least ten satisfying taps between the last Agnus Dei and dona nobis pacem. From the knees up he was solemn, but under the pew he was dancing, tapping out a beat...

 

From Home. British Columbia Southwest Regional Arts Council Prize.

...My home is built from strands of memory and chunks of time, held together with a mortar distilled and mixed in places where only I can go. It is a ribbon of memory that weaves its way through dreams and ripples through the rooms. It is built on generations of blood and bone..."

...And now my home sings with Gardel, Troilo, Piazzolla. El tango. We dance too early in the kitchen, like the old men in Buenos Aires. I imagine Mercedes showing my English grandmother how to drink mate. The air is redolent with the fragrance of jacaranda and malvon, red geraniums hung in summer patios...

 

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