In the Body: A Collection of Short Stories and a Novella - Softcover

Name: In the Body: A Collection of Short Stories and a Novella
Author: Baggio, Allison
ISBN: 9781770410541

Baggio, Allison

9781770410541: In the Body: A Collection of Short Stories and a Novella

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1770410546 ISBN 13: 9781770410541

Verlag: ECW PR, 2012

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Building on themes introduced in the author’s previous novel, this collection of 12 short stories further explores the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. The array of stories includes “Spilt Milk,” in which an ordinary fare leads an Indo-Canadian taxi driver, who is unhappy with his current circumstances, to marry his passenger’s unattractive sister. In “Possessed,” a man receives a heart transplant and begins to suspect that his new heart is still attached to its old owner, triggering a psychological thrill ride. In the novella, “As She Was,” a motorcycle accident leaves a teenage girl with a serious brain injury that dramatically alters her personality and body. The four people closest to her must reflect on who she was in order to accept who she has become, revealing the details of the accident and their own feelings of guilt in the process. Showcasing a range of voice and breadth of vision, this anthology marries a gentle probing of familial relationships with an incisive look at the human body, exploring the ways it defines, fails, and frees humanity.

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�ber die Autorinnen und Autoren

Allison Baggio is the author of "Girl in Shades." She has contributed to "Room," "subTerrain," "Today's Parent," and the "Toronto Star." She lives in Whitby, Ontario.

Allison Baggio is the author of Girl in Shades. Her fiction and commentaries have appeared in publications all across Canada, including Room, subTerrain, Today’s Parent, and the Toronto Star. She is a graduate of York University and the Humber School for Writers. She lives in Whitby, Ontario.

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In the Body

By Allison Baggio

ECW PRESS

CHAPTER 1

With Daddy

He comes to get me in the night. Or is it early in the morning? I don't know, but I think I might hear a bird singing from the tree outside my bedroom window. Just one bird. One is enough to create some music worth listening to.

He still has the key I guess, from when he lived with us, and Mom, well, she is fast asleep in her room I'm sure. He's been away since the day Mom said "go" and "now." It's a surprise to open my sleepy eyes and see him standing over me in the darkness of my room. My blinds are still pulled, which makes it hard to tell if it's time to get up or not. But I have a good sense from the clock that it isn't quite time. It says 5:08. That's a.m., morning, like we learned in school.

I'm not scared when I see him. It's been so long since I've seen him that it feels kind of like when I finally found my Polly Pocket under the couch, or when Mom holds me when I am crying.

"Daddy, what are you —" But he puts his warm fingers over my mouth and tells me to be very quiet. He says that Mom is still sleeping and that he wants to let her rest. He stumbles around in the dark, finding shirts and shorts to dress me in. And before we leave the room, I see him reach into my closet and pull all my jeans and sweatshirts down from the hangers. In one big swoop, he sticks them all in my Tinker Bell backpack.

"Daddy, where are we going?" I say as he loads me into the front of his stinky old pickup truck.

"You'll see," he says in a quick, quiet way.

I let him buckle the belt around me. I smell the cigarette smoke on his breath.

"What about my booster seat, Daddy?"

"Just be quiet now, okay?"

He slams the car door, and I realize that the whole street is still asleep. All of the windows are dark and the cars are still in the driveways. It's a lot earlier than I thought.

"I don't think it's time to get up yet, Daddy," I say while he starts the truck. Sputter, sputter, and then it goes. "Does Mom know about this, or is it a surprise?"

"You could call it a surprise," he says. Daddy's eyes look tired and his hair is all messy on his forehead. He's wearing a T-shirt that has a little greasy spot over his heart.

"I'm not sure I want to go anymore," I say, because I'm not. "I might want to stay. You can come back after the sun comes up."

"It's going to be just fine, kiddo," he says. "It's like a road trip, you'll love it."

I try to smile and be excited, but I'm not sure at all. As his truck pulls out of the driveway in one short burst, I turn my head to look back at my house. At that second, I see the light in the front window go on. Looks like Mom is the first one up on the street today.

I never wanted Daddy to move out. Even though there were times when he and Mom shouted, and when a blue vein on his neck stood up, I liked when he was there. More than when he wasn't. For one, it felt safer. Like if someone broke into the house, then he would be strong enough to fight the guy and make sure he never reached upstairs to my room. Also, sometimes Daddy would help me do my homework. Well, he did at the beginning of this year when I first started grade one. He was really smart at solving the questions Mrs. Clooney gave us, especially when he hadn't had any cans to drink.

Mom said that his beer was the main reason he had to leave. That it was the biggest problem. "That's ridiculous," I said to her. "Beer is not a problem; it's just a fizzy drink in a can." Daddy's cans just sat there on the table or piled up in the garage. They didn't say anything and they certainly didn't cause any problems.

"Okay, it's the beer inside your father that is the problem," she said. Which I still didn't understand, but didn't really feel like arguing anymore.

"When will I see him?" I asked Mom, and she said, "Oh, all the time, we'll work it out." I believed her about that, well, until it didn't happen.

The sun starts to come up as Daddy and I drive away. We go up the Don Valley Parking Lot (as Mom calls it) until there are no more tall buildings on the sides of the roads. We reach another highway and keep driving until we are surrounded by farmers' fields.

I must fall asleep because I wake up with my face bouncing off the door of Daddy's truck. It's bright sunshine out there now and feels like it's getting hot.

"Where are we?" I ask Daddy. He swallows hard and grips his hands on the steering wheel.

"Oh, we're just heading up north a bit. I thought you might like to visit Science North in Sudbury." His voice sounds scratchy, like mine does when I've stayed up too late.

"What's Science North?"

"Oh, it's this really cool place with all sorts of science stuff and IMAX movies. You like that, right? It'll be fun, just you and me ... it's been a while, right?"

I try to answer both his questions with one nod.

"We needed this, Ash. It's about time that I get to be with you." Daddy has one of the beer cans with him. It's tucked between his legs and he takes a little sip of it after he talks to me. I think he notices me looking at it, because he moves it to the other side of him, near the door.

"That's just Pepsi," he says. "I just put a little Pepsi in there to help keep me awake for our road trip, that's all."

"Good, because beer is the problem," I say, and he makes a face at me like he just caught his finger in the door or smelled something rotten.

"Just be quiet now, Ashleigh. Dad is tired and I need to concentrate. Here, I'll put some music on." He turns the radio dial and that song by Eminem and that girl comes out, telling each other they love the way they lie.

I think about how Mom was going to fill my kiddie pool in the backyard today, just so I could splash around and cool off. How I was planning to put one of her foldaway lawn chairs in there and lay in the sun with my feet still in the water. I wonder if Mom did it anyway. If she's out there right now sipping on an iced tea in her big black sunglasses.

That's when I notice I have to pee.

We stop at a gas station off the highway. It's got an outside door that leads into a bathroom for a boy or a girl.

"I'll just stand outside and wait for you," Daddy says. "Do you need help or anything?"

"Um, no," I say. It's only been a couple of months since Daddy has been away, so I'm surprised that he doesn't know that.

"Okay then, hurry up."

Daddy is fidgety. He keeps looking over his shoulder and jumping a little each time someone walks by. I wonder if it is because of the surprise for Mom.

The inside of the bathroom is gross. There is wet toilet paper stuck all over the walls and the toilet seat is dirty with even some pee on the seat. I pull off two strips of paper and lay them down over the seat like Mom taught me. Then I pull down my shorts and try to go really quickly without touching the toilet paper seat cover too much. I flush and the white strips go flowing down with my pee and the rest of the dirty water.

Thump, thump, thump. There is a knock on the door. I feel a bit scared at first, but then I remember that it's probably just Daddy. "Ashleigh, hurry up," he says, and I wonder what the big rush is. I'm sure that Science North is going to be open until dinnertime at least. That's when my stomach reminds me that I haven't had breakfast or lunch yet.

"I'm coming!" There is no soap by the sink, but I run my hands under the cool water. It feels good. Daddy's truck is hot and I don't want to get back in.

"Here's a...

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