by David Ward
I spoke with Sarah Fudge on the phone today. She and her husband, Matt, have moved into a basement apartment in their son’s St. John’s home. Sarah is the woman you were introduced to at the start of this story — the aunt who helped Herman with his Christmas card collection.
Herman’s now in Pool’s Cove, a Fortune Bay community of two hundred people, where he is living happily ever after with friends of the Fudges’. “Herman had to leave McCallum — he could not have stayed,” Sarah insists. “There is no longer anyone in McCallum who could take care of him. He used to drop by everybody’s house in the evening, and he would no longer have enough people to visit with, or feed him, if he was still there.
“McCallum is lonely these days. There were less than fifty people there last Christmas. Except for Clyde and Flora, and Howard and Maisy, there is no longer anybody living on the hill. Hartland and Lillian are in Lewisporte, where they can be closer to their son. And Tim has moved into George Blake’s old house — he has done it up cute as a button — so after you go past Jason and April’s home, there is nobody living on the point, either.”
The always-thinking Sarah soon returns to talking about her St. John’s situation. “Matt’s happy here,” she says. “Who would have thought that? But I can’t say that I don’t miss my old house. If our son Reguel had not died, I would have stayed in McCallum to take care of him. But Reguel’s not in McCallum, so I’m happy here. We’ve got a beautiful apartment, with new paint and drywall. Tracy visits all the time, Michael comes in some days for his job too. The only child I didn’t see last Christmas was Alvin in Deer Lake.
“So listen, my dear, because there are two things I want to tell you. The first one is, don’t get me wrong, McCallum will always be my home, but there is no longer any reason for Matt and I to live there. And the second thing I want to say is, wherever you go, I hope you always remember how much we love you.”
Same to you, Sarah. Yes, my dear — same to you all.
About the Author
DAVID WARD is a writer and teacher who resides on the Trent-Severn Waterway in Fenelon Falls, Ontario. Author of the award-winning and critically acclaimed The Lost 10 Point Night, David is a former recipient of the Charles E. Pascal Award for Excellence in Teaching.
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A rollicking memoir through the shifting zeitgeist of the last five decades
In The Barefoot Bingo Caller, Antanas Sileika finds what’s funny and touching in the most unlikely places, from the bingo hall to the collapsing Soviet Union. He shares stories that span his attempts to shake off his suburban, ethnic, folk-dancing childhood to his divided allegiance as a Lithuanian-Canadian father. Antanas has a keen eye for social comedy, bringing to life such memorable characters as ageing beat poets, oblivious college students, the queen of the booze cans, and an obdurate porcupine. Passing through places as varied as the prime minister’s office and the streets of Paris, these wry and moving dispatches on work and family, art, and identity are ones to be shared and savoured.
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Copyright
Copyright © David Ward, 2018
Published in Canada by ECW Press
665 Gerrard Street East
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4M 1Y2
416-694-3348 / [email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Editor: Michael Holmes
Cover design: David A. Gee
Author photo: Robin Barriball
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Ward, David, 1958–, author
Bay of hope : five years in Newfoundland / David Ward.
Includes bibliographical references.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77041-382-5 (softcover).
Also issued as: 978-1-77305-162-8 (PDF)
978-1-77305-161-1 (ePUB)
1. Ward, David, 1958–. 2. Ecologists—Newfoundland and Labrador—Biography. 3. Adventure and adventurers—Newfoundland and Labrador—Biography. 4. Loneliness. 5. Solitude. 6. Autobiographies.
I. TITLE.
QH31.W37A3 2018 577.092 C2017-906597-1 C2017-906598-X
The publication of Bay of Hope has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. Ce livre est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada. We also acknowledge the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
