Weekend

by Jane Eaton Hamilton

  “Come be my wife, then, gorgeous,” said Logan, kissing her forehead.

  Joe wore Scout in the Snugli, leaving her free to hold hands with Vivi. If anyone thought this was unusual, no one commented.

  Ajax took a big breath.

  Logan took her elbow.

  And they walked toward it, whatever it was.

  A beach. A lake. A marriage.

  Life.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thanks to Gladys, LL, Uggy, Martin, Leah, and Margo—for enduring love. Thanks to Hezah for ‘douche canoe’ and to my many friends who shared their stories of queer inseminations. Thanks also to my precious ones: Meghann and Sarah. Thanks to Davina and Naiya for becoming my new favourite people. A nod from my heart to my gay son, bill bissett.

  Thanks to my sisters-in-lit, especially Eden Robinson and Brenda Brooks.

  Thanks to Mary Bryson, Leah Macfadyen, Cornelia Hoogland, Patricia Young, and Tanis MacDonald for their generosity and friendship.

  Thanks, Shelagh Plunkett, for the wide-ranging writing chats, Shelagh and Kari Szakacs for taking me to a cottage in Quebec where my characters, had they been real, might have hung out.

  Thanks to Janice Stewart for putting the posit in position.

  I’m grateful to Tom Cho, Jackie Wykes, the gang, and Historic Joy Kogawa House for hosting Shut Up and Write sessions during the writing of Weekend.

  Thanks to Alice Anderson of FOITS fame, and to the people on social media who sustain me. I write knowing you have a hand on my elbow, propping me up.

  I wrote Weekend for Arsenal Pulp Press—not at their behest, but because of my own appreciation for their titles over the years. Just a little love story, I told myself, what could go wrong? A lot did go wrong, and Susan Safyan and Clara Kumagai were instrumental in fixing those things. Thanks to the rest of the team at Arsenal Pulp Press: Brian Lam, Robert Ballantyne, Cynara Geissler, and Oliver McPartlin. I appreciate all the work the team does during the lengthy process of seeing a book into the world.

  The phrase “What we talk about when we talk about love” is taken from Raymond Carver’s story of the same name.

  I am grateful to the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for their continued support.

  Jane Eaton Hamilton is the author of eight books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Her story collection July Nights was a BC Book Prize finalist, her poetry title “Body Rain” was a Pat Lowther finalist, and her story collection Hunger was a Ferro-Grumley Award finalist. She is a two-time winner of the fiction prize at the CBC Literary Awards. Her most recent book is the poetry collection Love Will Burst into a Thousand Shapes (Caitlin Press). Her work has been published in the New York Times and Salon. She lives in Vancouver.

  janeeatonhamilton.wordpress.com