The Night Bell

by Inger Ash Wolfe

  Hazel began reading lids and moving boxes off their piles. There were nine of them on the floor behind her when she found the box marked, simply, ALAN. She brought it over to where the light was strongest. Inside were some of the books he’d left behind, along with pads full of his drawings, several 45s, a few hockey cards, his high-school diploma, and a handful of postcards he’d sent from travels in Thailand and Cambodia. That was his life: things in a box. She thought of the plastic bin containing Carol Lim’s rotted belongings.

  Under this pile of oddments, at the bottom, Hazel found the white inventory box Alan had taken her to see that Christmas Day. She took it out, feeling its weight, and rested it on her lap. The lid slid up off with the sound of a hollow kiss. Inside, catching the light in their angled faces, the silver hearts were as bright as the day they’d been struck.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First and foremost to Dinah Forbes, Hazel’s closest ally, and the person I want to impress the most. A great editor keeps you honest and finds all the shine in you she can. Thank you, Dinah.

  Thank you, Ellen Levine, for being on both of my sides for so long.

  Thank you, Ellen Seligman, for guiding all of Inger’s books through the press with grace, good humour, and enthusiasm. M&S is a good place to be an author and I and Redhill are proud to be McClelland & Stewart author(s).

  Some good people volunteered to read a next-to-final draft of this novel in May 2015. My thanks to them all: Scott Abramovitch, Adam Honsinger, Susan Kendal Urbach, Joanna Knoopathuis, Elaine Meehan, and Lesley Slack.

  You can keep track of all things Inger via my website, michaelredhill.com.