In the Field
Page 28
The birds lift off, hundreds of them rising up on some unknown cue, the whole group swarming above me. In flight, the flock squishes and stretches, fans out across the water then curves back over the waves. It’s hard to fathom how so many separate beings can operate as one, their movements so perfectly synchronized that there’s an audible snap as they switch directions, crisp as a flag in the wind.
That’s how we should be, I realize—me, Richard, the boys. That’s how we’re meant to move through the world—seamless and attached, buoyed and cresting on the same current.
If I flew out today, we would arrive home at the same time.
Acknowledgments
This book would not be in your hands without the support of the following people.
Brianna Brash-Nyberg, Michael Christie, Jamella Hagen, Kellee Ngan, Ria Voros, Sheryda Warrener, Michael Wheeler and the rest of my cohort at UBC—you set the bar so high with your own talent that you push me to be a better writer. Thanks to the faculty at UBC, especially Keith Maillard and Linda Svend-sen. And to others who’ve helped along the way: Iris Turcott, Bonnie Green, Emil Sher, Kim Jernigan, Cady Allen, Megan McDowell and Amy Stuart. Huge thanks for the support of my lifelong friends Catherine Livingstone and Lisa Harrison.
Since I have no background in soil science or medicine, I had to ask a lot of nosy questions to a lot of busy people. Thank you to Joanna Bernat and Dr. Shannon Venance for medical advice; Dr. Maja Krzic for letting me sit in on her soil science lectures; Fire Captains Gabe Roder, Rick Meisner, Tim MacLeod and James Wheeler; Renata Ali for her insight into Trini culture; and to Jon Regan for all those drives through Canning.
Thank you to Dan Wells and the team at Biblioasis for the care you’ve put into publishing this book, and to John Metcalf for his early enthusiasm and thoughtful edits.
My very deepest love and thanks to both the Tacon and Lopez families. Special thanks to my parents for their longstanding belief in my writing and to my brother Carl and sister-in-law Lyn, whose talents always inspire me. I’m grateful for my grandmother’s firm belief in the importance of libraries and for both families’ enthusiasm for reading.
Finally, to Julio. For sharing the highs and lows, for all the laughter over the past 9 years, for the depth of your love, this book is as much yours as it is mine.
Claire Tacon’s writing has been short-listed for the Bronwen Wallace Award, the CBC Literary Awards and the Playboy College Fiction Contest, and has appeared in The New Quarterly , sub-TERRAIN and Room. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, is a past fiction editor of PRISM international, and the winner of the 2010 Metcalf-Rooke Award. In the Field is her first novel.
Copyright © 2011, Claire Tacon
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Tacon, Claire, 1979 –
In the field / Claire Tacon.
eISBN : 978-1-926-84558-6
I. Title.
PS8639.A23I62 2011 C813’.6 C2011-903426-3
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Biblioasis acknowledges the ongoing financial support of the Government of Canada through The Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, the Canada Book Fund; and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council.
PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA