...Kendra Mack has been spotted in the Duke of Duckworth in the corner known as either Baird’s Cove or Clarke’s Beach. She seems to have been drinking a Smithwick’s.
An orderly unrushed departure from Woody Point in the drizzle, of which to me it seemed that the longest drive was to the main road.
By now both of us are pros at this, and considering what we had to go through to get here this distance was laughably short…. Miles. A topic was brought up and it was discussed with breaks for pit stops in the sun at Bishops Falls, lunch in the mauze – peanut noodles - under the gaze of the giant Joey Smallwood profile over looking Gambo and a fill up at the Ultramar in sunny Goobies. I drove through Appleton to see if I could find Angela’s sister’s house this time. Noticed that the Prior’s place was still for sale.
While I was pleased at how the time was passing I became impatient when we finally hit the Avalon. I wanted to be there. I wanted the distance on the sign to lessen at a faster rate. It seemed that St. John’s never any closer than an hour away.
When it was finally time we took the Pitts Memorial Drive way into town, this came with the usual quips about Paradise and Mount Pearl. Kendra was in the midst of an anecdote and I wondered if I should interrupt so that she could have the first sighting of the end of the continent. There was a pause in the narrative just a Signal Hill cold be seen for the first time in the distance.
Reach the bookshop five minutes past closing, Kendra gets out knocks and looks nothing. We head for the Duke to see if he is there. I point out the bubble head up Prescott and Park by the Duke.
Crossing the street, I see a Volvo wagon with TJ’s plates on the front. Know that someone is there. Walk in look in Baird’s corner and its namesake is there. We sit down he gets up to get us our pints and all is right with the world.
K and Jim talk while I recognise John who is not in his usual corner, Annie whom I hadn’t seen in years was there. It seems that she is moving to Toronto in a few days and Marion was having a drink with her. She demand that I take snaps of them but in black and white.
Two pints later we were on the way to Pouch in the Volvo, stopped off at the Dominion to pick up food – closed.
Toured the school to see the improvements, K and Jim chatted I went for a walk. Headed up to Reg and Sharon’s to say hello. Since Sharon was the last person I saw the last time I was here. Reg saw me heading up the hill while I had stopped to make a panorama of Pouch Cove.
A new sight for Pouch was two RCMP cars in the square.
Caught up a bit on what was going on around town then walked over to Bruce’s stopping to talk to the man on the bike along the way. No one I knew was at Bruce’s bought a bag of salt and vinegar crisps Leaving did I see the evening clerk out in the lot said we exchanged the usual greetings.
-back again?
-yeah.
Jim and Kendra were heading over to the pipe house to show her the “renovations”. Walls down completely open space bathroom smaller, the same downstairs.
Back to the school to see if Samantha wanted to head back into town. She couldn’t so back we went - running commentary along the way - looking for a place that would be open at 10PM on a Sunday in St. John’s.
Django’s? nope same for both Pasta Plus, Guv’nor’s, Oliver’s – where we ran into Lori Butler – and her boyfriend walking along Water Street. Settled on Celtic something or other in Water Street.
Was ambushed both Jim and Kendra. Told me to stop my whining and move up. Kendra taking the approach that I don’t because it is safe what I am doing right now, that maybe a month up here is enough, maybe more than that would spoil the magic. Jim taking the opposite said that if he with a high school education can make it here I would have no problem and proceeded to mention the names of people who did.
My answer to Kendra was that it wasn’t simply the 'tute bipolar philosophy of all or nothing that I am not sure how long I would like to be here but would like to find out. I would like the chance of becoming bored with the province and until I am able to do my view of the place will be through a romantic vision filter. The second question out of my mouth to c.f.a.’s is what do you miss and do you feel like you have to leave.
To Jim it was that I am constantly looking for employment here but I admit it is in teaching and would be worried about coming here without a job. I realise that I am a coward in that manner for it is hard to give up a secure job - even one in an art school that is rapidly becoming more and more an outport in the grand scheme of art schools, even one where the king’s ransom of an $800 faculty enrichment grant ended up being $500 after taxes – at my age to try to start again. So I do fight for the time up here and know that the ideal compromise – is there such a thing? - would be to spend the entire summer.
We are crashing in Jim’s mother’s house, one of the bottles of bourbon was opened and drunk on the back deck. Kendra went up at midnight Jim and I followed not long after.
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