Whirl Away (22 page)

Later, there was the soft feel of cotton against his skin, and the quickening of breath, and Keith felt himself coming all apart into shards of images, sound and smell and sentences that flashed through his mind like scraps cut out at random and glued down on construction paper.

Onions, garlic, limes, smooth skin, urgent hip, the swell of lower lip.

Sugar hunkering down over low heat, crystals slowly softening and surrendering their shape—butter melting, shifting silent from waxy solid to easy slip.

Wait, wait, be patient—wait until the water reaches the necessary, and rolling, boil.

Apples, sharp vinegar, crushed basil, sea salt and iodine.

Salt, like sweat. Like tears.

I write in a combination of doubt, wonder, fear and occasional confidence, and would not be able to write at all without the help of those who believe in and support my work and also who help tamp down the occasional darkness.

Leslie Vryenhoek edited all these stories and knows them inside out; Pam Frampton, as always, was a crucial first reader.

At Thomas Allen Publishing, Senior Editor Janice Zawerbny and Publisher Patrick Crean continue their constant support. My agent, Shaun Bradley at Transatlantic Literary Agency, fought me out of many corners.

My boys, Peter and Philip Wangersky, and Raquel Bracken once again tolerated the peaks and valleys of having not one but two writers in the house.

Thanks as well to the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, both of which have helped support my work financially.