© KELLER / FOTOLIA.COM
NORTHWORDS: FICTION
friends speaking with her mother-in-law in hushed tones,
docked in front of her instead of on the shore of the
and worst of all, saw her husband often and usually in the
opposite bank of the river. She stopped. She breathed.
company of his last girlfriend. Her smirks were especially
She eased herself on and turned the key.
difficult.
She hadn’t heard from Nathan for six days. He knew
She kept her bags packed and every morning drove to
she had left her house and had promised to end his
the edge of the island to see if they had put in the ferry
marriage so they could begin again when she arrived. She
on the other side. Her favourite part of the day was just
had written messages short and sweet for each of those
before she turned the corner when the ferry terminal
days, relaying the latest ferry rumours, promising to drive
came in view. What she imagined would happen when
as quickly as she could once she got off this suffocating
she would be able to just keep on going. The boys never
island. She told him she loved him, and was coming
understood of course – their home was behind them and
whether he liked it or not.
she worried when the moment came she’d lose her nerve and be completely lost. And then one day it was there. Like any big moment when the time came there was nothing to distinguish it
And as she eased herself off the boat on the other side, her phone flashed. “I can’t” was all it said. Janine pushed back her shoulders, set her eyes on the road in front of her, and drove.
from any other moment in her life. She saw that ferry November/December 2012
above & beyond
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