Cover design by Christopher Wait, cover Illustration by Alan M Clark
Cover design by Christopher Wait, cover Illustration by Alan M
Clark
by NANCY KILPATRICK and MICHAEL KILPATRICK
FIVE STAR BOOKS (Gale Publishing)
Hardcover: January 2003 - $25.95 US/ $39.95 CDN
Trade paperback:
October 2003 - $13.95 US/ $21 CDN
ISBN# 0-7862-4960-9
ebook available for Kindle, Sony, iPad etc.
Excerpt:
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From Chapter 1 "Hey, Mom, we gonna sell Aunt Lillian`s land?" It wasn`t uncommon that David almost read her thoughts, but it always startled Claire. "Probably." The letter offering to purchase the land had come soon after news of the inheritance. She had no idea of land prices up here, but Roger Bennett, her lawyer, thought that $150,000. Canadian dollars--about $75,000 US--sounded more than fair. He urged her to accept before the offer was withdrawn. God knew, she and David could use the money. Bill`s insurance had paid off the mortgage. But his company went bankrupt shortly after his death and that was the end of any pension plan. With only her pottery sales and part-time teaching salary to live on and David six years away from college... Still, she couldn`t just part with Lillian`s land like that. It felt callous. The tie was too powerful. She needed to see it one last time. Whenever Claire thought of that land, the same image, from a photograph taken at Witch Rock, came to mind: Claire, fourteen, gawky, shy. Lillian, tall, large-boned, with a high forehead, wide cheekbones, skin bronzed by the sun. `The Sorceress of the North,` Lillian had called herself, `and you, my sweet niece, are the sorceresses apprentice.' It had taken Claire years to accept the sixth-sense her aunt was talking about. That picture had been taken the last summer Claire visited her aunt. After that her parents moved to Florida. In the fall Claire started high school. Then, later, college. Then she traveled and worked, met Bill, had David, and, she was shocked to realize, nearly two decades had slipped by since she had seen Lillian. The property Claire recently inherited lay far enough north that the winters were formidable and it just now occurred to her that her Aunt must have had a rough time all by herself. Lillian`s last Christmas card had described the plunging temperature as `hell finally freezing over`. But the tone of Lillian`s note felt odd to Claire, unusually sombre, and she had been troubled. Lillian`s death wasn`t a surprise; Claire had known a week before the phone call. She felt certain she knew the very moment Lillian died. A blast of radio interrupted her thoughts. David turned up the volume. He was about to switch stations when she caught his hand. "Wait a minute. I want to hear this." "It`s just a commercial." A silky-voiced woman spoke: Nirvana, The Eternal City. More than a resort. More than a place to retire. Come to where time stands still. Where each moment stretches into infinity. "That`s the company that wants Aunt Lillian`s land." They`re big, Claire thought. Very big. There were Eternal Cities in other parts of the world, usually in remote areas--the far Caribbean, and South-East Asia. They seemed to be a cross between Club Med and a residential complex like Sun City in South Africa, but with a twist. They were supposed to be environmentally friendly. The ad continued with an equally smooth male voice: Tennis, Aerobics, Water Skiing, Windsurfing, your own exclusive health and beauty spa. Even a private lagoon to moor your boat, right at your back door. Life as it`s meant to be lived. Experience luxury, security and contentment in a city so immaculately self-contained you`ll never want to leave. You`ll feel you can live here forever. And who knows? "Wow, tennis. Let`s do it!" David said. Claire was silent, wondering at the strange ad. The voices promised comfort and nurturing but contained an undercurrent of seduction. Corporate hype! They mocked real nurturing, what she had received from Lillian, and it irritated her. Nirvana. The Eternal City. Just four hours from Toronto`s Pearson Airport, in the heart of the Muskokas. In the heart of the natural world. Follow your heart to Nirvana. "The Muskokas. That`s where we`re going," David said. A road sign for Bracebridge said thirty kilometres, which translated into less than twenty miles. She checked the gas gauge. No need to stop. She wanted to reach Lillian`s. Now more than ever. Nirvana. The Ultimate Experience. "Can I change it now?" David asked. "Please." He flipped the dial in time to catch the end of a fast food jingle and sang along, "...we do it all for you." "I`d rather do it myself," Claire muttered, suddenly out of sorts. As if synchronized to the shift in her mood, the clouds darkened, lowering the sky. The Jeep headed into a storm. To be continued... |
