And then there was Dorden, my very own Darth Vader. Dorden was sixteen, a fully grown version of a malevolent juvenile delinquent, a young boy who had fought life with a focused rage, sent away to Vernon Prep for Boys in the expectation that it would bring him to rein. And the worst of it, Dorden was in grade 7, with me! I had skipped two grades and Dorden had been held back three grades. What could possibly go wrong?!
I’ve just published my second children’s book. It’s a reading book for 7 – 12 year olds and it’s called, ‘Edith and Frankie More Adventures with a Capital A’. You can find it on Amazon or any book platform worldwide.
“All three puppies stopped in their tracks, each one of them not wanting to think the worst. “They’re in trouble. Maybe Toby and Anya and Freddy have been trapped by the forest fire. We need to go and find them. We need to save them.” Frankie didn’t know what ‘save them’ meant but she thought it was spelled with an ‘S’ which meant that it was very close to being scary. “I’m just a puppy.” said Frankie, not wanting to sound Scared with a Capital S, “I don’t know how to save anyone.”
If this fractious, angry, violent Canada is the one you envision for yourself and your children, keep doing what it is you’re doing. But if this is not the Canada you envision, then stand up and be heard for goodness sake. Stand up at home, stand up at school, stand up at school board meetings, at council, at protests, stand up and be heard. Stand up for your country. Stand up for yourself.
The long trial comes to the inevitable climax:”So you play by the sword, you die by the sword Mr. Gallagher and now it is my turn.” Beau finally had Gallagher pinned and he was not about to let him off the mat. All the tensions of the trial were released. The lack of respect, the punitive arguments, the personal insults, Beau had taken note of it all. “This jury is poisoned. You never took control of the publisher and you sure as hell never took control of his little Rottweiler, Peter Franklyn. You own this Gallagher.”
Beau didn’t have much time for Gallagher and he suspected Gallagher held him in the same regard. The forced civility between lawyers often breaks down in long criminal trials. When he thought it served his clients purposes Beau had often intentionally aggravated prosecutors; any energy he could divert his way was energy diverted from the case. He even remembered a fist fight in the barristers changing room between two lawyers, during a long drug trial in Victoria. Things could get heated.
“Growing old is not for the faint of heart Tony.” I’ll never forget the first time I heard my father saying it though. Turns out he was a wise old owl after all. Sure got my attention. What did I know, I was forty-four years old? Wet behind the ears! It felt like some old mariners warning about rough weather ahead. And what’s worse it appeared, if I was hearing my father correctly, no course correction was available. No matter what, this was going to happen.
The Judge was visibly furious. “Don’t you presume to lecture me or this court. This Sir, is not the Trial of the Century. This is a first degree murder trial in Whitehorse, Yukon. It is no more and no less than that. It is in and of itself important and needs no media declaration to make it so. It will be made neither more or less important by calling it ‘The Trial of the Century’. This is a system of justice that has evolved over a thousand years and I will not see you or any reporter trivialize its importance with a fancy name.
The Judge was furious. “You had better be careful making empty claims in my court Mr. Jackson. And let me say this about mistrials, lest it inform you going forward. I have been on the bench for over twenty five years and not once in all that time, not once, have I ever granted a motion for mistrial. I am not about to begin anytime soon.”
Writing for profit is a fool’s game. I don’t, I write for myself. Some of my writing is profound, some is important, but most of it is neither of those two things. I am at my best as an observational humourist, filtering the mundane through the ‘amusing’ lens and writing.
David Sedaris is a great American observational humourist and he has unknowingly guided me as I spelunked my way through many a dark, confusing writing tunnel. He taught me to stop worrying about inspiration. He says that human beings are very funny, hilarious at times. The knack he says is to get better at seeing it. He is right, if I have grown as a writer it is because I am better now at ‘seeing’ us as we are, simple and complex, shallow and profound, tragic and hilarious. We are endlessly fascinating, a never ending source of writing inspiration.
My books are for sale, my blog is free for you to enjoy. You can read them or listen to them, as you prefer. Generally, I add one new blog weekly and you can subscribe to receive notice. The subscription is free and I do nothing with your information. You will be joining other readers from over seventy-five countries around the world.
