I had the privilege of meeting Kathleen Winter at the Vancouver International Writer’s Festival last year. It was there that I heard about her debut novel, Annabel. (Yes, this is a photo of Kathleen and I, taken at the festival.)
Back in July,Emeire brought my attention to a challenge to 5 authors in the Walrus, this summer. Each author was asked to make a list of 5 guidelines to write a short story. The lists were then traded and each author had to writer a short story according to the list of 5 guidelines received.
Alexi Zentner’s complied the guidelines that Kathleen Winter had to follow. They were:
1. You may not describe any characters physically (beyond using “he” or “she” or their given name).
2. Include a peach, but don’t make it sexual.
3. You must have dialogue, but you may not use the word “said” (or any variation of the word “said”).
4. Evoke warmth without mentioning the sun.
5. A dog must bark in the distance, causing a character to state that he or she finds people who treat dogs like children sort of creepy. Somebody else must take offense at this comment.
The result was Madame Poirier’s Dog. I found these guidelines intriguing and saved the link to the story for a future date. Then John, of The Book Mine Set reminded me of it last week with his review and I had to read it immediately.
The narrator is an unnamed senior woman who appears to be living in assisted living or perhaps a nursing home. She is a bit upset because an old neighbor, Mrs. Poirter is moving there and seems to think they were great friends.
Our narrator sees it differently. She reminisces with her youngest son Armond about Mrs. Poirter and her dog.
At it’s heart, this is a story about how are life changes when we get older, including how family members deal with it or not. Our unknown narrator has other children but is Armond, her youngest son who visits her and has the patience to listen to her reminisce about the past. Though it has an ambiguous end, I recommend it. You can read it here.
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