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lie side by side with our toes touching on that greedy strip of sand. I miss sharing a seat with her in the rowboat. I certainly don’t miss the tannic, boggy taste of pond water. I miss the fruity, earthy smell of the mini rhododendrons, the blueberry and marshberry bushes. I miss the patient call of the white-throated sparrow in the quiet of a Cliffhead afternoon. When I’m there, I like to shut my eyes and listen to the wind. I could swear there’s meaning in the sounds the gusts produce, with the surrounding spruce trees for their voice box. At times, it seems excited and happy. Other times, it’s tender and affectionate. Then there are those moments when the sound reminds me of a child crying for a parent. In the early morning, the crows mimic the sound but with a harsher articulation and a telling or demanding tone. The sound’s never angry, even though I expect it should be.

When I told Henry about the Cliffhead wind and how it makes me think of Norah, he glanced at me from the corner of his eye and said, “Write it all down and call it Wuthering Heights: The Newfoundland Version.” I might consider that as a project for another day. For now, I have my hands full.

Campus Voice

August 6, 2001 Report Released

The External Committee on Operations and

Procedures at King Edward University Library

released its report this week. Chair Edith Peddigrew

told the Voice that the Committee found “gross

inadequacies and numerous irregularities in the

management of Special Collections.”

The report’s recommendations include an initiative

to investigate how knowledge and information

analysis can inform administrative decisions without

compromising the privacy of individuals. Dr. Carl

Brunet will head up the new initiative entitled

Project Jabberwocky. On September 8th, Brunet will

officially launch the web site “A Room with a View,”

which he told the Voice will provide “online, public

access to Special Collections materials.”

The Campus Voice will be in attendance at the

launch. Pick up your copy next week to hear more

on this story.

When I’m not busy with “Jabberwocky” and “A Room with a View,” I’m working on my house. It’s in a sheltered nook of a bay near the ocean with a road between my land and the beach. Folio seems to like it. She’s been with me ever since the day I ran into Walter by the pond. I heard someone shouting at the dogs, followed the voice and came upon him as he was checking on the traps Ray had set for the birds. Walter was trying to free a crow. Octavo and Quarto were jumping up at the bird. Folio sat nearby watching the spectacle. Walter kicked Octavo away when the dog’s jaws grazed the feathers of the crow, almost catching him. I asked if I could help with the dogs.

“They’re on their way to the SPCA,” he said.

I couldn’t imagine Folio in a cage or adopted by city people and living in some suburb, so I offered to take her. Later that afternoon, I stopped by Walter’s house for her bed and food.

“Wait here,” he told me after he opened the door.

I stepped into the porch then watched as he put a bag of dog food and a bowl into a cardboard box. “Any news about Norah?” I asked.

He stopped what he was doing.

“I could help her, you know,” I added.

He turned round holding the box then came into the porch. He unloaded the box into my arms.

“Have you seen her?”

“There’s no ghosts at Cliffhead,” he said as he reached an arm around me to grab a leash off the wall. He dropped it into the box before he opened the door.

I followed him outside onto the gravel path in front of his house. “Are you implying that she’s dead?”

He walked casually towards a garage. Its door faced away from me.

I set down the box to open the rear of my car. “They haven’t found a body,” I reminded him. When he didn’t respond, I shouted, “I said they haven’t found her body.” He disappeared into the garage. I put the box in the car then headed after him. The garage door was raised. I stood behind. In front of us, boxes were piled to the ceiling. “Why are you assuming she’s dead?” Folio stood by my side then licked my hand.

Walter