Intro |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003-06
Novel
Diary — 2003-06
13
March, 2003 — deletion from end of Chapter 6:
“Tell me something.” Valerie sets her mug on the table and
leans forward. “When did you report the business about
Jensen to Woodford? Was it when she called you?”
“Of course,” Paul says flatly without thinking. “When else
would it be?”
“I don’t know. It’s funny though.”
“What is?” He drinks the last of his tea and slumps in his
chair.
“Well. I confirmed everything with Ben’s secretary. There
were no questions at all.”
She pauses with this, as though there was a question about
… something else. Paul studies her face. The ground
shudders slightly. “What is it?”
“I don’t know.” She studies the wall a moment and then
returns her gaze to him. “Are you sure you spoke to
Woodford about Jensen?”
The question is so pointed that Paul stops to give it full
consideration. Of course he spoke to her; ah, but first he
hung up in order to assess whether he should reveal the
problems with Jensen. “Yes, I spoke to her about it. We
hung up and then I called her back.”
Valerie considers this as though she’s calculating a
difficult sum. Then she shakes her head. “I don’t think so,
Paul.”
“What?” His head dips slightly and his shoulders roll
forward.
“After I called Ginny, I called the police and spoke to
Corporal Woodford.” Valerie lowers her voice. She would
like this news to come delicately, come the way she soothed
Eliot during the nights when he had so many nightmares.
“She agreed that you’d talked about the accident inquiry.”
“Yes.”
“But she denied you said anything about arguing with Reg
Jensen.”
“No one’s saying it didn’t happen,” she continues. “It’s
just that you didn’t tell anyone. At least, you didn’t tell
Corporal Woodford about it.”
“I didn’t?” Paul sits forward and examines his hands.
“I don’t think so.”
Could it be?
Could his entire accusation against Jensen have been
imaginary? Or — worse — could Woodford be lying to Valerie?
Involved in some scheme to break their marital bond and
destroy his confidence so that he confesses?
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30 November, 2003
Cut from chapter 12: (A few days after he arrived in the
city, Paul was told by a taxi driver that Fort Street was
built over a trail used by the Songhees’ ancestors as they
made the trek from their harbour village to the shell
fisheries on the east coast shoreline. Over thousands of
years they had transformed the path into a well-engineered
traverse. Paul believed the story. In his travels through
North America he never found a street grid as tangled as
Victoria’s. It didn’t help that the road names often
changed as he drove from one municipality to the next. Or
that the original intent of a road had been to cut a path
next to a deer run or a mystical vale.)
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27
September, 2006
At long last, after completing the novel, setting it aside
for more than a year, then tracking down a publisher —
email arrives from Todd Besant of Turnstone Press:
Dear Mr.
Bailey,
Thank you
for submitting your novel Slipstream to Turnstone Press.
Upon review we believe it would make an excellent addition
to the Turnstone list—the writing is very assured, well
paced and offers the reader a moral dilemma to puzzle over.
We are interested in publishing for 2007. We hope this
offer receives a positive response. I look forward to
speaking with you about a contract. I can be reached most
easily at editor@turnstonepress.com.
Champagne with dinner tonight.
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