Village Squire, 1978-11, Page 29Willie
Whi tcckeras
wife
A short story by G.P.
SUPER STOCKING
S
T
U
F
We have a good selection of IDEALS including E
COUNTRY SCENES, COOK BOOKS,
FAVORITE CAROLS, CHILDREN'S BOOKS R
& DRIED FLOWERS.
Look them over. The choice is unlimited. S
NEW BOOKS:
Olde Charlie Farquharson's Testament,
The Wild Frontier
\ Pierre Berton
MANY OTHER BOOKS TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION
HARRIS
STATIONERY
Josephine St., Wingham Phone 357-3191
There must have been a space of more than three years
between my first encounter with Willie and my initial meeting
with his wife. I confess that in all that stretch of time, I retained
serious doubts of her very existance, save in the man's
imagination, even tho there were references to her from the very
moment of our chance meeting.
Personalities tend to blur as you shuttle about on various
assignments. This week's intimacy in Vancouver fades into a
new contact at a bar in Montreal followed by an interview in a
hotel room in Ottawa. On the contrary my first contact with
Whitaker was an experience that was to remain ever in sharp
focus. Could anyone forget their first contact with the man? I
doubt it.
So many of my meals are taken alone that I have had to form
the habit of reading while I eat so my food will not be bolted. On
this particular day I was sitting in a two place booth at the rear of
Malcolm's Smoke House in down town Toronto. I was vaguely
ay. are that someone had taken the seat opposite me as 1 read, but
I did not bother to look up to see whether or not it might have
been a man or woman.
"May I trouble you for the sugar?" asked a deep musically
pitched voice.
Reaching casually for the jar at my elbow, I then looked up at
the speaker. Involuntarily, my fingers tightened their grip on the
jar until the knuckles must have whitened under the pressure.
There before me only armslength away sat the ugliest man that
could be imagined. Da Vinci's grotesques would have seemed
almost handsome by comparison. In '44 1 was in a British
hospital, one among many undergoing skin grafts. Luckily mine
are where they do not show. There I had seen all too many
shattered and shattering faces in varied stages of repair.
It had been my belief up until then that I could face death or
distortion without a quiver, but this man's face really shook me.
Thick v: irey hair topped a face that made one think immediately
rnvruer 5, %,�hl�Jl �! i;
Saturday, November 18, 1978.
2:00 to 4:30 p.m.
•Pastry Shop •llelicatessen
•Dough Basket •Produce
•Flea Market •Sev:ing Basket
•Flov:er Pot •Festival Boutique
•S‘.eets n Treats Christmas Gifts,
for children Decorations, Wrap
•Church Souvenirs
-centennial items
Festival Tea Room,
Sandwiches, Relishes, Squares and Tea 75c
November 1978 The Village Squire 27