The Clear-Out (6 page)

“We got a letter from Bobby,” he said to Tess several months later. “He said he has a good new job. He’s working really hard, and I have no right to call him ‘lazy’ ever again.”

Tess never answered him, but he could tell what she was feeling. You can’t live with someone for forty years and not know her moods. The news that their son had finally grown up made her very happy.

Duncan didn’t see Tess every night. Sometimes he didn’t feel like reading. He spent a lot of time down at the Good Shepherd Thrift Store, helping Kevin. One of his golf buddies asked him to help
out with the kids at the community centre. Some evenings he was tired out from all his volunteer work. He sat in front of the television, watching the Golf Channel, just as he had in the old days.

Whenever he watched TV for too long, though, things would start happening. Pots and pans banged together in the kitchen. The cat jumped all over him, chasing an invisible mousie.

Then Duncan would reach for the remote. In one smooth move, he’d turn off the TV, pick up a book, and start to read.

And when he looked up from the sofa, he’d see his wife, his wonderful Tess. There she would sit, in the La-Z-Boy, being with him.

All Night
by Alan Cumyn

The Stalker
by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Coyotes Song
by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Bed and Breakfast
by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

The Break-In
by Tish Cohen

Tribb’s Troubles
by Trevor Cole

In From the Cold
by Deborah Ellis

The Clear-Out
by Deborah Ellis

New Year’s Eve
by Marina Endicott

Home Invasion
by Joy Fielding

The Day the Rebels Came to Town
by Robert Hough

Picture
Anthony Hyde

Listen!
by Frances Itani

Missing
by Frances Itani

Shipwreck
by Maureen Jennings

The Picture of Nobody
by Rabindranath Maharaj

The Hangman
by Louise Penny

Love You to Death
by Elizabeth Ruth

Easy Money
by Gail Vaz-Oxlade

Deborah Ellis is an award-winning author and a long-time peace activist. She has worked as a women’s mental health counsellor and volunteered at refugee camps in Afghanistan. Deborah’s bestselling series
The Breadwinner Trilogy
is based on a story told to her by a refugee. Deborah lives in Simcoe, Ontario.

The Breadwinner

Parvana’s Journey

A Company of Fools

Mud City

The Heaven Shop

Jackal in the Garden

I Am a Taxi

Jakeman

Sacred Leaf

No Safe Place

In From the Cold

No Ordinary Day

My Name is Parvana