Deafening by Frances Itani

Author:Frances Itani [Itani, Frances]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780802141651
Publisher: Maeva
Published: 2003-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Grania rubbed her eyes. She stared at her hands and arms and felt her body sink into heaviness. She pulled away from the face of the clock and turned to leave but as she did so, she found herself reaching to steady herself against the corner beam as she had always done. Beneath her fingertips she felt the forgotten column of dates scratched into wood. Heading the column were two words she could barely see but which she knew to be there: Ice out. The scratchings of Uncle Am, part of the history of the town, each date recorded the day the ice broke up every year and left the bay. Ever since he had come to live in the tower apartment, he had added to the beam, satisfied—perhaps even comforted—by the continuity. Grania strained to see through the dusk: April 12, March 29, March 21, April 4, April 17. The columns marched through the years until they reached the present, this year’s date written not two months ago.

She held tightly to the ladder and lowered herself rung by rung. She pulled the trap door shut and continued to descend until her feet touched the floor. The parlour was dark. Neither Aunt Maggie nor Uncle Am had returned. From below, a rising glow had begun to spread along Main Street as electric lights came on in house and business, here and there. Grania stood at the open curtains and watched an invisible breeze bend the tips of the trees and bow them to the town. Clouds were rushing across the sky, but the horizon remained darkly neutral. The early night sky was so like the colour of the bay, it was impossible to see the line between.

A light flickered across the water—perhaps a lantern from a point of land. The southern arm of the bay blurred to darkness. Grania stayed at the window until bright light was cast behind her from the hall. She was not startled, but she turned. Aunt Maggie opened the parlour door and switched on the corner lamp, illuminating her own face.

“I saw your coat in the hall,” her lips said in the lamplight. She did not ask how long Grania had been standing there alone in the dark.

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