Up and Down by Terry Fallis

Author:Terry Fallis [Fallis, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780771047978
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2012-09-10T14:00:00+00:00

Over the next hour, I dialled four times, being sent to voice mail on each attempt. Four times I hung up before the beep. I waited another twenty minutes and called a fifth time.

“Sarah Nesbitt.”

“Sarah, it’s a voice from your past,” I said in greeting. “It’s David Stewart.”

“David Stewart. Great to hear from you, man. And your timing is impeccable,” she replied. “You were about to be a voice from my present. So you’ve just saved me a call.”

“Really? What’s up?”

“I was just speaking to your former minister’s office about a piece we’re doing on the Citizen Astronaut contest,” she explained. “You were next on my call list.”

“So you must know I’m at Turner King now?” I asked.

“David, I’m a reporter. I try to stay abreast of developments on my beat. It’s kind of what reporters do. I’ve done two stories on the contest already. Your name is at the bottom of every release, and my reading skills are passable. So, yes, I knew you’d made the move to TK.”

It was nice to know she more than remembered me.

“And your successor in the minister’s office isn’t exactly making life easy for me the way you always did,” she continued. “I’m missing you and you’re looking better and better in hindsight.”

“Sorry to hear that … I think,” I replied. “But perhaps I can help in another way.”

“My notebook is open,” she said.

“Well, can you close it for a moment? There are some ground rules that come along with this call. But I’m hoping you’ll think they’re reasonable under the circumstances.”

“Okay, my notebook is now closed. Let me know when I can open it again.”

“Strictly hypothetically, if I were to pass along the makings of a sizable story to you and you alone, along with a perfectly logical explanation for how you got it – and not from me – will you keep me out of it?”

“Well, without knowing exactly what we’re talking about, it’s hard to guarantee anything. But you know I’ve always been fair to you and you’ve always played straight with me. I’d say there’s a solid chance we can make this work. Does that cut it?” she asked.

“I think I can live with that,” I replied. “Okay, you can open your notebook again.”

“Actually, that was just a figure of speech. But my computer is turned on and my fingers are poised over the keyboard. What do you have?”

“Sit back, and I’ll start from the beginning.”

My heart rate spiked as I launched into the tale and officially barrelled past the point of no return. It took me nearly twenty-five minutes to recount the whole story from the time Landon’s name was drawn, all the way to my crash-and-burn conference call with Crawford Blake earlier in the week. Relying on my notes, I took my time presenting Landon’s extraordinary biography. It would be won or lost there. I could hear Sarah’s fingers flying as I spoke. I could also hear her breathing deepen at the poignancy of Hugh Percival’s disappearance and his final diary entry.

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