This week's featured author is Audrey Austin of Elliot Lake.
Below is an excerpt from my current work in progress titled
MOOSE ROAD - A CANADIAN TRAGEDY
an excerpt:
Each individual’s truth, until
shared, is locked in a sacred space in one’s memory. Memory does have its share of weakness. Memory can be faulty. Memory is often tested and I find it very
interesting that the residents of the seven farms impacted by the tragedy each
maintain a different memory of the same occurrence.
Although I am well aware that it
would not occur to any ordinary human that an old long-travelled country road
could possibly have the capacity to retain memory, I can assure you that I do. Yes, indeed, I do have a memory. Even though I am very old it remains a good
one and I do remember well. Some
thoughts give me reason to smile while other memories I would prefer to forget.
I have learned that the more painful
memories are the most stubborn; the least likely to be forgotten and the most
likely to be remembered. Even when a
human believes he has managed to bury a painful memory he has not. That remembrance will present itself at the
most odd and unexpected of times and sometimes even in the form of a recurrent
dream.
Of course, I am not a human. I can assure you
that I am a no nonsense road; plain, practical and from my very first
appearance on earth many generations ago I have made it my focused mission to do
my duty and fulfill my purpose as I see fit.
I have always taken great pride in my existence and to this very day I
do my best to serve those who choose to travel upon my surface.
Unlike humans who are, I have
learned, sometimes very superficial creatures, I am not shallow. I don’t blame
the travelers for being unable to see beneath my surface. But I assure you I am not just the visible
thin layer of gravel you might observe at first glance. I do have substance.
Yes, I am old now. I have been here
in this spot on the planet for many interesting and enduring lifetimes.
Although I am a road less travelled I am still in pretty good shape. I expect
I’ll be here for a few more generations. I can see no good reason why I should not continue
to be here.
From top to bottom I stretch for a
good half hour almost parallel to Highway Seventeen in Northern Ontario,
Canada. I run just a couple of miles
north of that more major road which is part of the Trans-Canada Highway. At my western tip I run into a nondescript, secondary
dirt road and at my eastern end, well, there is no easy way to put it. At my eastern end I just kind of disappear
into the bush.
Guess you might call me a scenic
path at that point. I poke my dirty nose
into the lives of my long-time friends; the black bear, the woodpeckers and, of
course, the moose. I see the occasional
hiker and possibly a few berry pickers but the truth is that I don’t see a lot
of humans once I wind down in the east.......
Cover design by Susan Ruby K.
More of my books including Sara, a Canadian Saga ; Reawakening;
Ellen and The Hummingtree; Keeping it Simple; and The Silent Star plus a Dozen are all Kindle Books published by Wynterblue Publishing Canada.
You will find my author's page at http://www.amazon.com/author/audreyaustin
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