Tag: life

Ken Kirkby, A Painter’s Quest for Canada

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

“I’m interested in one gemstone,” he said.
“Which one?”
“If you let me see them, I’ll pick out the one I’m interested in.”
In his father’s den, he looked through the collection and chose one.
The next day he gave it to Miloo. She put her arms around him and held
him tight, shivering and crying against him.
“This is only a minor token of the way I feel about you,” Ken said. “I
love you beyond words and this is only a symbol of that love.”
“I’m so frightened of the feelings I have,” she cried.
“I’m going to ask you not to be,” Ken said. “Don’t be frightened. It’s
fear that kills us. I’ve been talking with the Canadian ambassador about
going to Canada and I want you to come with me.”
“Canada? It sounds so far away. It sounds so dangerous.”
“Yes, it is far away, but how could it be any more dangerous than where
we are right now? Look at what’s going on here. There are more people
disappearing every day and everyone is pretending that nothing is happening.
No one is doing anything about it. Everyone goes home at night,
looking around corners and holding their breath – wondering if they’ll
get a knock on the door at three in the morning and disappear too. I
won’t live that way.”
“What can you do about it?”
“There are always things you can do if you don’t let fear get in the way.
If you stop thinking you shut the door on fear. When you start to think
about things you get fearful. You just have to have the simplest of plans
and stop thinking. Carry it out. For instance, these people who are informing
– what on earth are they informing on in a village like this? What
could the local people be doing that could possibly be of any danger to
anyone? This is corruption beyond the imagination. This is madness. My
grandmother told me one of her Spanish sayings – not all those who are
in the madhouse are mad and not all those who are out aren’t. From what
I see, I think that the lunatics are out and they’ve put us in the asylum.”
He took her hand. “Will you come to Canada with me?”
“I’d have to leave my family.”
“You and your family don’t get along.”
“But, they are still my family.”
“Would you like to live in a country where we have the freedom and
the right to be who we are?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Would you like to live with me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“Enough to come?”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073573

Ken Kirkby, A Painter’s Quest for Canada

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

“And I suppose you propose that you’re the one who is
going to find these marvellous new things.”
“Actually,” Ken said, “I am – many of them. I have already found some
but they’re mine and they’re secrets.”
“Well, you seem to have some feelings about this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Go ahead then – express your understanding of this.”
“Yes sir.” Ken picked up the chalk and drew two birds. One bird was
flying along while the other one lay crumpled at the foot of a brick wall
that it had crashed into.
“What precisely does that mean?” the master asked.
“This bird is flying along without thinking about Pythagoras’ Theorem
and this bird was thinking about Pythagoras’ Theorem and flew into
a wall.”
“I suppose you think you’re very funny,” the teacher said.
“In my universe I think I’m funny,” Ken said. “And I enjoy being funny.”
“Is that so?” the teacher said. “And I suppose you think this is very
funny.”
“No sir, it isn’t very funny. It’s actually very, very sad.”
“Yes,” he said, walking to his desk. “Sadder than you think.” He wrote
something on a piece of paper, folded it and handed it to Ken. “Take that
to the headmaster,” he said.
Ken left the classroom to the sniggers of the other students and searched
for the headmaster’s office.
This behaviour about drawing the birds was spawned by the treatment
that I got when I walked in there. I was dealt with in a rather stupid way.
If there were twelve points in one’s life that were important, this incident
would be one of my key ones. I’ve always had somewhere deep inside me a
sense of knowing the moment when I am in the moment. To this day I can’t
explain how that happens but I do know when I’m in it. It had become apparent
to me that there were very specific rules for the “good” people – the
“nice” people – and those were the people who had lots of money. The poor
people lived in a different world. And the rich people were hiring minions
such as this teacher to do their bidding. The rich people didn’t want to look
after their own children – they just shunted them off to boarding schools.
Ken found the office and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” a voice called.
Ken walked in and handed the folded note to a woman sitting behind
a desk in the small anteroom. She unfolded it, scanned what was written
there and looked back up at Ken with a curious half-smile.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073573

Savages and Beasts

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

(Excerpt)

      The young man was listening carefully as he was working next to the old man.

The clothes seemed to be endless, the machines kept on humming their work, the room turned stuffy, and Anton started to feel his sweat crawling down his forehead to his eyebrows and nose from which it could drip onto anything below. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand making sure his sweat wouldn’t fall onto the clothes he was folding. Dylan saw his movement.

      “It gets stuffy in here, especially when all the driers are going and as you see we have very short narrow windows. However, let me crack one open so some fresh air gets in. He left the clothes and standing on a chair he opened half way two windows to the outside. Indeed fresh air started getting in and Anton felt its whiff on his face and arms. He smiled as he continued folding the clothes. Dylan stood next to him and kept up with the task in hand. They worked for a while when Dylan asked.

     “You live with your parents, I suppose?”

     “Yes, on the other side of the river on Columbia Street. My dad works for the trains, he’s a mechanic.”

      “Oh, very nice, and what’s your origin?”

      “Hungary. We emigrated soon after the war.”

      “I see. Your father didn’t like what would become of your country under the Russians. I don’t blame him, to be honest. I wouldn’t like to live under their communism.”

      “Yes, my dad preferred other ways…I do too.”

      “Good for you; here you live in a very rich country with so many opportunities for a young man like yourself…but what else do you have in mind? I don’t believe you plan to work here for the rest of your life…like I have done”

      “No, at some time I might go back to school which my dad wishes too. He’d love to have a lawyer son rather than a school employee.”

      “You father seems to be a very thoughtful man; I’d be proud of such a father.”

      “But I am, Dylan, truly I feel very proud for my father. Especially when I think of what difficulties and hard times he faced just to give me the chance for a better future.”

      “Yes, yes, I’m sure he faced numerous situations and issues, and of course the language problem. Did your dad speak some English when you emigrated here?”

      “He spoke a little but he took up English soon as we came here…and being an educated man it didn’t take him too long to manage his communicating. Then it was the everyday learning, of course, which helped him master the language and although he still speaks with an accent he’s on top of the heap on the subject.”

      “I’m sure, and I know the accent sometimes makes communicating difficult.”

      “Yes, his co-workers, mostly Anglos, always make fun of his accent.”

https://www.lulu.com/account/projects/m24q778 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763602