Linwood Barclay: No Time For Goodbye

I handed the envelope, already torn open at one end, across the table to Cynthia.

She slid the paper out of the envelope, but didn’t unfold it right away. She held it a moment, steeling herself. Then, carefully, she opened it up.

I, of course, had already read it. In the basement of the Sloan house in Youngstown. So I knew Cynthia was reading the following:

Hi Pumpkin:

I’ll probably be fast asleep when you get up and find this. I hope you haven’t made yourself too sick. You did some pretty stupid things tonight. I guess that’s what being a teenager is about.

I wish I could say these are the last stupid things you’ll do, or that this is the last fight you’ll have with me and your father, but that wouldn’t be the truth. You’ll do more stupid stuff, and we’ll have more fights. Sometimes you’ll be wrong, sometimes maybe even we’ll be wrong.

But here’s the one thing you have to know. No matter what, I will always love you. There’s nothing you could ever do that would make me stop. Because I’m in this for the long haul with you. And that’s the truth.

And it’s always going to be that way. Even when you’re on your own, living your own life, even when you’ve got a husband and kids of your own (imagine that!), even when I’m nothing but dust, I’ll always be watching you. Someday, maybe you’ll think you feel someone looking over your shoulder, and you’ll look around and no one’s there. That’ll be me. Watching out for you, watching you make me so very, very proud. Your whole life, kiddo. I will always be with you.

Love,

Mom

I watched Cynthia as she read it to the end, and then I held her while she wept.

As a guy who dropped out of high school chemistry, I am most grateful to Barbara Reid, a DNA technologist with the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto, for helping me with some pertinent details in this manuscript. If anything’s wrong, I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to blame Barbara.

I want to thank Irwyn Applebaum, Nita Taublib, and Danielle Perez at Bantam Dell; Bill Massey at Orion; and my wonderful agent, Helen Heller, for their continued support and confidence.

Last but not least, the home team: Neetha, Spencer, and Paige.

LINWOOD BARCLAY is the author of Bad Move . He is a columnist for the Toronto Star and lives with his family near Toronto.