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Excerpt from Porcupine (Continued)

car. Not down the street for a long way, just a few yards. And I’m waving, yelling at the top of my lungs, “Good-bye! Love you, Dad! Good-bye! Safe journey! Love you!” And so then Simon does it too. Comes out on the street with me, the two of us waving, dancing a silly good-bye dance, like we are on a string. All elbows and knees and flat, waving palms. “Bye, Dad! Love you! Bye, Dad!” And we’ve got big smiles on our faces, and Dad is smiling too. Can see his face turned around in the front seat of the car. I’m smiling, but there’s a tightness in my chest, because Dad’s going to Afghanistan, and I’ve seen what happens there. Seen the scary news on TV.

But when I told Dad my fears, he just laughed at me and said, “Don’t worry. It’s fine there now. We’re a peacekeeping unit, we’re not going to war. This is the Canadian Armed Forces we’re talking about, not the U.S. Army. We’re just going to Afghanistan to keep the peace, that’s all. I’m not

going to Iraq, honey. So there’s no problem. Chin up, Jack, chin up. Don’t look so sad. Give me a smile. That’s my girl.”

We wave until the car turns the corner and disappears. Then Simon and I go back up to the porch where Mom is standing with her arm around Tessa. I slip Simon under Mom’s other arm and we go inside, arm in arm. We have to go in sideways so we can all fit through the door. Mom doesn’t cook tonight. We go to A&W for a special treat. And we toast Dad with frosty ice-cold, foaming mugs of root beer, and we send him our love and say a prayer for his speedy and safe return home.

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