 |
| Click to Purchase |
There are moments that ‘make it all worthwhile’ and one of
those moments that I’ll never forget was the one that transpired after I received that
phone call.
It was December 2011 and I was visiting my daughter up in
Yellowknife, celebrating my grandson’s second birthday and still basking in the
glow of seeing my first-ever novel in print. THE TRAZ had come out just a few
months before. It was a self-published edition, but made me proud. It looked
good and read good and the pages of the paperback made a nice whispering,
tickle sound when riffled.
Prior to flying to Yellowknife, I’d corresponded with the
Yellowknife library, and The Book Cellar bookstore, and the Side Door Youth Centre.
I’d emailed press releases to the local media.
Yellowknife welcomed me with open arms. It’s a warm
community despite being just this side of the Arctic Circle. There were actually many memorable moments
during that visit. Not the least of which was watching the two-year old open
his gifts and blow out his candles. But
aside from that—
The library hosted an author presentation and advertised it.
The town included the library visit in the community events calendar. The local
newspaper attended my presentation and published a story on it. The radio
station phoned me and I did my first-ever in-studio live radio interview.
But the moment I remember most vividly is when I was
wrapping up my presentation to the after-school kids at the Side Door Youth
Centre. I had invited a few of the youngsters to pass out trinkets to their
school mates while I helped others enter their names in my draw for a Kindle.
My daughter was dressing up the two-year old (this takes a while when it’s -40C
(or F) outside and pitch black by 3 pm) when a staff member came to tell me
that there was a phone call for me and would I like to take it in the office?
I was pretty sure there was a mistake, either that or a
telemarketer had tracked me down. After all, I lived a thousand or so miles to
the south. The only people I knew in Yellowknife were my daughter and her
family and a few of her friends. My daughter and child were with me, her
husband was at work, and her friends would likely call her, not me. Right?
As you might imagine, my heart did a little flip-flop when I
picked up the receiver and the caller identified herself as being with
Corrections Canada.
My memorable moment, one of those things that makes it all
worthwhile, was when I finished reading from THE TRAZ and looked up at the nine
youngsters in that classroom at the
North Slave Young Offenders Facility (NSYOF)—and they looked back and we began
to talk. We talked about the story, about making life-altering decisions, about
the danger of gangs. We talked about writing books and about making our dreams
come true.
 |
| North Slave Young Offenders Facility |
THE TRAZ is now in the libraries of facilities such as the
NSYOF across Canada’s north, and that makes me very happy. I recently got in
touch with the official that had arranged my last visit to notify her that book
2 in the series, FATAL ERROR, was now out and to ask if it would be possible to
do another presentation?
She informed me all the kids I’d met with are now back in
their communities and none had re-offended.
Come spring, I just might once more be walking into the
classroom in Yellowknife, prepared to discuss FATAL ERROR. Shame and blame and betrayal.
Guilt and accepting responsibility. The art of forgiveness. Our sense of
justice.
I may once more experience
a life-changing, fulfilling, memorable moment.
Eileen Schuh
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ
www.eileenschuh.com
