What Esi Eugen did for jazz and the 1940s in Half Blood Blues Suzette Mayr does for train porters and the 1920s in The Sleeping Car Porter. She offers a thorough examination of the life of a train porter--what are their tasks, what must they tolerate, what regulations must they adhere to, what are the consequences of not adhering to them, where do they live, eat, entertain?
Coach House Books
2022
Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize
Twenty-nine-year-old R T Baxter was born in the tropics. He immigrated to Canada because he dreamed of becoming someone. He trained to be a porter under the supervision of Edwin Drew in Union Station in Toronto but being a porter isn't his destiny. Being a porter is exhausting, demanding, and at times demeaning work. Porters are excepted to toe a fine line and if they cross the line they receive demerits--receipt of 60 demerits is grounds for dismissal.
To help him cope with job stress, Baxter reads science fiction novels like The Scarab from Jupiter.
His book 'glows at the bottom of his bag, waiting for him to run his fingers through its pages.' (p. 32)
To cope, Baxter reads and slowly builds his future.
'He found an abandoned dentisty textbook on a train eight years ago...and even before he reached the end of the first chapter...a bonfire blazed inside him.' (p. 26)
He has set his sights on attending McGill Dental School.
'He's been saving for eight yars and in only two more years, in 1931, if he stays on track, he will have $1,068 saved, enough for four years of denistry school.' (p. 26)
But... But Baxter has a secret. Baxter has a terrible secret. A secret that if discovered would land him in jail--in jail, he fears, for the rest of his life.
Baxter is a memorable, sympathetic character in a difficult situation. His back is against the wall and all he can do is hold tight to his dream. All I could do was root for him and read on.
Next Sunday...
Sunday, July 30
Dog or Wolf (short story) by Leanne Dyck
a fable
A memory...
In the early 1970s, when I was eleven going on twelve, my parents and I took a train trip
from Manitoba to BC. That was the first time I travelled by train. In fact, that trip was full of firsts for me. It was the first time I visited BC. I got my first period on that train. I was rocked to sleep in an upper berth for the first time. And I had one of my first crushes. He was a handsome black man in a uniform--a porter's uniform.
The night he came to make my bed, I whispered to Mom, "He's so cute."
In the morning, he came again to put my bed away.
I daydreamed about talking to him. I daydreamed about--.
"Why little lady." He held my pyjamas. I'd absent-mindedly left them under my pillow.
I blushed.
Mom frowned--because I think she thought I'd left my pyjamas for the porter to find.
I blushed because I hadn't. I blushed because he called me little lady. Little.
Clearly, he thought I was nothing but a young girl.
And my daydreams remained only dreams.
And the porter climbed down from his ladder and walked away.
