Jack

Saturday, October 1st, 1983. 9:00 am

I look at the photos of every person who's been named Canadian of the Year. The first person to be named Canadian of the Year was Igor Souzenko, who was an embassy clerk. He showed people the Soviets were spying. He was Canadian of the Year for 1946. For some reason I've always had this fascination with people who were named Canadian of the Year. I think that was because three years ago, there was this guy named Terry Fox who decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer. He had one of his legs amputated because of cancer. I thought he was going to run all the way to Calgary but he stopped in Thunder Bay because he his cancer came back. He's dead now.

Here's the thing: three years ago, I learned about him being named Canadian of the Year. I wondered what it meant to be named that, so I asked Mom. She said that being named Canadian of the Year meant you did great things for Canada or you were the new prime minister. I wonder who's gonna be named Canadian of the Year this time. Last year was Wayne Gretzky. He's a hockey player.

I sigh and decide to head outside. It makes life so much easier because I can forget that Mom and Dad fight all the time. It's been happening for three months now. I'm scared they might divorce. What if they do? What will happen to me? Who will I stay with?

12:34 pm

"Yo, Marco!" I shout from down below. The wind blows into my hair as I look up at Marco, sitting on one of the support beams on the pedestrian bridge. Marco's a bad guy. He's awesome.

"McKinley!" Marco slides down on the support beam he's on. I don't know how he can climb up that thing. I tried once, but I slipped and nearly broke my ankle. That was back in May. Since then, I swore I would never do it again.

"What's up dude?" I ask once he gets down. He brushes his wrinkled acid washed jeans.

"Nothing much." Marco brushes his hair back. It reminds me of Ziggy Stardust, except Marco's is blonde.

"My parents are fighting a lot," I say. I look around for Cass and Randall. Randall and I don't really like each other, but he's Marco's BFF, so he's gonna be around. Cass and I are cool as always. Knowing him, he's probably late again because of his old aunt and uncle. "I think they might divorce," I continue.

"Took you a while to say it, McKinley." Marco leans against the bar.

"What will happen if they do?" I ask. It takes all my courage not to stutter.

Marco looks around. "I don't know. My parents aren't divorced." He sighs. "Let's talk about something else."