What Is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman

know how he meant it, Wyatt."
    "Did Hans get that letter off to his professor?"
    "Went out in yesterday's post."
    Tilda looked out the window at the Minas Basin. Fairly close to shore, the usual cormorants barely preceded their wing-flapping shadows, low to the water. "I wish cormorants never got on Noah's Ark," she said. "I've always despised that ugly bird." No matter what the subject, no matter how glum the circumstances, Tilda never failed to make me laugh. "But they've got God's equal rights to the sea, I suppose."
    "I suppose."
    "Mom, when she's puzzled why something in nature's downright ugly, she makes holy excuses. Says on that day of Creation, God had a headache. Then I usually say, well, why didn't he correct his mistake once he invented headache powder?"
    "Were you awake all night again?" I asked.
    "I look a wreck, don't I? Plus, I'm just going on about nothing, aren't I?"
    "No, you're going on, true, but it's got substance. I wish I could listen through another coffee, but I've got a sled to work on. It's my wages. Besides, Hans comes downstairs, sees us, I don't want him to get jealous."
    "Would it do any good to say he likes you, Wyatt?"
    "Tilda, get some sleep."
    "Look in the mirror, eh?" she said. "The pot's just called the kettle black."
    I finished my coffee and left the bakery. At home, I started for the shed, but when I got near and heard Donald yelling at the radio, I decided to go into the house instead. "Aunt Constance?" I said.
    I found her standing in the dining room, her new wardrobe trunk open on the table, clothes stacked on three chairs nearby. "I leave tomorrow morning, you know," she said.
    "I'd forgotten it was so soon," I said.
    "My, my, my, look at these three pull-out drawers," she said. "There's so much room. Still, I want to be careful in my choices. Proper preparation helps make for proper travel—"
    "'—and proper travel makes for peace of mind at one's destination,'" I said, quoting what she'd said many times before.
    I kissed my aunt on the forehead and sat down in a chair opposite her clothes. "You know, whenever I pack a trunk," she said, "I think of Meticulous Spelling, who used to live in Upper Economy. Maiden name, Meticulous Bartlett. Married George Spelling. Anyway, she certainly contained opposites, Meticulous Spelling did, in that her housekeeping was sloppy as a drunk sparrow making a nest, and she couldn't spell worth a tiddly damn, and I know personally, because she used to drop by and ask how you'd spell this or that word, because she was writing a letter to her aunt Nadelle in Vancouver. Some people can't spell, some can, I suppose, but Meticulous Spelling was one who couldn't. And on the subject of not being meticulous, I witnessed that woman, in her own home, pack a trunk once. She was setting out to see the sights in Quebec City. I don't know why she bothered to iron her clothes in advance. The inside of that wardrobe trunk looked ransacked."
    I smiled and said, "Oh, Aunt Constance, you're the cat's pajamas."
    "Even those I'd fold nicely."
    "I bet you would."
    "Everything neat and clean and in its place."
    My aunt concentrated on which dresses to pack, which blouses, which socks, which shoes, which everything. She'd neatly fill one drawer, remove the contents, replace them with a different combination. At one point, not looking up from the sweater she was folding, she said, "Donald's moved to the shed. Outwardly, I'm trying to be poised about it."
    "How do you mean, moved to the shed?"
    "I mean he's built a cot and has bedclothes out there. He's got the woodstove for heat."
    "At least now you'll be able to turn off the radio when you want, Aunt Constance."
    "I don't find that response in the least appropriate."
    "I'm sorry."
    "Apology only half accepted," she said. "You two may be on the outs, but don't forget he took you in and gave you a paying job, Wyatt."
    "You yourself said he's not himself lately."
    "Donald asked Leonard Marquette and a few other