Hamilton Romance: A Hamilton-Toronto Nexus - Softcover

Beasley, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0915317052 ISBN 13: 9780915317059

Publisher: Davus Pub, 1996

Synopsis

It is V. E. Day in Hamilton. Tom Davis, 20 year-old law student at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, runs into Skip Burke, his ice-hockey hero before the War, invites him to dinner, and introduces him to Hamilton society. Tom's sister Nancy and her friend, rich girl Cathy Rymal, compete in matters of the heart in which Skip and Pete Miller from Toronto also are competitors. Tom experiences two kinds of anguish in love: that love which is unattainable and that which is turned inside-out by unexpected complications. As the story follows the tribulations of the young lovers and society's watchdogs become critical, Tom's sense of the hero changes; thus the idea of "hero" goes through a metamorphosis in the minds of those who conceive it. The outsider who does find an entree to the society may well become its victim. The society itself begins to change with the social and economic pressures brought upon it by the War. There is a confusion in its proper role and this uncertainty is reflected in the momentary desires and uncertainties of its youth. Finally, there is the Hamilton-Toronto relationship which, on the one hand, represents escape, and, on the other, wisdom.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER 18 About five that Friday, Cathy stopped her new blue Nash in front of the Frat house. From my window, I saw her step out of it. With the close-fitting ski slacks and smart-cut jacket, she could have been modelling for a magazine advertisement. Some fellows coming in the front walk turned round and gaped; only one of them had the presence of mind to whistle. I knew that when they saw me meet her, my prestige in the fraternity hierarchy would be considerably heightened. I began to wonder which would be better: to go directly down and meet her or to wait until she asked for me. By honking the car horn, however, she decided for me, and filling my pockets with the small last-minute things like money, handkerchief, and comb, I prepared to meet my lady love in as unaffected a manner as possible under the undoubtedly envious gaze of my student brothers. When I reached the front hall, I caught her asking the houseman for me. She turned when he nodded at me, and our weekend began auspiciously with a bright blossoming smile. We walked to her car in high spirits, she telling me about the slippery state of the roads and of an amusing mishap she had had, so that I didn't remember to telephone Melanie until I was about to sit in the car. I excused myself with forgetting something and contacted Melanie with the hall phone. She had been waiting for my call because there was but one ring before she answered. "It's all right," I said. "I've got somebody." "Good?" "As good as anybody," I said. "Where shall I meet you?" "I can't see you tonight, honey." My excuse sounded weak against the strength of her determination. If I hadn't explained that I had one foot in the automobile, she would have protested vigorously but as it was, the immediacy of my flight surprised her into a hopeless acceptance. When I was about to step into the car again, I saw Maxwell watching me as he approached from down the street. "Private school?" he called. "No; graduate," I answered. "Hot dog!" he said. Cathy whisked us along through streets where she paced our speed so that we broke through on green lights. Although Toronto seemed an endless series of districts, we eventually came to where the road dipped in a stretch of wild grass and young trees, a sign of the outskirts and a promise of the countryside to come. Snow still lay in patches, but the skies for the past week had been clouded, and the barometer had been quivering about freezing point in the expectation of a plunge. "Tommie, we're in luck! Did you know it's been snowing where we're going? I heard the skiing was wonderful!" "It was a great idea of yours," I said. "I haven't had a chance to ski all year. What made you think of me?" "Who better for a safe, understanding escort?" she said. "You've got me wrong," I said. "Nothing safe about me." "Oh, but understanding," she said. I was beginning to wish I hadn't come. All that effort of climbing hills and getting wet in the snow and dry in the clubhouse wasn't worth just a smile. I thought I would have to look forward only to the joy of skiing if I was to keep up my spirits, but then my spirit was too wet and dismal like the weather to foresee any joy in it. My thoughts must have expressed themselves across my face because Cathy began to laugh. "I love you because you're so cute. Now cheer up." "How can I when you expect me to be so unfriendly as to become understanding?" "Darling, you can be as friendly as you like." She stretched her hand out to take mine and glanced back at the road in time to spin the steering wheel so that we missed another speedster shooting over the crest of the hill in the middle of the road. Fortunately the shoulder was strong enough to hold us until we got back on the asphalt. "We've always been friendly, but you must remember that now I'm married, and I want to be a good wife." "What do you think I am?" I said. "The devil?" "Of course not, darling. But you are dangerous, you know." "I was under the impression it was the women who were the dangerous ones. They work it out so that it seems as if the men were making the advances when all the time they are the ones doing all the seducing." "Tommie dear, I keep a pocket book on Freud in the dashboard compartment in front of you. Why don't you take a look at it? It might help you." "Touch," I said. "That'll stop me generalizing, which is fine because I wanted to get more personal." "Let's not talk about it, shall we? We'll see what happens." "There you are, you see, you prove my point. If you're not going to seduce me, I can't make any advances, that is, safely." "And we are now ten miles from the nearest town," she said. "So my darling, you be good!" She switched on the headlights as it was getting difficult to see in the darkness and mist in front of us. The occasional farmhouses squatting darkly distant in the fields with only single lights glimmering from them gave the aspect of quiet hearths and lonely prayer meetings. The car lights at full range lit up the tall naked trees grappling in the air. By the roadside, cold stones glinted bleakly. Our flight into pleasure was also an escape for me. That sordid world which had strangled me like a snake in Toronto was being left behind, and now I was free for three days of enjoyment when my conscience could rest morphined with the finer air. Decision could wait for my return, but, until then, the world had stopped turning, all obligation was dead and, most important of all, Melanie no longer existed.

Review

The book bears witness to the unchanging nature of human frailty and the complexities of love, lust and hate... The reader follows Davis, his sister, her girlfriend and the ex-hockey star through a rollicking, sometimes funny, sometimes bittersweet, journey of personal discovery. (BRANTFORD EXPOSITOR. 12.14.96) Composed with youthful vigour, the book is an enjoyable, rebellious, anti-establishment rant [which] deserves a wide audience. (VIEW, 6.20-28.96) A good read... funny and sad, just like life itself, as it traces the tale of young love... when everything seemed so different, yet things weren't really different. -- Stoney Creek News, April 24, 1996

About this edition

• Publisher: Davus Pub
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0915317052
• ISBN 13: 9780915317059
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220