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A Dream of a Woman

Casey Plett
Contents (23)
  1. A DREAM OF A WOMAN
  2. A DREAM OF A WOMAN
  3. Contents
  4. HAZEL & CHRISTOPHER
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. OBSOLUTION
  9. PERFECT PLACES
  10. OBSOLUTION
  11. COULDN’T HEAR YOU TALK ANYMORE
  12. OBSOLUTION
  13. COULDN’T HEAR YOU TALK ANYMORE
  14. OBSOLUTION
  15. ROSE CITY, CITY OF ROSES
  16. OBSOLUTION
  17. ENOUGH TROUBLE
  18. 1
  19. 2
  20. 3
  21. 4
  22. FLOODWAY
  23. Acknowledgments
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A DREAM OF A WOMAN

A DREAM OF A WOMAN

Stories

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Casey Plett

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A DREAM OF A WOMAN

Copyright © 2021 by Casey Plett

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any part by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical—without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may use brief excerpts in a review, or in the case of photocopying in Canada, a licence from Access Copyright.

ARSENAL PULP PRESS

Suite 202 – 211 East Georgia St.

Vancouver, BC V6A 1Z6

Canada

arsenalpulp.com

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council for its publishing program, and the Government of Canada, and the Government of British Columbia (through the Book Publishing Tax Credit Program), for its publishing activities.

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Arsenal Pulp Press acknowledges the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, custodians of the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories where our office is located. We pay respect to their histories, traditions, and continuous living cultures and commit to accountability, respectful relations, and friendship.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to persons either living or deceased is purely coincidental.

“Couldn’t Hear You Talk Anymore” first appeared in the Offing, Trans Issue 2015, November 23, 2015.

“Floodway” first appeared in Your Impossible Voice, Issue 23, Fall 2020.

“Hazel & Christopher” first appeared in the December 6 instalment of the Short Story Advent Calendar 2019 (ed. Michael Hingston).

Cover and text design by Jazmin Welch

Cover art by Carly Bodnar and Sybil Lamb

Edited by Shirarose Wilensky

Printed and bound in Canada

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication:

Title: A dream of a woman : stories / Casey Plett.

Names: Plett, Casey, author.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210217553 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210217596 | ISBN 9781551528564 (softcover) | ISBN 9781551528571 (HTML)

Classification: LCC PS8631.L48 D74 2021 | DDC C813/.6—dc23

For Sarah B.
(Miss you, always)

And for Juanita
(Sorry about the rough parts.)

“Why do they say ghosts are cold? Mine are warm, a breath dampening your cheek, a voice when you thought you were alone.”

—JULIE BUNTIN, Marlena

“Temporarily could last a long time.”

—ALISON STINE, Road Out of Winter

Contents

HAZEL & CHRISTOPHER

OBSOLUTION

PERFECT PLACES

OBSOLUTION

COULDN’T HEAR YOU TALK ANYMORE

OBSOLUTION

COULDN’T HEAR YOU TALK ANYMORE

OBSOLUTION

ROSE CITY, CITY OF ROSES

OBSOLUTION

ENOUGH TROUBLE

FLOODWAY

Acknowledgments

HAZEL & CHRISTOPHER

1

When Hazel grew up and moved out of the prairies, she would learn from movies and the news that small towns were supposed to be poor and dying. But Hazel never thought of her unhappy childhood as horrific, and Christopher’s family was not only happy but rich. They lived in a cul-de-sac next to a canola field in a house with a wide yard surrounded by poplars; they were always renovating their basement. If you had pressed Hazel as a child, she maybe could’ve admitted she was jealous. In a glossily submerged way, maybe. Mostly, in that time she just loved being Christopher’s best friend.