“Block Out” Excerpt

“Maybelle brought her blocked husband smoked fish wrapped in butcher’s paper. Also wonderful pears. Also gossip, sweet candy. But the truth is, though it is very seldom admitted to, there is very little anyone can do for anyone else. Interesting excursions can be planned, people invited to dinner, noodle puddings produced, orange juice squeezed, lamps left burning, bed covers turned invitingly down. Kisses can be dropped on the tops of heads, and news brought from one person’s world to another, but in the end it’s a matter of waiting things out in an improvised shelter and thinking as kindly of yourself as possible.”

~From Orange Fish by Carol Shields