September 29

Spencer,

I have quit the library and quit town. My plan is to pursue autumn, to track the metamorphosis of deciduous woodlands. Where the leaf turns, there turn I. My first destination: the Laurentians. Mont Tremblant. La Symphonie des Couleurs. Southwest on Highway 40 to Montreal, then the Trans-Canada all the way up. From the Laurentians I will follow the colour south. The Green Mountains of Vermont, the Kancamagus Scenic Byway in New Hampshire, down down down, until pigment leaves the leaves, until winter strips the branches bare.

I have brought: a road map of the United States Eastern Seaboard, the Complete Field Guide to Fall Foliage, and Mum’s lime MB roadster, which has not seen asphalt since the third impaired driving charge.

She told us that if we had two pennies left in the world we should buy a loaf of bread with one and a lily with the other. This is my lily.

Affectionately yours,

Sid

Eliza Robertson studies creative writing and political science at the University of Victoria. Her work has appeared in The Fiddlehead and The Malahat Review, where she currently serves as an intern on the fiction editorial board.