912 Place -- A Fairy Tale
Once upon a time in the magic mirror outside of 912 Place, in Victoria, British Columbia, there were four tired retirees yearning to finally put their big city lives to rest, in favour of a more serene, slower paced, environmentally friendly region of their beloved country — Canada.
Scotty, Nino, Ezma and Toine all met in Victoria in the late 1990s where they lived comfortably in a turn of the century basic stucco apartment building, along with a steady flow of transients and silver fish aplenty.
Scotty and Nino were a couple in love and living together for the first time in their romantic life.
Ezma was and still is a happily single, curious, bold, flamboyant, colourful, psychedelic artiste extraordinaire.
Toine, also happily single, was an inner circle government executive staffer whose political leanings made the others feel ill at ease. She behaved like a fifth wheel, guarded and watching from all directions mindful of the damage the disgruntled or misinformed can cause a political staffer who had to be self protective and polite in all circumstances.
Their home-based lives intersected occasionally at first — a wave from the windows they passed by to get down the driveway to the entrance doors or to the garages out back; a few polite words when they met at the waste disposal bins, around the postal boxes or in the laundry room.
In the early Spring, they would engage in small talk on the front lawn overseeing Beacon Hill Park, along side the grove of the beautiful pink blooming Japanese cherry tree blossoms on trees as old as the apartment building. On good weather days, there would be a steady flow of chats at Toine’s ground floor kitchen window, where people would be drawn to the scent of freshly baked chocolate chips cookies, hoping for a sample.
Over time Ezma, Scotty and Nino interacted in-house more frequently with short and long visits, meal sharing, story telling, and discovering mutual interests.
Toine stayed at arm’s length because of the nature of her 24-7 career, limiting her free time and minimizing any hope of any level of quality bonding. She was in a line of work that is surreal to outsiders, especially those who have no interest whatsoever in politics or in knowing how a political machine works.
Every time she looks into the magic mirror, she sees the Toine who hailed from a very small and isolated hamlet in the Upper Fraser Canyon. There she was sitting on the front porch overlooking the TransCanada Highway and saying: “To where are all of those people going? One day I will find out and never come back!”
It took a while to meet that goal; but, it did eventually happen, along with a lot of post secondary education and involvement with an intriguing political party.
Toine was diagnosed early in life as ‘structured sequential’ and her life choices followed (and still follow) a logically set pattern leading to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Hard work and determination turned out to be effective life choices for her. She is often referred to as that person who sits on horseshoes. Luckily the mirror has never cracked from too much ego or shame. From one page of her own story follows another and another; the adventures are rarely regretted, sometimes challenging, and always character building.
Toine proudly ended up working for the leader of her favoured political party. Her 24-7 position required the utmost of professionalism and the highest standards of conduct both at work and elsewhere at all times. Her job entailed a plethora assignments from public relations, communications, problem solving, office management, staff morale, and mentorship to event planning and execution. It was always understood to be temporary and it always had to be a top priority over her family, friends and personal calendar.
Living in the same apartment building as Scotty, Nino and Ezma became something like what respite is supposed to do — a therapy of sorts. The experience actually created a delightful casual relationship between ‘those three’ and her. She always referred to the apartment acquaintances as pleasure while it lasted, because she knew that ultimately the political tide would change, her job would end and her life would go back to almost where it left off on the mainland of British Columbia.
Ezma grew up in a northern Ontario hamlet that no longer exists today.
As most young small towners with aspirations for more, she could hardly wait to finish basic schooling and head south to where the action was! Her amazing typing skills got her a job right away and she eventually became a lifetime public servant based in Victoria.
She was astute enough to know, early in life, the importance and value of a government job, and she was definitely one of those keeners who dug into her assigned jobs, no matter how mundane some tasks would be, and gave them the utmost of attention to ensure accuracy and appreciation.
However, her personal passion was art and that is where her head would be outside of her 8:30 to 4:30 shift. Her very colourful and swank apartment at 912 Place was filled with her art and craft work — paintings, drawings, sculptures, murals, batik, tie-dying, needle felting, knitting, book design, photography, cards, story writing, journaling, and even origami. Her whimsical pieces catch the eye of everyone she invites in for a tour of her self made studio apartment, and the diversity of her talents were and still are most impressive.
Like Toine, Ezma’s life story flows neatly from one page to another. Her carefree adventures are not regretted, her artistic skills are self-created and embraced by her and by many with whom she freely shares with confidence and pride.
Scotty and Nino are free spirited guys who got settled into the working world later in life, when they both realized that at retirement it would be nice to receive a pension. They are both avid outdoorsmen and very keen about cycling, hiking and travelling. They also love to cook and entertain. Scotty is particularly good with the handyman jobs that benefit all homeowners and Nino has a multitude of artsy and design talents that seem to require no effort at all. Eventually Scotty joined the provincial government public service and Nino became a Montessori Kindergarten teacher and art class specialist.
It has now been almost four years since retirement and the connection between Toine and Ezma continues via phone and FaceTime calls. Surprisingly to themselves and others, they have become good friends. The connection between Ezma, Scotty and Nino has always been strong, even when the guys got married and lived in a free standing home significantly far away from 912. It truly is a lovely tale.
In life people come and go; personalities jive or clash; there are understandings and misunderstandings; busy times and quiet times; successes and failures; genuine people and not so genuine.
Sometimes we go out on a limb and gamble with our life choices — success is not 100%; but, holding on to a sure win and holding tightly to the magic mirror that will forever hold you to account, is what ultimately shapes happiness.
So now the time has come for Ezma, Scotty, Nino and Toine to look deeper into that magic mirror and directly say to themselves “Where do we go from here?”
Well, when looking carefully at that reflection, something amazing happens. They become the image in the mirror and find themselves looking forward not back. They see what an ideal future will look like and realize it is the ideal time for all four to embark on a new adventure of a lifetime — together.
As many can attest, there was once a need for big city life for young, aspiring youth — especially young, aspiring small town youth. But, that was then and this is now and beyond. Feelings change; dreams change; and, a need to go back and bring all of it together for that final stretch of the finite lifespan, drives some people away from dead ends or ruts, in favour of living the dream — a new dream.
Nino and Ezma lived in small town Central Canada during their younger years; Scotty is originally from the Maritimes and small town Toine absolutely loved her many visits to that part of the country.
They have all aged and aged well. Personal and professional goals have been accomplished; the family members and friends have either passed on or they have disbursed all over the globe; and, the original need for the big city experience has come and gone.
The magic mirror says it is time to move on, to move forward, to move elsewhere away from the hustle and bustle of big city life and on to the glorious serenity of small town Acadia — a very quaint cultured and historic region of maritime Canada, where the roots and interests of all four friends fit, and can nicely and easily continue to blend into an exciting, intriguing and delightful final leg of a great life. And so it was …
Their first look at the real estate listings manifests a wide range of options, but none more beautiful than the seaside triplex character home, on acreage, overlooking the Bay of Fundy on the west coast of Nova Scotia. The center unit is the bigger of the three and ideal for Scotty and Nino; the left of center will suit Toine just fine and the iconic mahogany framed fireplace of the third unit and spacious bathroom would be the clincher to aspire Ezma to agree.
And agree she did, as did Toine. Scotty and Nino could hardly wait to pack up and go, to get there first, so that moving in would be easy and seamless for a final celebration of four lives well lived.
And so, as it was dreamt and written on this 22nd day of the second month in the 22nd year of 2000, at the tail end of 22 months of the world being turned
upside down by the COVID-19 virus and all of its variants, it came to pass that this diverse group of four free-spirited, distinctly different people with different personalities, skills, likes and dislikes, regrouped and learned to live together comfortably, and happily, committed to each other, for as long as they each would live.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Antoinetta (Netty) DeWit is a retired provincial government public servant who worked away from her home base for 28 years to serve in a unique working environment, second to no other she ever had.
That experience turned her life around and into a fairy tale come true.
This story is for Ezma, Scotty and Nino!
MARCH 2022
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