Joey’s mother depended on her very much. Being the only girl in the family and the oldest with four younger brothers, she took over some of her mother’s housework. Grandmother worked very hard too, unlike some older women who just sat by the door and stared at the passers-by daily. Joey’s father only came home from the city once a month. When he was home he usually slept all day to make up for the long working hours. So the three generations of women were left to take care of everything.
Her grandmother and mother ran a convenience store near an elementary school. They left early in the morning for the store, so the school children could buy food and drinks when they missed their breakfast. When her grandmother and mother were gone for the day, Joey was left in charge. She sent the older boys to school and kept the youngest one within her sight. Her daily workload included cleaning, doing the laundry and helping her brothers with their school work.
She dropped out of school in grade six. Her mother said, "Girls don’t need education. All they need is good fortune. You marry well, then you are guaranteed a lifelong good living." Joey wanted to ask her mother what would happen if the husband deserted you. But she dared not.
Joey loved to read and finished all the books in the village library, although there weren’t too many. Austen, the Brontes, Dickens, Lawrence, Joyce, Woolf, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Balzac, Kafka etc., she read them all. She didn’t understand some of them but she read them anyway. Every night her grandmother had to order her to put down the book and go to sleep. Sometimes she went up into the hills or sat on the rocks by the sea, places where she could read in peace. She had no friends, since she spent all her spare time reading.
Joey loved to read and finished all the books in the village library, although there weren’t too many. Austen, the Brontes, Dickens, Lawrence, Joyce, Woolf, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Balzac, Kafka etc., she read them all. She didn’t understand some of them, but she read them anyway. Every night her grandmother had to order her to put down the book and go to sleep. Sometimes she went up into the hills or sat on the rocks by the sea, places where she could read in peace. She had no friends, since she spent all her spare time reading.
Not long after her youngest brother entered high school, Joey told her family that she was leaving for North America. Her father thought she was crazy. Her mother was furious. Her grandmother cried, and her brothers begged her not to leave.
She was nineteen. It was a chaotic era; the Vietnam War war, the hippies, Woodstock, the civil rights movement, the assassinations and the Watergate conspiracy.
Thirty years later, Joey is in his office, a heritage building with exposed wood beans and brick walls. Every morning she stands by the window looking up at the sky with a cup of coffee. It is her way to welcome the day. Rain or shine, she never complaints about the weather. She makes her own coffee because she doesn’t like to order people around, and bakes biscotti for everybody in the office. She listens to classical music in the morning and jazz in the afternoon. On her desk, facing her is a photo of her two daughters. The elder girl finished English Literature at UBC and is currently studying for her master's degree at the University of Toronto. The younger girl got a Fine Arts degree from Nova Scotia College of Art and wants to be an artist. Joey’s husband is her business partner. They own an art gallery. Behind her chair are bookcases of books, mostly art and literature. Joey still reads, but these days she prefers poetry.
—Published by Vancouver Public Library 2009
