Excerpt from "Seasons in Time"
This portion of the novel takes place as Nathan struggles with "homelessness in the city.
Chapter 6
Another day began to fade into nightfall. The air became more chilled as the temperature began to drop. To Nathan, it seemed that such a long time had
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As the day drew nearer to a close, Nathan found himself as he was when the day had begun - still wandering aimlessly through the streets of the city with no real sense of purpose or direction – not sure of what he was in search of. The urgency for his actions to leave home and escape from his family seemed far less crucial now than it had been when his journey had begun. Nathan’s strong resolve was
felt about them before leaving home. His raw emotions from being neglected and misunderstood, his feelings of desolation, had all but settled - giving way to a yearning for the familiarity and comfort of home.
Through his wanderings Nathan tried to keep himself in the shadow of the buildings he passed. He made every effort to maintain his anonymity as he did not want to chance someone recognizing him. He walked from one city block to another, turning randomly up one street and then down another. Having no sense of direction, Nathan let his curiosity be his guide. His pace had slowed. It had
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The neighbourhood Nathan had wandered into did not have the glitz and glamour of the Christmas Season as he saw in the downtown part of the city the afternoon before. From the drabness of the buildings that lined the sidewalk and the street itself, the neighbourhood appeared to be the poorer side of town. The plaster exteriors were stained with streaks of grime and mildew. Most of the buildings were either places of industry or warehouses. There was an odd storefront interspersed among them. Some of the businesses had apartments for rent on the upper floors. The more derelict buildings were boarded up.
The sidewalks along the street were strewn with people of varied descriptions. Their clothing consisted of an assortment of tattered looking coats, hats, and scarves. Many of the destitute were huddled in doorways or encamped under loading platforms, or any nook or cranny they could find, trying to escape the harsh biting cold of winter out on the street. Some of the others made makeshift shelters with tarpaulins supported by shopping carts which contained all that they owned, as little as it was.
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Nathan continued along his way, deeper into this side of the city. He pulled the brim of his toque down low, leaving it just above his eyes. Tugging at his coat collar with his gloved fingers, he pulled it upwards at the back of the neck. With his coat collar riding high, he continued along discreetly, hoping to go unnoticed as he passed by the homeless people that he encountered along his way.
passed since earlier that day at the bistro. The hours seemed to drag on endlessly. As the grey sky darkened, the city took on a more ominous appearance of shadow and light. Snowflakes continued to drift downward from the sky above. Every so often there would be a
bone chilling rush of wind causing the snowflakes to become more animated. The flakes swirled with the greatest of ease through the air, before gently settling on the sidewalk, rendering themselves lifeless as they touched the cold concrete.
beginning to be swallowed up by uncertainty. After being out on the street for almost two days, the harsh reality of his present circumstance evoked a rush of warm memories of the home he left behind. How the young teen felt about his family now was quite different than how he had
become more laboured than it was when he first started wandering earlier that day. Eventually the young teen found himself in a less familiar part of the city. It was a rough looking neighbourhood. He was a long way from where his journey through the city had first begun, twenty-four hours earlier, at the main downtown bus terminal.
