A Change of Scenery

I am in my hometown of Deep River, Ontario for a week, spending time with my mother who recently had hip replacement surgery. (She is making excellent progress). It’s cold here – minus 20 celsius or so – and underneath a 5- centimetre layer of dry, powdery snow, there’s a thick foundation of ice from a freezing rain storm two weeks ago. It is too treacherous for my mother to go out, so I am spending my time running errands like going to the library and the post office and the health food store in the mornings, and getting out into the bush or onto the frozen Ottawa River on my cross-country skis in the afternoon. I am not sure if there is place on the planet more fundamentally different from Amman.

Chatting with neighbours, sitting in the doctor’s office waiting room, or waiting in the grocery store check-out line, there are two topics of conversation that have the town abuzz. The first is the upcoming ‘Silver Spoon’ cross-country ski race this weekend that annually attracts competitors from across the province. The second, and vastly more interesting topic, is the disappearance two weeks ago of a local resident who has vanished without a trace. A 41-year-old man, single, originally from Australia was invited to a dinner party on a Sunday night (or so the story goes) and failed to show up. When he didn’t answer his phone, the hosts went to his house to find his lights on, wallet on the table, no signs of violence, but no signs of him, either. The Deep River police were called, and, in turn, the OPP. The search was on.

In addition to pasting up missing person signs up all over town, the OPP also pulled out their fleet of snowmobiles and proceeded to tear around the bush, looking for signs of the vanishing man. This is where the two topics of conversation collide: it turns out that in all their enthusiasm, the policemen dashing around on skidoos ruined the lovingly groomed ski trails. The town’s cross-country skiers and race organizers are livid. How can things be put to right in time for the race this weekend!? Outrage!

Truth to tell, I haven’t seen evidence of the destruction where I have been skiing, but there is nothing like a good story to spread around a small town to keep conversation lively, especially when the police are involved. Meanwhile the fellow is still missing. Maybe he has holed up in an ice-fishing hut in the middle of the Ottawa River to wait out the winter?