Newfoundland Gothic

-You go to boil some water for tea. The kettle is already warm. You didn’t use the kettle today. You live alone.

-Your mom brings up embarassing memories of your cousin Kyle. You remember him vividly. You two were really close growing up. You don’t have a cousin named Kyle.

-There’s faint meowing coming from your back bridge. There’s no cat.

-You haven’t bought a pair of rubber boots since you were a child. There are gently used Dunlops in the back of your closet. They’re your size.

-You say hello to Mr. Murphy on the way to school every day. Everyone knows Mr. Murphy. Mr. Murphy is active in the church, the town council, and with fundraising. Your town has 500 people. You realize that you don’t know his family, you don’t know where he lives, or how old he is. Your mother doesn’t like to talk about the fact that Mr. Murphy looked exactly the same when she was a child.

-Sometimes you see something huge just under the surface of the water. Your dad says that it’s a school of cod fish. Since when did school’s of cod fish get longer than a cruise ship?

-The lady at the shop knows your birthday. One of the construction workers knows your middle name. A woman in a town six hours away from yours approaches you and tells you to give your grandfather her regards. You’ve never met any of these people.