Skids

Lori A. Dunn is an ESL teacher and an event coordinator, with a
background in linguistics and education in Okanagan, B.C.

Skids is a collection of short stories illuminating the marginalized in
society—the runaways, the junkies, the gay boys turning tricks, the
young women giving blowjobs to feed their kids and their habits.

All of the stories are told in the first person in a
stream-of-consciousness, telling-it-straight style. The settings change,
but many of the revolving characters’ issues remain the same, whether
it is the lesbian in detox (“Detox”), the junkie in a recovery house
(“Recovery”), or the prostitute in a psych ward (“Pyjamas”).
Some of the more poignant dramas take place in Vancouver’s troubled
areas: a young man who turns tricks on Davie Street craves affection
along with his fix (“Angel’s House of Ice”); a junkie on methadone
in the Downtown Eastside waits to meet her baby daughter, being brought
by a social worker (“Create a Real Available Beach”); a preteen girl
is kidnapped from Newton by her mother’s God-crazy, junkie
ex-boyfriend (“Driving Uncle Randy”). In the collection’s most
optimistic story, “Marvellous Madame Min,” a recently orphaned girl
is taken in by a caring foster mother.

None of these stories are easy to read, but the true-to-life street
voices that permeate them need to be heard.