Chasing Her Own Tail

Janet Money is a writer and policy analyst for the Canadian Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation in Toronto.

Like The Driver (1982), Keeling’s first book of stories, Chasing Her Own Tail contains thematically linked stories. They are about female hermits, recluses, and women alone or just lonely.

A haunting use of repeated imagery and situation makes the stories echo: in each, there is a dog or cat (sometimes the heroine’s closest relationship) and children (usually grown up and moved away). Men figure as peripheral attachments, convenient lovers definitely not worthy of trust.

While the women in “Chasing Her Own Tail,” “Agathe,” and “Mine” might be considered “strange” (building a bomb shelter, shooting a husband, and luring a cat in to help dispel nightmares of annihilation), those in the other four stories could be any insecure women who don’t like to go out much and are attached to pets and children. Hence the haunting quality: they could be us.

“Mine” appeared first in 84: Best Canadian Stories.