. 14 - North Shore News ~ Sunday, December 24, 2000

T

ieep, pe eve

Claudia Casper
Contributing Writer
OUR dentist, Janet
Griffin-Merth, died
earlier this month.

A couple of weeks azo I
was in tora filling. She
winced and said, “sorry, sorry.
sorry” as she always did when
I groan if the needle pinches
the guns, or burns as it hits a
nerve.

Twas sitting there, the
rubber dam clamp in my

closed, drifiing, and Janci
said, “Llove that smell. What
is in?”

[longed to tell her it was
just my moisturizer. PF put my
finger up to signify TE would
tell her Iter and tried to smile
with my eves to indicate that
the news was good ——  cheap-
er than perfume.

The women who werk in
her West Vancouver office
seem very connected, their
work integrated with their
family lives. Most have chil-
dren and some are parenting
alone,

When | bring Gee
who has not started kinder-
garten vet, to my appoint:
ments he is found adorable,
his questions are answered
thoughtfully and he is loved
with a kind of protective,
appreciative. intelligent love
that, though momentary, is
Not casual,

It is a love that pervades
the office and is part of the
coanection between linet and
Shelley and Susan and Wendy
and the other women and
also Dr. Shirkat, the only male
in the office. It’s neighbourly

love, cnilian love, love
between virtual strangers. To
be within its field is to know
and be known spontaneously,
without projection, within the
present moment, as the selfin
that moment.

Fanet said several things I
wanted to reply to or com-
ment on during my filling,
but when the white stuff was
hard and she'd sculpted it to
conform to my bite and rhe
rubber dam was out, it was
time to say goodbye. |
laughed and said we needed
to go out for a coffee because

Pnew had so many pending
conversations in mv head wits
her that neat appomment I
night explode.

She said she'd hike thar.

By now, Pve known 3
number of people who died. .
Mosuy from cancer, or the .
kinds of things that kill vou’
when you're getting old.

Each death has its own feel-
ing. Janet, smiling down ac
me last week with rosy cheeks
and clear blue eves, whose
children are not all grown up,
who chose a job fixing peo-
ple’s teeth, was so present: no.

mouth, safety glasses on, eves
fade, no warning, not even
the kind of tacit goodbye we
sometimes have with people
we love who are older or are
about tu take a plane, where
both of you sense there might
not be another meeting and
so the everyday farewell rakes
on a stronger pressing of
hands, a more intense gaze, a
communication of partcular
love or affection.

Her death was sudden but
not accidental. It was ticking
away inside her, undetected
diabetes that caused her heart
to stop under the duress of
flu.

Last appointment she
reminded me of the time
George fell asleep on my lap
while Susan cleaned my teeth.
Susan called Janet in and they
looked at him fondly and
remembered the times their
children had fallen asleep on
them. ‘

— Claudia Casper is a
North Shore vesident anda
novelist. Her last novel, The _.
Reconstruction, fs published
by Penguin, Claudia is at.
work on ber second novel,
which will be released . nent,
vear by Penguin.

Our.

25

Contract
harmony

A tentative agreement -
has been reached on
behalf of highways
maintenance workers
employed by Capilano...
Highway Services.
“The announcement* was. + §
made by the B.C. Government
and Service Employees’ Union *- -
(BCGEU) last Friday. :
; = The highways contractor
: 5 > ‘employs approximately . 100°
; - BCGEU members who service’
the roads and highways in the ..
Howe. Sound/North® Shore
area, including : the. Cassiar_
Connector, Ironworkers’:
Memorial and: Lions ‘Gate
bridges,’ the Sea to Sky
Highway to Squamish.and
Whistler = and = ‘north: _' of.
Pemberton. Ee

“The bargaining “commit-
tee is recommending -accep-- °°.
tance,” said Lloyd. Glibbery,
BCGEU. staff representative.
“This tentative agreement: -
addresses our concerns about
job security and the economic
issues.” © .

The proposed contract is in...
line with -similar agreements’ - |
the. BCGEU has. recently
negotiated with a number of
other . highway contractors.
around B.C. A ratification vote
was to take place on Dec.. 20:
and, 21. Details of the agree-:.
ment will be released after the :
vote. Capilano ~ Highway --:.
Services had voted strongly in :
‘favour of strike. action earlier
this fall. The employees hav

. been working svithout a co
tract since last November.

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