Three Days Left. Priscila Uppal

      Cover

      

      Selected Praise for Priscila Uppal’s Works

      Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother

      “Projection proves to be remarkably free of self-pity … [A] raw, passionate memoir, a fierce exercise in family exorcism.”

      — Montreal Gazette

      “Uppal is brave … made of sterner stuff than most; an inspiration to messed-up adult children everywhere.”

      — Globe and Mail

      “[S]uperbly conveyed without any excessive literary artifice … Projection is a book that’s simultaneously cerebral and visceral, and its ardent refusal of any sort of mind-body split — to sacrifice sophistication for sentiment or vice versa — is the sign of an author who has thrown herself wholly into her book.”

      — National Post

      “Incorporating movie and pop-culture references as storytelling devices is what makes this book truly shine … Above all, Uppal is an impeccable writer, deftly infusing complex scenes and emotions with power and weight … a worthy read.”

      — Quill & Quire

      “[A] heartbreaking memoir.”

      —Toronto Life

      “Intimate, sad, probing and self-aware, often very funny logbook of a harrowing encounter.”

      — Literary Review of Canada

      To Whom It May Concern

      “It is to be hoped that Uppal will continue to rival Atwood in productivity and wit. As Shakespeare might have said: Fortune, smile again on lovers of CanLit; grace us with more irresistible stories from Uppal’s unique perspective.”

      — Montreal Gazette

      “Uppal is a deep thinker, capable of carefully peeling back layer upon layer of the human psyche … makes us laugh and cry long after the last page of the novel has been read.”

      — Ottawa Citizen

      “Uppal’s writing bursts with humour, plot turns and insights … Uppal should be congratulated for writing one of the most powerful and riskiest scenes in a Canadian novel … [she] reveals herself as a compassionate and perspicacious novelist whose humanity and intelligence cannot be overlooked.”

      — Globe and Mail

      The Divine Economy of Salvation

      “In its confident voice and its unsparing, concisely powerful narrative — like Margaret Laurence at her best — Divine Economy is an impressive debut.”

      — Globe and Mail

      “A luminous debut … haunting, gripping, and surprisingly nuanced: begins as a simple mystery and turns into a work of great depth and seriousness.”

      — Kirkus starred review

      Dedication

      For Richard Teleky,

      who has been here since the beginning

      Epigraph

      Who, marked for failure, dulled by grief,

      Has traded in his wife and friend

      For this warm ledge, this alder leaf:

      Comfort that does not comprehend.

      — Edna St. Vincent Millay, “The Return”

      Three Days Left

      The stewardess was middle-aged, but dressed in a short skirt and low-cut blazer she looked younger, reddish-brown wavy hair held up by two matching blue barrettes. She smiled and offered David his complimentary pillow and blanket, her bust angled generously for a quick view. As she tilted her head to attend to the next aisle, David caught her gently by the arm. He looked out the window next to the emergency door at the deep blue sky and white pompous clouds. “I’m sorry. I must be very tired,” he told her.

      She adjusted her hair, tucking a loose strand behind her ears. “Yes?”

      “I can’t seem to remember where this plane is going.”

      “Going?”

      “Yes, I’m sorry … I’m not feeling well.”

      She gestured toward his sickness bag.

      “No, I just need to know where we’re going. I mean, am I on my way to Florida? My mother lives in Florida.”

      “No,” she replied, “but we might be on the way to see your father.”

      “My father. My father is …”

      “We stay in the sky. Don’t you remember? A new kind of vacation for a new kind of life?” She dropped a glossy pamphlet in his lap on top of the complimentary blanket, smiled dutifully, and continued down the aisle.

      Why spend thousands of dollars on hotels and restaurants on your vacation? said a beautiful woman in a pink business suit to an equally good-looking though dishevelled girlfriend. Why? When nine times out of ten it rains and your wallet gets stolen? He turned the page and both women were now dressed in light cotton sundresses, lounging in airplane chairs with tall colourful drinks in their hands, sharing a good joke. Why bother? When you can get carried into the air and served like a queen without leaving your chair or your country? The girls laughed and drank and laughed and drank and David looked around him and he was the only one alone. There were young men chatting with young women and couples playing cards and food being ordered from shiny menus and many a person with headphones watching movies and eating popcorn when all of a sudden David’s emergency window opened.