Etta and Otto and Russell and James (24 page)

W
hen they reached the tip of the peninsula, Etta climbed over the safety fence and James slid under it, out onto the bed of flat gray stones dipping down into the water.
I’m going to stay here
, said James from the top of the rocks.
Be careful.

Of course, said Etta. She left her bag and rifle on the stone beside him.

A
fter Kasia went home, Otto did the dishes until all that was left on the counter was the coffee tin. He pulled the petals off the flowers, six petals altogether, and put them in his mortar.

O
tto took two trains, one from Halifax and then one from Regina. He sat by the window with a letter open on the tray in front of him.

Just remember to breathe,

it said.

R
ussell loaned Etta his horse to get to the station in town. You look beautiful, he said.

You should come too, said Etta.

No, said Russell.

A
t the place where the big stones turned small and met the water, Etta took all the things out of her pocket, a paper crane, a bobby-pin, a nickel, a green ribbon, a locket, a small plastic soldier, a perfectly round pebble, a button, a photograph, an arrowhead, a ring, a stalk of dried lavender, half a melted tea-light, and a silver baby spoon with the handle bent back on itself, and put them in a line. She watched as a wave pushed in over them, and then pulled them away. Then she took off her shoes and stockings and dress and stepped into the water.

O
tto spread the paste on his eyelids and felt his way down the hall, into the bedroom, and into their bed. He flexed his stocking feet against the blankets and then let them relax.

He breathed easy and deep six times in a slow ritardando.

And then he stopped.

And then he was underwater.

G
ray water, but not cold and not loud. Otto could see Etta’s feet and ankles and knees, closer to the shore. He swam toward them. Once he was close enough that she noticed him, she dove down to meet him. They sat together underwater on the rocky sandy floor.

I missed you, said Otto.

I know, said Etta. I’m sorry. She pushed her fingers into the wet sand. I’m going to miss you.

I know, said Otto. I’m sorry.

But I’ll be okay.

You’re sure?

Yes. It’s a loop, Otto. It’s just a long loop.

The water blurred their faces so they could be any age.

T
hey sat like that until Etta had to breathe. She turned and kissed Otto, his mouth already full of salt water. She squeezed his hand twice,

one,

two,

then let go and squinted her eyes and surfaced.

S
he was facing out, away from the land. Everything was gray and green and moving as far as she could see.

O
tto’s train was due in seven minutes. Etta stood on the platform and waited for the wind it would bring.

THANK YOU

Thank You

Ione and Rick and Erin and Chris Hooper, my mountains

Charlie Williams, my balance

and

The endlessly helpful Cathryn Mary Summerhayes, Annemarie Blumenhagen, and Claudia Ballard at WME

The inspiring and obliging editors, Juliet Annan, Nicole Winstanley, and Marysue Rucci

and

Bren Simmers and Claire Podulka for the thoughts and words

Isabelle Casier for the French

and

Uncle Peter for the books

Aunt Gloria for the recipes

and

The Vermont Studio Center for time and place and people

The Canada Council for the Arts for opportunity

and

of course

Caroline and Ted Old, and, with them,

The happy burden of history, connectivity, and

Saskatchewan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D
escribed as “Amélie Poulain with an old suitcase full of futuristic gadgets, a viola, and an accordion,” Emma Hooper is a musician and writer. As a musician, her solo project
Waitress for the Bees
tours internationally and has earned her a Finnish Cultural Knighthood. Meanwhile, as an author she has published a number of short stories, nonfiction pieces, poetry, and libretti, as well as a number of academic papers and presentations on a range of things from retro-futurism to gender studies in pop music. Emma is currently a research-lecturer at Bath Spa University, in the Commercial Music department. She lives in the United Kingdom but goes home to cross-country ski in Canada as much as she can.

Simon & Schuster
Reading Group Guide

ETTA
AND
OTTO
AND
RUSSELL
AND
JAMES

EMMA HOOPER

INTRODUCTION

Otto Vogel wakes before dawn on his farm in rural Saskatchewan, Canada, to find a letter from his wife, Etta. She will return if she can; she has never seen water and has gone to find the ocean. When their beloved neighbor Russell Palmer learns from Otto that she has left, he embarks on a mission to find her. Her husband chooses to stay home.

The two men had formed a deep bond as boys after an accident on a tractor left Russell partially crippled. Thereafter they alternated days at the schoolhouse, which was run by a young teacher, Etta Gloria Kinnick. Then World War II came, when Otto and every other young man in town (except Russell, because of his disability) was called to serve. As time passed, Etta read of Otto’s experiences in the war during a tender correspondence between them, which blossomed into romance when the young man returned on leave. Russell supported Etta emotionally when she suffered a devastating loss, but Etta chose Otto, not Russell, as her husband. Thereafter the three shared a warm friendship into their latter years.

Now eighty-three-year-old Etta makes her way on foot toward Halifax in the east, taking on as a companion a somewhat tame coyote, whom she names James; her friend Russell, hoping to dissuade her from her mission, tracks her down, but she refuses to turn back and goes on undeterred. Otto, who knows in his heart that Etta must do as her own heart dictates, diverts his unease and sadness by taking up the craft of papier-mâché, at which he excels; and the two men await the outcome of Etta’s quest.

TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. One day during their childhood years, Alma impressed her
little sister Etta with a display of whitened fish bones, which Etta found
strikingly beautiful: “What language do fish speak?” she asked. “Probably French,”
said Alma. “Like Grandma.” Does the scene contain a clue to Etta’s late-life
journey?

2. During the journey, James the coyote begins to speak to Etta
in human language; a little boy who has seen Etta says she was “maybe a witch or
maybe a lady-Santa-Claus. She was magical.” We are in a world of magic realism. What
other subtle magic do you see in the novel? What role do you think this stylistic
choice plays in the narrative?

3. Otto and Russell first learn about the war abroad through
radio interviews, in which they hear a story about imprisoned children and babies
who float through the prison window because they are so light from malnourishment.
Discuss the meaning of this story. Where else in the novel do you come across
storytelling or oral history?

4. Etta and Otto have long corresponded by letter, beginning with
Otto’s letter from the European front and continuing much later while Etta is hiking
to the ocean. In what ways do letters at the beginning and the end of their
relationship mirror one another? Why do you think Emma Hooper chose the epistolary
form to convey many of the details in her novel?

5. When Russell finds Etta and tries to convince her to come
home, she responds: “You’re not actually here to fetch me. . . .
You’re here . . . because it’s your turn, finally. It’s sad that you
felt you needed my permission for that, but, oh well. Go, Russell, go do whatever,
wherever. Go do it alone, and now, because you want to and you’re allowed to and you
can.” What has Etta learned on her trek that prompts her to encourage Russell to
travel? What meaning do you think Russell is seeking when he rides north in search
of caribou?

6. In the course of Etta’s travels, she becomes a celebrity—as
does Otto, at home, though both would rather have pursued their endeavors privately.
What qualities do Etta’s pilgrimage to the sea and Otto’s papier-mâché projects
share? What qualities distinguish them? What might these august achievements say
about the nature of celebrity?

7. Russell does not return to his farm before the end of the
novel, but in the latter part of the novel he sends a letter to Otto estimating that
he “should be home” before autumn; then, still later, he is shown soliciting
directions to the airport. How might his travels in the Northwest Territories have
changed him?

8. In one of his letters, Otto admits to Etta that he has “this
idea that all these boys who have come to fill the places of the ones we’ve lost
will fill their places exactly and be shot through or stabbed in the dark or blown
up just like the last ones, exactly like them, one to one.” His vision betrays
disillusionment in the face of unremitting death on the battlefield. Do you think
this is the author’s statement about the nature of war? How have wars affected you
or those close to you?

9. As Etta’s journey gains national media attention, a journalist
named Bryony decides unexpectedly to travel alongside her. Do you think Bryony’s
account of her brother’s troubled life helps to explain that decision? Compare the
loss of Bryony’s brother to Etta’s loss of her sister Alma.

10. At home, when husband and wife slept in the same bed, Etta
tried to “sleep without any part of her touching any part of [Otto],” so that she
would no longer be pulled into his dream. What was the dream? And while she lies in
a hospital bed late in her journey, for a while her husband’s identity replaces her
own. How do you interpret this phenomenon?

11. In the final pages, Etta enters the ocean at last. At home in
his bed, Otto breathes “easy and deep six times in a slow ritardando,” and then he
is “underwater.” How do you interpret the lovers’ meeting underwater, and their
tender words as they sit there together? Why dos the author return to the past in
the final lines of the novel?