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Winnipeg Free Press

Plenty to like in Young's familiar fictions

While not all readers are fans of short fiction, it's worth readers knowing the short story is alive and thriving thanks to writers like British Columbia's Clea Young, whose first collection, Teardown, appeared in 2016. Young has now released her second collection, 13 lively stories with many featuring people who are in their late 30s and early 40s. The title story is exemplary of Young's ability to present, in an entertaining way, distinctive three-dimensional characters and their immediate concerns. At a local gathering, Erik is unaccompanied by his wife Amanda when he meets a couple that's new to the neighbourhood and already featured in local gossip. Welcome to the Neighbourhood Erik invites Ross and Leah to his home: ''Come by for a little Christmas cheer tonight, if you fancy. The wife would love to meet you.' The wife! Amanda would murder him if she heard him refer to her as the wife. He might as well have called her the old ball and chain.' Close to where Erik and Amanda live, a fellow has put up a tent and is living in it. Though they dislike it and believe it shouldn't be there, they do nothing about it. When the new couple comes to visit, Ross is revolted by the tent and vows immediately to tear the thing down. Erik needs to react, but he's suffering from a back pain that just gets worse. In the highly relatable Hyacinth, Cameron Hornby regularly shops for groceries at the same store, making sure he checks out via the same young cashier named Jane; she has become his favourite. Young cleverly gives the reader the contrasting points of view of both Cameron and Jane, who has become quite bothered by Cameron's interest in her, especially since he's twice her age. He 'is nobody, harmless, but something about how much he cares, his premeditated jokes, his stunning recall of the little she's revealed about herself… makes her uneasy. She's begun to anticipate, if not dread, her Saturday morning encounter with him,' Young writes. It even affects her relationship with her new live-in boyfriend. Though Jane almost becomes afraid of Cameron, the story is both funny and heartwarming, showing how an interaction can affect the thoughts and imaginations of two likable people who have nothing in common except the weekly encounter. The first three stories in the book deal with mothers and their relationships with their children. The story Crows, Kittens, Mint Juleps shows what 13-year-old girls do as friends, taking turns living in each other's house, and how they get to dislike their mothers. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. The narrator recalls how she and her friend Aurora drank too much one evening: 'What did Aurora and I love about being drunk? The feeling of shedding ourselves, bodies that were becoming increasingly confusing to inhabit day by day, not that we articulated it that way.' Given the book's title, it's fitting that one of the appealing aspects of Welcome to the Neighbourhood is in the settings, which are often picturesque parts of British Columbia. The story Shred features a lone 68-year-old widow named Margot who continues to live and walk in the mountains. Cyclists often encounter her on narrow paths and threaten to run her down. The story Rescue takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Riley has taken in a dog named Jeju who was shipped to her all the way from Korea. Given that her husband Brock and nine-year-old daughter Lola don't particularly want a dog, Riley wonders if she's done the right thing. 'What had I done? I'm working from home, let's get a dog! Stupid, kneejerk woman.' These are but a few highlights from a vivid, often funny, completely engaging collection that captures many facets of contemporary life. Clea Young's Welcome to the Neighbourhood is probably best enjoyed at the rate of one enticing short story per day. Dave Williamson is a Winnipeg writer after whom the Manitoba Writers' Guild has named their annual national short story contest.