#618 When Are You Coming Home?- Bryn Chancellor
This is the title selection from Chancellor’s 2015 collection. The book won the Prairie Schooner Prize.
Robert Cannon is a retired repair shop owner. He and his wife have moved and now he spends his time as a part-time locksmith. It seems like a normal story until we get hints that he is hiding from a tragedy. His son has suffered from an “accident” perhaps dealing with anger issue. He may have closed his shop due to embarrassment or something akin to that.
“That was how he believed he was known, how he wished to be known, how he knew himself. That life was bountiful beyond what he could have ever imagined. But now. Now. Everyone knew a different version. They all knew what he could not say aloud.”
He seems lonely and introspective. He keeps a copy of the keys he makes and “checks in” on the houses he has serviced. A bit creepy? Probably, especially when he actually goes into the houses. But, he is searching for something. He is looking for “Home,” whatever and wherever that is.
“Sometimes he simply drove by, and sometimes he went in, wandering the dark rooms, listening to the creeks in the silence. Nothing nefarious. He had no intentions. He just had an urge to check on things, these homes that did not belong to him.”
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