Elaine Billstrom

The Woman in the Black Raincoat: Short Stories and Poems Elaine Billstrom

This is a diverse series of short stories that span a period from the 1940's through to the 1970s. Among them, In "Homeless" a little girls builds a house for herself with very rudimentary materials, and comes to grief with the attempt; a housewife recalls her first memory of snow, which is in short supply in coastal, British Columbia. In Back to Normal, a young man returns home after a long absence, only to learn his father has become a part of a medical experiment. In Courney's Reunion, a young girl turns to drastic means to reunite her family, torn apart by scandal. In the title story, Marilyn and George cause curiosity and disdain in their upscale neighborhood. Pigs rout in their lawn; goats stand on their roof, plus chickens are everywhere . . . but most baffling is Marilyn's choice of dress. Her only apparel is a shabby black raincoat, which she wears at all times in all weather. A neighbour's invitation to her party could lead to some answers! In Shh, Jake and Jan experience an abrupt change of life style when they switch their careers, from concert pianist and pediatrician to a joint venture in pyramid selling. It leads to a startling conclusion. The poetry includes "The Moonlit Garden" It was written when the author was thirteen, and launched her interest in writing by winning a high school poetry contest. Ad Infinitum was published in The Vancouver Sun when she was nineteen.