I was just learning how to read and was reading every sign out loud, practising, and when I saw Cockburn Avenue I said Cock Burn Avenue and then asked what's that? And Elf, she must have been eleven or twelve, said that's from too much sex and my mother said shhhh from the front passenger seat and we didn't dare look over at my dad who clutched the wheel and peered out the windshield like a sniper tracking his target. There were two things he didn't ever want to talk about and they were sex and Russia.
by Miriam Toews (0 Reviews)
In a childhood memory, the narrator recalls practicing reading signs aloud, when they came across Cockburn Avenue and mispronounced it as Cock Burn Avenue. Curious about the name, they asked Elf, a girl around the same age, about it. Elf responded that the name was related to "too much sex," prompting a quick hush from the narrator's mother, indicating the subject was sensitive.
The narrator's father is depicted as tense and serious, avoiding discussions about sex and Russia, which he preferred not to address. The scene highlights the childhood innocence and the unspoken taboos within the family setting.
"There were two things he didn't ever want to talk about and they were sex and Russia."
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