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    Fever: Short Story
    Fever: Short Story
    Fever: Short Story
    Ebook31 pages26 minutes

    Fever: Short Story

    By Sharon Butala

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    About this ebook

    While on a business trip in Calgary, Cecilia’s husband, Colin, falls suddenly and seriously ill. With Colin in the hospital in a fevered sleep, Cecilia feels stunned and disconnected, and she finds herself striking up a sexual relationship with another guest at the hotel that leaves her questioning both her marriage and her own motives.

    Fever is a collection of sixteen short stories that reveal the secret inner lives of women and men, skilfully peeling back their defenses to expose crystallizing moments of joy, pain, fear, and guiltless pleasure. Sharon Butala infuses Fever with an intensity of emotion that often catches readers off guard, making for a reading experience that is always honest and powerful.

    HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 30, 2013
    ISBN9781443419956
    Fever: Short Story
    Author

    Sharon Butala

    SHARON BUTALA is an award-winning and bestselling author of both fiction and non-fiction. Her classic book The Perfection of the Morning was a #1 bestseller and a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. Fever, a short story collection, won the 1992 Authors’ Award for Paperback Fiction and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best book (Canada and Caribbean region). Butala is a recipient of the Marian Engel Award, the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, and the 2012 Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence. In 2002 she became an Officer of the Order of Canada. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.

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      Book preview

      Fever - Sharon Butala

      Book Cover

      Fever

      Sharon Butala

      Contents

      Cover

      Title Page

      Fever

      About the Author

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

      Fever

      Cecilia had slept well the first part of the night, but later she was dimly aware of a restlessness on Colin’s part that kept pulling her up from the dreamless depths of her heavy sleep to a pale awareness of something being not right. She remembered feeling hot and must have thrown off all her covers, an act unusual for her since she was almost always too cold, and often resorted to a flannel nightgown even in summer. About two-thirty she came fully awake, shivering because she was uncovered, and in her gropings for blankets, found that Colin was hugging all the bedcovers tightly to himself.

      She woke him, pushing against his shoulder, then touching his cheek and forehead with her palm, puzzled and then alarmed by the hotness of his skin and by the dry heat radiating from his body.

      I’m sick, he mumbled, with a mixture of fear and irritation in his voice that woke her further.

      What’s the matter? she asked.

      I’m sick, he repeated, a whisper this time, and gave a little moan, involuntarily it seemed, as though he had been stricken suddenly with pain.

      She fumbled for the bedside lamp, its location forgotten from the evening before when they had checked in, exhausted from their long flight and the delay when they had changed planes in Winnipeg. The lamp on, she blinked, staring down at him, trying to tell if his pallor was real or just the consequence of poor light or her grogginess.

      I’ll need a doctor, he said, his eyes closed, and he clenched his jaw as if against the chattering of his teeth, or pain.

      Cecilia was confused, vague pictures passed through her mind, vanishing before she could catch them. She sat up in bed, put both hands over her face, and tried to make sense of things. They had arrived in Calgary, Colin was sick, he said he needed a doctor. She put her hands down and was disconcerted to find him staring at her

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