One Day It Happens

One Day It Happens is an eclectic collection of short stories by Mary Lou Dickinson, which deal in myriad forms with communication or lack thereof in the lives of the characters. One of the universal factors in human existence is the need to connect with one another. When these characters fail to do so, it is the result of fear, of loneliness, of violence, of impending death. Sometimes they succeed in spite of everything to reach a place of insight and understanding, usually in unexpected ways and to their own surprise. About some of the stories: Margaret, in The Empty Chair, almost 90 and lonely after the death of her husband, has a bizarre sexual encounter with a man living in the same retirement home. In A Country Weekend, a visit to the family cottage prompts a terrifying and almost fatal swim across the lake. A writer in Hello, Angel, imagines and fears the sexual assault and abduction of a young girl by his next door neighbour. From the Front explores the typical day of a telephone crisis counsellor. Eva, in White Sails on Lake Ontario, at last takes steps to leave an abusive relationship. In The Train Ride, Joe, who rides the train in order to have conversations with people, fails to connect with a fellow passenger. Libby, in One Day It Happens, visits a friend whose husband is recovering from a heart attack, making all of them feel vulnerable and close to death in a number of ways.