These rooms have always tried to tell me something about my relationships
- by Heather O’NeillHeather O’Neill Illustration by Emily Taylor, Updated 13:36, Jun. 21, 2023 | Published 11:49, Jan. 11, 2018This article was published over a year ago. Some information may no longer be current.
Illustration by Emily Taylor
Seven years old, Wilson Avenue
I had been sent to live with my dad. The tiles on the kitchen floor were red. There was a blue melamine table whose surface was covered with small gold stars.
My dad told me he’d learned how to cook in a prison kitchen. He had a wonderful recipe for butter cookies. He got me to help him make the round bits of dough and drop them on the baking sheet. He cursed at me the whole time, saying I was doing it wrong. Then he pressed each one down with a fork. That required artistry.
The next morning, I put the cookies in a Tupperware container and hurried off to school. I placed them on the table with all the other sweets at the bake sale. And even if you looked hard, you would not be able to determine which belonged to a child without a mother.
The Walrus uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. Learn more or change your cookie preferences.
Before you go, did you know that The Walrus is a registered charity? We rely on donations and support from readers like you to keep our journalism independent and freely available online.
When you donate to The Walrus, you’re helping writers, editors, and artists produce stories like the ones you’ve just read. Every story is meticulously researched, written, and edited, before undergoing a rigorous fact-checking process. These stories take time, but they’re worth the effort, because you leave our site better informed about Canada and its people.
If you’d like to ensure we continue creating stories that matter to you, with a level of accuracy you can trust, please consider becoming a supporter of The Walrus. I know it’s tough out there with inflation and rising costs, but good journalism affects us as well, so I don’t ask this lightly.
Will you join us in keeping independent journalism free and available to all?
Samia Madwar
Senior Editor, The Walrus
Hey, thank you for reading!
Before you go, did you know that The Walrus is a registered charity? We rely on donations and support from readers like you to keep our journalism independent and freely available online.
If you’d like to ensure we continue creating stories that matter to you, with a level of accuracy you can trust, please consider becoming a supporter of The Walrus. I know it’s tough out there with inflation and rising costs, but good journalism affects us as well, so I don’t ask this lightly.
Will you join us in keeping independent journalism free and available to all?
Did you know that The Walrus is a registered charity? We rely on donations from our readers to keep our journalism independent and thriving. That means the story you’re reading was made possible by readers like you.
With the support of our community, every story is meticulously researched, written, and edited, before undergoing a rigorous fact-checking process, so that you always have access to stories you trust. If you believe in this work, consider joining your fellow readers in supporting Canada’s conversation and donate to The Walrus.
Rose Danen
Development Officer, The Walrus
We are Canada’s reader-supported conversation.
Did you know that The Walrus is a registered charity? We rely on donations from our readers to keep our journalism independent and thriving. That means the story you’re reading was made possible by readers like you.
With the support of our community, every story is meticulously researched, written, and edited, before undergoing a rigorous fact-checking process, so that you always have access to stories you trust. If you believe in this work, consider joining your fellow readers in supporting Canada’s conversation and donate to The Walrus.