Tim Hortons in CanLit, Take 4

I'm excited about sharing a fourth winning batch of literary Timmys references with you. Drink up!

Getting a ride home from work,
the day hot and dry and almost over,
everyone was covered with dust,
and dirt from Bruce's workboots
was falling on the dried-mud floor
as he held his foot poised
above the dashboard radio,

It started when he said Turn
this garbage off!
and she replied with I like this song
and he lifted his boot     its heavy heel
inches from the volume knob,
his leg bent and ready to smash
something     the worksite clay
and pebbles rattling down 
from the fold in the cuff of his jeans,
You know I'll smash this thing
now turn it down!

Kelly Shepherd, author of Insomnia Bird

Three of us in the backseat
drinking warm tapwater
from Gatorade bottles,
hats low over our eyes,
pretending not to notice.

The next morning, they picked me up
at the usual place outside
the Southgate bus stop,
already in work vests
and holding hands.
Deanna smiled     said Good morning,
asked me if I wanted anything
from Tim's

-from 'The North Saskatchewan's Seventh Shade of Green,' Insomnia Bird: Edmonton Poems by Kelly Shepherd, p 86-87
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We stopped for coffee at the Tim Hortons in Seaforth. I'd have preferred the drive-through, but Professor Bruno wanted to drink his double-double in 'civilized fashion' - which was the first time in my life I'd hear Tims referred to as 'civilized.' It made me wonder what an alien species would make of our civilization if Tims were the only thing left of us.
--That's a fascinating question, said Professor Bruno. Do all the Tims survive or just one?
--Do you think it makes a difference, Professor?
--Of course it makes a difference, Alfie. If your alien species comes upon a single Timmy's in the middle of a wasteland, they won't know what to make of it or us. This lone Tim Hortons would be a mysterious artifact. But if all the Tims survived, like Canadian industrial cockroaches, they'd think we were insanely fond of plastic and bad coffee.
--But if that's how you feel, Professor, why did you want to stop at Tims?
--I'm Canadian, son. I am fond of bad coffee and plastic!

-from Days by Moonlight by Andre Alexis, p 184
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"How can you drink Tim Hortons? You probably put milk in it too, don't you?"
"Double double."

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A pink foam had formed along the banks of the artificial lake. Leaves, Tim Hortons cups, and refuse from Kentucky Fried Chicken bobbed on the small waves.

-from The Garneau Block by Todd Babiak, p 215 and 282
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I spent a week in Fort MacMurray, the heart of Canada's tarsands, camping on the fringe of the city and walking to downtown appointments along arterial roads with vehicles whipping past at highway speed. I surveyed the litter in the ditches -- Tim Hortons cups, cans of Black Horse beer from Newfoundland, lottery tickets -- and counted pickup trucks.

-from Born to Walk by Dan Rubinstein

For more excerpts about Tim Hortons, see my previous posts here.