Sunday, August 30, 2020

Tim Hortons in Canadian Literature: An Even Dozen

With all the CanLit reading I've been doing for the Shadow Giller project, I've come across a lot of references to Tim Hortons. To make it an even dozen, I'll start with a link to an online sugar cereal review by Canadian author Brian Francis. Did you know that there's a Tim Hortons breakfast cereal?



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When Neela finally broke her silence, Rukmini gasped again, unprepared for the bass of her vocals. Neela's voice was neither sweet nor raspy, tender nor sensual. Rukmini was reminded of her grandfather's death, and the two weeks her family had spent beside his hospital bed, waiting for him to pass. His room had smelled sour, despite the growing number of bouquets of not-quite-white-but not-quite-pink carnations fighting with the boxes of Timbits for table space. Listening to the sound of his laboured breathing and coughing fits made her wish she too would escape her own body. When she later described Neela's voice to Puna, she said that it sounded like the feeling of watching someone die, like witnessing every leaf on a deciduous tree change colour and fall as autumn transitioned into winter. 
(p 21)

-from The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya

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"Eternity," my mother's friend Angela said sternly, taking a sip of the Tim Hortons coffee she held in one hand as she pointed at me with the other. [...] "If anyone calls you a n----r, you break their fucking nose." She then proceeded to take my hand and show me the exact force I would need to accomplish this assault. I wasn't yet eleven.
_____

While working my first job on campus, helping first years with their internet in residence, one of the cleaners, a woman with a European accent, saw me wiping away sweat on a hot day. "Why are you sweating like that? You must be used to this weather where you're from."
And at a Tim Hortons in the winter of my final year, the cashier gave me the most pitiful glance. "You poor dear. It must be so hard adjusting to Canadian winters," she said, handing me my coffee.
"Well, no. I was born here," I replied.
"Oh! That's great! You speak English well."

-from They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up by Eternity Martis

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One night, Pierce skipped dessert and walked out of the mess tent to the crashing sound from a rocket's first impact, then heard the long drawn-out whine of the next incoming round. The second rocket streaked past and blasted the kitchen. Amid screams of the wounded, Pierce found his way back to the smoke-filled tent. There was blood, vomit, Red Bull cans, Tim Hortons paper cups, doughnut fragments and muffin wrappers.
"I shouldn't have skipped dessert," Pierce said.
_____

This is the second time he's called me "the best." If only I'd earned such praise for something other than handing over cash.
"Can I buy you dinner?" I ask. "There's a Tims just up the street."

-from Misconduct of the Heart by Cordelia Strobe

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It's Friday night, but it's not busy out. This is Winnipeg, and it's not late enough. The younger versions of my selves are jammed in the back of the car. There's someone in my trunk, laughing. I drive through a Tim Hortons and get two extra-large coffees and turn back. None of them want anything. (p 301)

-from Vanishing Monuments by John Elizabeth Stintzi

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2017 Spring/Summer Job Fair
(Sponsored by the Old Rat Creek Economic Development Department)

Come one, come all, and learn about all the employment opportunities in our booming town! Skilled and unskilled workers needed. Bring your resume and bring your friends. Interviews may be conducted on the spot. Booths will be set up at the town office on Saturday, May 5, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. with HR representatives from the following companies:
- Ye Olde Rat Creeke Fudgery
- Old Rat Creek Best Western
- Owen and Felix's "Whitecaps North" Indoor Soccer training Academy
- Oh Canada, Eh? Maple Syrup and T-Shirts Retail Emporium
- Naomi's Next-to-Godliness Soap Company
- True North Performing Arts Centre
- Tim Hortons (formerly The Donut Hole)
- Canadian Tire (formerly Old Rat Creek Hardware)
And many more! The band Iron Glory (formerly Satan's Ballsack) will be playing gospel rock in the foyer of the town office all afternoon. ('The Pull of Old Rat Creek,' p 179)
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He had a friend who'd been laid off from his job as an insurance adjuster and still showered and got dressed in a suit and tie for work every day. Larry took the crowded morning bus downtown and sat in Tim Hortons watching daytime TV or playing solitaire on his phone, then took the five o'clock bus home at the end of the day. Like a dead tree that refused to fall to the forest floor. His wife had no idea. Or maybe she did. Maybe she was just playing along to save Larry the embarrassment. ('Mycology,' p 196)

-from The Swan Suit by Katherine Fawcett

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Her mother always made weak coffee. Her parents should stop buying Maxwell House and get the good stuff. Maybe she'd make her mom stop at Tim Hortons the next time they were in Saskatoon or Edmonton and pick up a bag of good coffee. They might live out in the country, but they didn't have to act like backwoods hicks. (p 45)
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Gord had been to Starbucks a couple of times in Edmonton. He hadn't liked it. He said the coffee was overpriced and tasted burnt.
"Why would someone pay so much for a simple cup of coffee? Why not go to Timmy Ho's or a gas station? People just think it tastes better because they paid more and it's a fancy chain." (p 257)

-from Mad Cow by Alexis Kienlen

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Kelli liked pretty much anywhere she was taken. She enjoyed outings, full stop. Be they to the mall, the doctor's, Tim Hortons. (p 23)
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Kelli's thing was to dawdle. She liked a few hours' advance notice of any potential outing, to sit in her chair and think about the proposed destination, perhaps issue a few inquiries, before she would agree to heave herself to her feet and be helped on with her shoes. It wasn't that Kelli didn't like going out -- in fact the magic words Tim Hortons could get her very excited at the prospect indeed -- it was simply that Kelli would not be rushed. (p 186)
_____

Trevor showed up, stepping into the foyer before I could get to the door to open it for him, holding a mere six-pack of Alexander Keith's -- he was only staying the afternoon, after all -- and a box of Timbits with which to tempt Kelli down to the rec room to keep him company in front of the sports channel. (p 64)

-from Watching You Without Me by Lynn Coady

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He's thinking about Elaine's Tim Hortons coffee and maybe a slice of that chocolate loaf she buys from the Israeli bakery in between his place and hers. He's hoping the Sobeys office will try his cellphone when they decide to reach him. He gave them both numbers, home and cell. He's imagining the call coming in. How his phone will display the caller so he can be prepared before he answers. ('The Elaine Levine Club')

-from You Are Not What We Expected by Sidura Ludwig

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"There he is." She points to a man making his way down the street in wide, determined steps. The man's eyes are deep pits in his face. His grey hair flaps with each pace. He wears a long, stone-washed jean jacket that hangs open and floats out behind him like a cape.
"Who is he?"
"The Ambler. All day, he makes trips to Tim Hortons. He'll be back in about ten minutes with a cup. Then, in an hour or so, he ambles back." Maggie taps ash out the window, ignoring the ashtray. Nan would be ticked if she saw. (p 197)
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"I love people-watching," Jamie says. "It's like trying to figure out their secrets. Why do you think that guy walks back and forth to Tim's all day?"
"He's doing coffee runs for someone," Maureen says.
"But he only carries one coffee at a time," Imogene says. "I think they're for him."
"Maybe he has a crush on someone who works at Tim's," Jamie says. "He comes in to gaze upon them."
"If he lines up in front of them every day, maybe they'll notice him eventually," Imogene says. (p 213-214)
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She opens the glove compartment and locates some napkins. Her hands tremble as she unfolds them.
"You want another coffee?" he says. She nods. She just wants the car to stop. Jamie pulls into an Irving station. "Did I scare you?" he asks. "I scared you. I'm sorry. It's cause I'm right tough, see."
"Why do you keep a bat in your car?"
"It's good to have something just in case. I keep one under my bed too. Anyone breaks in -- pok." Jamie makes a swinging gesture. She pushes a smile into her cheeks.
"We can get a coffee in here or go to the Tim's on Torbay Road," he says.
"I'm okay," she says. "I wasn't really enjoying the last one. There's nowhere open to get a good one now."
"There's nowhere to get a good nothing, ever." He puts the car in drive. (p 195)

-from Some People's Children by Bridget Canning

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Among the food court's sticky tables, with the lunchtime thrum packing her ears, Mala found a spot and set down her shopping and milky Tim Hortons tea. The air was oversaturated with competing odours -- fast-food meat, battered fish, the sulphurous reek of stir-fried cabbage. Even a week ago, the smells would have triggered a reaction like two fingers prodding down her throat. But oh, the bliss of the second trimester, her nausea sailing away like a stretch of bad weather. (Ch 57)

-from Secret Lives of Mothers and Daughters by Anita Kushwaha

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How about you stop feeling sorry for yourself, Chip barks at me, and start kicking some ass. That'll make you feel better.
Sometimes when Eugene and the Other Demons gang up on me, I fight back. Blackbird Mavrias, I begin, First Nations photojournalist. Winner of a National Pictures of the Year award and an Aboriginal Achievement award.
That and a buck fifty will get you a cup of coffee at Timmy's, says Eugene. (p 101)

-from Indians on Vacation by Thomas King

To see my entire collection of Tim Hortons in Canadian Literature examples, click here.

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