just for fun

Sam Montcalm: In the Flesh

We’ve been getting to know our mystery writers and their characters a bit more over the last few weeks. I think it’s time to turn our attention back to Sam Montcalm, detective on the scene in Tom Henighan’s Nightshade.

Sam is a self-described “lone wolf,” with complicated relationships and a deep cynicism towards humankind. Has he always been so brash and hard around the edges?

Justine Mencken, Sam’s ex-wife, weighs in on the real Sam Montcalm.

Sam Montcalm: In the Flesh
(A Few Words from Justine Mencken)

The other week, when I was stopping in Victoria B.C., I had a visit from two tight-lipped, steely-eyed suits. Two men, of no particular age or character, men in black who said almost nothing, but conveyed as soon as I opened the door that they intended to talk to me. It didn’t appear I had a choice—they were CSIS agents, of course– and they’d come along, it turned out, to ask me a few questions about Sam Montcalm.

My name is Justine Mencken, and I was married to Sam for while, quite a few years ago. I guess the agents knew about as much about our marriage as I did—or so they thought. Actually, they knew nothing very important about anything. They had some facts, but no insights, no intuitions, no imagination. Maybe that’s why they looked like zombies.

They wouldn’t tell me why they wanted to know about Sam, so I made up a lot of stuff and fed it to them, pretending that I hated the bastard and was happy to expose his failings. My guess is that they were sent to talk to me because Sam had irritated one of the Rockcliffe politico types that he sometimes worked for. That wouldn’t be surprising, because Sam irritated a lot of people. Also, he was scared of no one. But I wasn’t going to give them anything to beat him with.

After they left I sat down and thought: what would I have told them if I’d decided to be honest. Maybe something like this:

Sam Montcalm is a complicated man, strong and vulnerable, rough-cut and elegant, easy to know but somehow aloof. He has a few unconditional loves, namely, nature, music and art– not that he can’t be critical and suspicious of his own enthusiasms, since he’s always testing his feelings, trying to come to terms with what he encounters. He enjoys people, especially people who are honest, funny, and who make an effort to connect. He doesn’t mind simplicity but hates people wrapped up in their own self-images, people who enjoy power, or pretentious fools. He’s tolerant of harmless phonies, liars and anyone who surprises him with a new side of human nature. He thinks modern government is a swindle, and that politicians are generally corrupt, self-serving and useless. He likes some traditional rituals, noble old buildings, colourful neighbourhoods, and hates suburbia, shopping centres and developers. I don’t have to tell you that he has an eye for interesting women, but he’s too much of a romantic to be a real Don Juan. It would never occur to him to think of his liaisons in terms of number.

All of this is pretty general. So let me tell you how I did with the guy. I loved him of course and thought he was the most interesting man I’d ever met. At the same time I hated the bastard, because he could be irrational, moody, jealous, fickle, and stupidly possessive. We made love, listened to music and watched flicks together. We smoked pot, argued, and threw dishes at each other.

He tried to do so much for me that I was becoming helpless and stupefied. I needed to find myself outside of him. So I turned to other guys and that was the deal-breaker. The uproar was tremendous. We were lucky no one got killed. After a while a girl needs a little freedom, peace and silence, so I took off. I think of him almost every day, good thoughts, but I’d never go back. It was a phase for me, and maybe for him– I hope it was for him, although I doubt it.

I’m not sure the guy will ever change, but if he does, I’d like to be around to see it.

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Tom Henighan is an Ottawa writer and editor. His fiction includes The Well of Time, shortlisted for the Seal Books First Novel Award; Mercury Man, shortlisted for the Red Maple Award; and Doom Lake Holiday, a teen mystery set in Ontario’s Rideau Lakes.

© 2010 Defining Canada.