Poison Town
Poison Town
The school building was bright, shiny, and new, with giant windows and two crisp, green soccer fields. The smelting company had dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into it, just like everything else in this town, and wouldn’t let anyone forget it. A granite slab below the Canadian flag in front of the school reminded every kid, teacher, and parent of our corporate sponsors.
It was a warm, wet, golden Thursday in May. Birds fluttered between the evergreen trees around the staff parking lot. The sky was hazy, but not gloomy. I sucked in a long, deep breath, and tasted faint metal - like the smell of an indoor pool. When we first moved here I thought the smell had just been smoke from the forest fires, but that wasn’t it.
We moved from Vancouver to this company town in the Kootenays last fall for a job opportunity Dad couldn't pass up - despite Mom’s efforts to talk him out of it. I hadn’t wanted to leave Vancouver, but when we first arrived here, I thought we’d moved to paradise. I had freedom like never before. I could walk or bike everywhere. And the mountains. Oh, the mountains…
“Hey, Mom, there are those yellow rings again.”
Mom glanced back. A dark look crossed her face like a cloud passing over the sun, just like the last time I’d pointed out the yellow puddles. Her lips pressed thin. I stared at her until she turned away. What was she worried about?
Poison Town chronicles 11 days in the life of 14-year old Addie Woods beginning on Thursday May 12 and her visit to Principal Socks’ office. Addie’s family, including her mom and dad and older brother Jamie, has recently moved to a company town in the Kootenays. Addie is having a difficult time fitting in as is her brother whose asthma has flared up after the move. Addie notices that there is a smell to the town and, through her questions, concludes that the smell has something to do with the smelting company. Partnered in Science with her worst enemy Pyra, Addie attempts to prove that the smelting company is responsible for the smell, yellow rings, her brother's asthma and her recent diagnosis of ADHD. Priya, whose father, Dr. Gill, works with Addie’s father and twenty other scientists at the smelting company, attempts to disprove Addie’s theory.
Poison Town addresses many issues, beginning with industrial air pollution. Intertwined with that theme, Campbell also looks at family relationships, including husband and wife, parents, siblings and the extended family, specifically grandfather and daughter. Additionally, Campbell considers the dynamics of friendship. Finally, she raises the question of who is responsible for pollution and how each of us has a role to play in keeping our world safe.
A timely and interesting read, Poison Town is not just a story of a family’s move, but it also contains a mystery that needs to be solved.
Christina Pike is the retired principal of Macdonald Drive Junior High in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.