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Stephanie is a small-town girl. She has not lived in Parkdale for a very long time but she makes quick connections and she gets involved.
No surprise to learn that she knew Katelynn Sampson, the child who died recently on West Lodge Ave. Stephanie also knows Katelynn's mother, Bernice. And she knows the couple in whose care the little girl died.
And so it was that Stephanie volunteered to sing in the choir at Katelynn's funeral. We talked the other day. I asked her how she knew Katelynn's mother.
She said, "I work the graveyard shift. I'd walk my dog at night – I had a big brown Lab, Solon – and I'd see Bernice on the street." She had also seen Katelynn on the street, a child in Parkdale at 3 a.m.
Oh, sweet Jesus, don't ask.
"Katelynn had beautiful ringlets. I remember, once, I said to Bernice, 'I'd like to steal her.' That's a Newfoundland expression."
Bernice misunderstood.
Stephanie said, "My friend Chas – he's an older man who lives upstairs – called me when he heard the news about Katelynn. He said I should see if I could find out anything on Facebook – he's 78, and he knows Facebook. I saw some tribute pages set up, and there was a call for singers."
Stephanie is a choirgirl from way back when. She reads music and she has a voice. She felt compelled to volunteer. "I was supposed to work. I called my supervisor and got out of my shift. And I called the choir director. He was sharp. He said to bring a bottle of water and avoid dairy.
"At rehearsal we worked through The Lord is My Shepherd, Jesus Loves the Little Children and Amazing Grace. During the ceremony they also played Concrete Angel."
I do not know that song. Stephanie said it was about a battered child who died; under the circumstances, it must have been unbearable.
Stephanie said, "The choir was dabbing their eyes." You would have dabbed yours, too. "I kept my head down. I knew I had to project my voice. I concentrated on what the choir director said to do." She paused.
"I was singing to drug dealers." And then I saw a little flash of something in her eyes. "The Saturday before the funeral there were five or six crackheads across from the funeral home. One of them was cleaning a pipe."
An addicts' guard of honour?
Stephanie has a right to her anger. We all should be angry. The list gets bigger all the time: Holly, Farah, Cecilia, Katelynn.
How does Stephanie feel, after having sung at the funeral of a child she knew – the daughter of a woman she knew – a sweet little kid who died in the custody of a couple she knew?
She said, "I sleep a bit better now." She meant that time passes not easily, but slowly. She said, "That girl was a sweet little girl."
Yes, she was.
Life goes on for the rest of us. And what of those raised voices, within the choir and without? Stephanie said, "You get to the point where you feel you are shouting into the wind."
Parkdale wears you down. Look out for each other. Look after yourself.
Joe Fiorito usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Email: jfiorito@thestar.ca
