SWITCHED

Rita Hynes lugged her pregnant body up the rural hospital’s wooden steps. It was the night of 7 December 1962, and her rounded belly tightened with each contraction. At the hospital, she felt the intensifying crests of pain—at first bearable, then searing as the night wore on. Just after midnight, the cries of her new baby pierced the air. A boy! She named him Clarence Peter Hynes. He was deposited in the hospital’s nursery and tucked into a bassinet, while Rita dozed in the women’s ward.
Clarence, whom everyone calls Clar, grew up in a Canadian fishing town, St. Bernard’s, perched on the edge of Fortune Bay in the North Atlantic island province of Newfoundland. His father, Ches, was a fisherman, and Clar was the first in a steady stream of infants to arrive at the Hyneses’ home. Clar slept in a top bunk in a room he shared with his brothers. They were fairer than he was—Clar had a toasty complexion and a head of thick, dark hair. He grew to become a local heartthrob, with a chiselled brow and lean, muscular frame. When he drove his navy blue Chevy Camaro around town, the teenage girls of St. Bernard’s swooned.
At age 24, Clar met a woman named Cheryl at a motel bar in Marystown, farther down the boot-shaped peninsula from where he grew up. She was the belle of the bar, and he was instantly smitten. As the two talked over beers and glasses of rum and 7Up,Cheryl found him attentive and kind. They danced and chatted the night away. She didn’t want it to end. They were married two years later in Marystown’s white, steepled Anglican church.
Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av Reader's Digest India.
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Denne historien er fra October 2024-utgaven av Reader's Digest India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.
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Of Strays and Solace
Amid monsoon skies and empty shores, the free-roaming dogs on Goa's beaches became my unexpected companions through grief and silence

POINT TO PONDER
WE LIVE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES. The craving for certainty is so dominant and so overwhelming that we lose so much of the nuance and mystery and uncertainty that are the wellspring of wonder in life.

A SINKING FEELING
A mother and daughter are trapped below the deck of a capsized boat. A shrinking air pocket is the only thing keeping them alive

STUDIO
Swan Song by Priyesh Trivedi 40 x 30 inches, Oil on canvas

The Scoop on Sunscreen
FORTUNATELY, THE DAYS of slathering on baby oil and baking in the sun to get an angry burn—are long over.

AN ORCHESTRA FOR EVERYONE
COMMUNITY In Gothenburg, Sweden, a free amateur orchestra unites hundreds of people spanning all ages and dozens of nationalities.

Let the Mystery Be
I desperately wanted to know who built these wondrous mosaics. But maybe some things are better left unexplained

Dad's Lists
A son turns a page after unearthing his father's notebooks

13 THINGS Tea Time
POP THE kettle on: 21 May is International Tea Day.

The Vanishing Masters of Miniature Art
Amid Udaipur's quiet alleys, a centuries-old artistic tradition confronts a troubling future as its practitioners compete with slowing demand and digital reproductions