Author Barb Howard at home with a more reasonable pet than former occupants.

She lives in the tiger house.

According to legend, author Barb Howard’s rustic Bragg Creek home once housed an eccentric woman and her pet tiger. The tiger lived in the basement and went for walks up a forested hill of Crown land just past the backyard.

The tiger is long gone, but its spirit lives on in Howard’s recent book, Notes for Monday. Main character Tommy McBeath is a fierce personality caged by his own obsolescence. With retirement looming, and the responsibility of caring for a mentally unstable spouse, McBeath growls with frustration as he tries to make notes for a speech at his farewell luncheon.

“God it feels good to be bitter. But I must keep my bitterness in check. Should be light and self-deprecating. The audience doesn’t want an executive summary of my stiff hands and loopy wife. They want to know that working all these years has been rewarding in every aspect.”

Struggling to sum up 50 years in a 10-minute speech, McBeath fixates on everything in the office, from a missing credenza to the office manager’s tie.

He heads home to finish his notes. On the way, he picks up his wife Vera from her supervised day program, then stops for take-out. Between glasses of cognac and worrying whether Vera will wander from the house, McBeath’s thoughts grow more and more volatile. What he will ultimately end up saying at his luncheon creates an intriguing narrative tension.

McBeath’s story is a deceptively easy read. It’s witty, it’s caustic and, at 102 pages, it can be read in a single sitting. At the centre, however, are the big topics: aging, Alzheimer’s, and the contradictions of an honourable man with a very big mouth. These are things Howard knows about personally.

Her late father was a lawyer and “one of those guys who would say horrific things and then do something so amazingly fair and forward-thinking.” Unlike McBeath, however, Howard’s father didn’t have to worry about writing a speech for his own 50th anniversary as a lawyer. By the time that came around, he suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s. Despite his debilitated state, Howard accompanied him to a luncheon celebrating his accomplishments. Years later, Howard’s mother succumbed to the same illness.

Because of these parallels, Howard says she couldn’t have written Notes for Monday while her parents were alive.

The legal arena is familiar ground for Howard, who was admitted to the bar in 1988 against the backdrop of the Calgary Olympics. She practiced corporate law for many years before receiving a master of arts degree and becoming a full-time writer and part-time creative writing instructor.

Notes for Monday is an entertaining, thoughtful read and the first book published by Calgary’s Recliner Books. Howard has also published many short stories and her first book, Whipstock, was nominated for a Henry Kreisel Award. She has a novel for young adults coming out in May.

Local musician Christie Simmons’ touching song “Let’s Pour a Drink, Vera” was inspired by Notes for Monday; see cinnamonwind.com for details.