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How’s it going with Tina?
Overheard at my favorite sushi restaurant, the one where every table is in a room of its own. (A true haven for the eavesdroppers, yes, but a liability when you’re biting into a Spider roll and the guy in the next room chooses that very moment to describe the time he was so drunk he threw up four times, then fell asleep and pissed his pants, right there in the bed, dude!)
Zachary So how’s it going with Tina?
Jake It’s okay, I guess. I don’t know…the thing is, I make these huge, elaborate breakfasts and dinners, right? And Tina, she gets on the phone right in the middle with her folks, right? And she talks and talks and talks, blah blah blah, and I’m like [sing-songy voice] “Hoooney, dinner’s on the taaable,” in a nice way, right, and she’s like, “Blah blah blah blah,” and twenty minutes later she gets off the phone and comes to the table, and of course by then the dinner is ice cold and tastes like shit, right? And I’m like, man!
In recent weeks the teenage violence in Toronto and the surrounding area has been escalating at an alarming rate. And even though I know the teenagers in this neighbourhood are more likely to form a gang for the purpose of washing cars for free, or helping old ladies across the street, I was still jittery when I saw a group of mean looking teens walking through a department store.
Until one of them laughed, and then the rest laughed, and looked like the boys they really are, and I saw that one kid was holding a little gift bag covered with hearts and I felt extremely sheepish, resolving anew to stop reading the newspaper.
No, I didn’t like celebrating Solstice, and no, I’m not looking forward to it next year, but I did neglect to relate one moment which did feel real. Around the middle of the day, Paul came up to me and gave me a hug. “Thank you, Mama,” he said.
Paul says thank yous for the strangest reasons. He never remembers to say the polite thank you thing unless I nudge him, but spontaneously? He’s gone into rapturous thank yous for a minute straight over me handing him a fork so he can eat his dinner.
“What for?” I asked, “The Solstice gifts?”
He pointed wordlessly to the streamers hanging from the wall.
“For…the celebration?”
He nodded, wreathed in smiles. I hugged him back. “You’re very welcome, my love.”
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