Along Queen East, all the solitary men in laundromats look desolate, angry even, as if aware that their presence there was evidence of a life gone sideways. Disappointed and bored, they sit about reading graphic novels and staring dazed at their feet, their unloved clothes slowly tumbling dry.
At the school where I take our dog for her walks, five tweener girls in hoodies hung-out on the periphery. An ethnic multiplicity, they were supremely confident, dancing and singing:
Boy you make my heart go boom boom boom
You know when you get me hot it go boom boom boom
When you touch me like that it go boom boom boom
You know when you hit the spot it go boom boom boom
With attitude everywhere, they were snapping their fingers and swaying their hips just like the dangerous sex bombs they knew they were sure to become.
Further along at Jimmy Simpson Park, a woman shouted at her dog, trying to get it to come back. But he wasn’t interested, he moved slowly about the field fulfilling his own agenda. Still, she shrieked, louder and louder and then more quiet, and then louder again, “VICTOR! VICTOR! victor, come! VICTOR!!!” her voice impotent and angry, like so many on the strip.
Fanning out behind her were three city workers, each one collecting the spring detritus left by the winter. One of them either sighed or swore with each forlorn object he stabbed and put in his trash bag. He couldn’t believe how wet it was and how unexpectedly hot. He looked over at me, both of us slightly dazed and glassy in the surprising mid-day heat, and shook his head, “fuck man, just fuck!”
The neighbourhood handyman bow-legged by and when he saw our dog he began to call out her name. She charged over to him and he began to cover her in affection and then says, “Ewww!” ” But I warned you,” I shouted, “I told you she was filthy!” And he shrugged, “Ah, no big deal, I got a paper towel!” he said, flipping it out of his pocket as delighted as a magician conjuring a rabbit.
Parched, I went into Starbucks and ordered bottle of water, adding, “money is no object, I will pay whatever it costs!” The young woman at the counter smiled and told me that the water was worth the expense as it had special powers. I asked her what power she would like to have if she could have any. She told me that she would like to stop time, she would like to rewind time, and it struck me that she did not want to visit the future, but just return to golden spots or moments of crisis, hoping to perfect the unknowable future.