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wouldn’t have to disturb himself? Yes. I saw. Everybody saw.
    What kind of a person would do that?
    A very kind, considerate person, we guess.
    I tell Billy about how my father once yanked up his scarf my cat Cheap was sleeping on on the bed and sent Cheap flying against the wall.
    What kind of a person would do that?
    A mean, cruel person, we guess.
    Billy starts telling me again about his father. Billy’s father went away to the war more than five years ago and should be home soon now that the war’s almost over.
    Billy loves his father. He says his father was always bringing him presents and taking him places — hardware stores and lumber yards where they’d go to get stuff and bring it all home and build all kinds of things. And how they always dug in their garden together all the time.
    And how they’d find worms there and put them in a can with some moss and put them in the icebox and save them until they had a chance to go down to the Ottawa River near the Rideau Falls at night and catch a bunch of catfish and take them home and his mother would cook them and they’d sit down together and have a big catfish feast…
    We pass by Imbro’s Restaurant again and stop for a while and watch through the window people gobbling ice cream sundaes. In one of the booths along the side I think I see the back of Mr. George’s head. Or maybe it’s not.
    On the corner of Rideau and Augusta Street there’s a sign nailed to the telephone pole:
    Street Dance: honouring 20 repats recently
arrived on the Isle de France ;
an interesting evening of foxtrot, waltzes,
spot dances and old time dances,
door prizes and new features e.g.
“fat woman’s race!”
Public address system set up.
Public is cordially invited to attend.
    We can hear the music coming out of the public address system. We go down there to see if we can see the fat ladies have their race but it’s too late, it’s over.
    There’s soldiers and girls dancing and kids running around and people laughing and eating.
    The horse that pulls a chip wagon is standing there asleep through all the racket.
    There’s an Ottawa Journal lying on a bench.
    I pick it up on the way by.
    I read some of the stuff in there to Billy as we walk home.
    Wife butcher-knifes Vet husband to death over uncooked supper: son, Henry, 10 years old
    and
    Lady with 27 cats in her bed. Husband sleeps in the kitchen.
    and
    Take wonderful Lux toilet soap whipped cream lather facials daily like Veronica Lake does. Soon your Romance complexion will charm mens hearts!
    There’s a picture of Veronica Lake with her beautiful hair covering one eye. I show the picture to Billy. “SHAZAM!” says Billy.
    It’s going to be dark soon.
    They’re playing football on Heney Street beside the park. There are two Christian Brothers from Brebeuf school playing with their long black dresses on. One Brother lifts his skirts with one hand and holds the football out in front of himself with the other hand and kicks the football. It goes so high above Heney Park it almost disappears. You can see the Brothers underpants when he kicks.
    It’s the other Brothers turn. He tries to kick but his leg goes higher than the ball. He’s not a very good kicker. His leg gets tangled up in his dress and he falls over.
    All the kids around laugh.
    On Papineau Street Horseball’s big family is spilling out of the windows.
    At my place, number three Papineau, I can hear shouting. Fighting. Arguing.
    Billy’s looking at me funny. What’s he thinking? Is he thinking about his ideal father?
    When my parents fight, my twin brother, Phil, howls and roars.
    Phil can’t talk. Phil can’t think. He can’t even eat right. His food is always all over the place. He can’t go to the toilet on his own. Except in his diapers that my mother changes on him every morning and every night. And he’s always hurting himself. Somebody has to be there all the time.
    When he’s happy he likes to run around in a circle. Or he likes to wag his