I’d forgotten what this city does to me, how I throw out my arms in supplication over and over and smile to the wind. Being here is weight removed, a wooden trap burned away. Warren‘s leaving today as Montilee and her love puppet Doug already have done, (darling Phil Jimenez left Sunday too), and I’m thinking I’m going to follow suit. Hit the train station, add parity. It’s going to hurt to leave. I love sitting backward on the streetcar, the wide expanse of windows giving me a continuous flowing view. I feel like I’m flying there, like I’m in an airplane, gravity a hand large enough to cradle me. It was comforting today to walk up Yonge street to College and touch buildings with my eyes as I passed, look up and see the place where I first learned to smile. I needed it. If it had been Vancouver, something might have broken.
I smile now, thinking of my weekend, of the social strangeness that I helped birth. Warren collects interesting people and I’ve been discovering that when we get together, we are slightly unstoppable. Montilee and Doug and I decided to ambush him yesterday outside the comicon, having no reason to go in again past the tall man with the cane, but when we collected we decided that, well, we were going to break in because that was more fun. From that point on, we were ninjas. Around the side we stalked, perfect timing giving us illegal access in. Doors were opened, left opened, security had its back turned. We were naughty children until we found out that as we were walking through vast empty halls, he had crept out the front, escaping the nerds. It’s hailing again. Then I turned coat and became professional folk, demanding the address of the Guest of Honour. Not only did they spill the hotel, they also sent us to the front to ask location and directions with no questions asked. “Of course, that’s where most of our guests have been staying. Are you driving?” I was impressed with the efficiency of our whole situation and amused that a random girl with purple hair and a top-hat could waltz all over them without a blink. If it had been my hotel, I might have been a bit nervous. As it was, we cackled in the car before calling him down.