“I never took the smile away from anybody’s face
And that’s a desperate way to look
For someone’s who’s still a child.”
-Big Country “Big Country”

“Neon on my naked skin, passing silhouettes
Of strange illuminated mannequins
Shall I stay here at the zoo
Or should I go and change my point of view”
Alphaville “Big in Japan”

I went out last night with my partner in crime here in Toronto and one of the women that works at this center. We went to a café/restaurant. I had a few beers, the ladies and the two gentlemen they had also invited each had coffee. The women are very attractive, slender and pale. The lines of stress and pain haven’t started creasing their foreheads yet. They seem soft and naive but I know they have seen as much of the world’s sorrow as I. In another context, I might have held one of their hands or brushed a stray hair from a cheek, but this is a friendly encounter and besides, I had invited myself along for lack of anything better to do on my own. The two other men are also attractive. Not my usual type, they are tanned and strong. They look like they might have played sports in school but might just work out now. I think I might be interrupting something, but I stay. If they didn’t want me there they would have said so. It’s an enjoyable night but they have to wake early and we depart. I go to a bar near Bathurst and Queen, where the Goth places are. I’d taken the subway to Queen but I’d taken a wrong turn. A prostitute asks me for a cigarette. It takes me a while to figure out her story. I can be dense sometimes. The Goth places are closed, so I turn into another bar a block or so away. It’s somewhat seedy. I had a beer I’d never tried before, Molson 50 or something like that. An Asian man flirts with me and we play pool. He gives me his phone number. I only left to go to a cash machine, but it was too difficult to find one so I take a cab back to the hotel when one turns up.