The Launch Party

The Book Launch party was in Toronto, and we took a taxi there. We passed a billboard with numbers counting down. Nobody knew what the numbers were counting down for. For the World Cup? said someone. For the hockey?
The taxi driver said, “Don’t ask me.” He explained that he didn’t believe in time. He laughed. He said there’s no such thing as time. He laughed and laughed. He said, “People ask me how old I am, and I say, what? I am no age.” He laughed, and said, “Nobody knows that there is no time. Nobody knows about quantum physics, about relativity, about superluminal communications.” He said, “Don’t ask me what the time is, if you do, I’ll say, what’s time?” He laughed and laughed.
I was late to the Book Launch and everybody said, “Oh, you’re late,” but in friendly ways. There were small green alligators for Lisa’s book, and for my book there were piles of round pancakes, also chocolate brownies, and olives. It is such a wonderful thing to see words you have written down become food. I suppose it’s like writing a recipe book. Also, they had pins, illustrated with events from my book. I was so glad about the pins, and about the publisher’s lovely blonde daughter who showed me the pancakes and the pins. There were many friendly people. I am so fond of Canadians. They are often very beautiful, yet they look you in the eye, and ask you questions, in a way that a beautiful Australian rarely does.