Memories

Submitted for Volume 3, Issue 5

Everything can be lost in a breeze, everything except your memories.
(based on my experiences growing up in Toronto)

Monarch Park - When I was ten, I used to go to a summer day camp. We'd go swimming every Tuesdays and Thursdays, which was a really big event for us. It wasn't the swimming we were excited about, it was the show after. At lunch, we would sit in the park and watch couples have sex with each other. Some of us would sit on slides to get a better view. There were usually two couples, and they were always different people. I don't know how it started, I guess a wife said to her husband one day "You know, role-playing isn't kinky anymore, I'm sick of being Princess Leia. Let's be like the Reids, let's do it in the Park!" For some reason, Monarch Park became a sexual fiesta every day. Normally a guy would put a jacket over his head and then work his magic. Sometimes one of us would sneak under the park bench they were on, and if we were lucky, we'd see some action. But they usually stopped if they found us. Looking back on my life, I think this had a profound effect on my perception of sexuality. I wish I hadn't seen people having sex like that, it really sullied my mind. So if you're ever considering having sex in public, make sure there are no children around.

the Porno Freak, the Sound Freak and Jesus Lady - I used to grow up in a house that was shared by a bunch of people. It was three floors and I lived on the second. There was a porno freak on the other side of the same floor. He used to always rush into his room and close the door. Once, I accidentally took his mail. It said "third class" and it looked like advertisements. I opened it, and it was actually a catalogue for porn videos. I was pretty surprised, I was only ten or so, and yet strangely fascinated. It had various women, fat, old, lesbian, all naked and in some strange poses. I hid it for a while, but my mom soon found it, and threw it out. The sound freak was this old fifty something oriental guy, who lived with a twenty something native Canadian on the lower floor of the house. He was so obsessed with noise, and he'd storm up and tell us now and then that we were being too loud, even if we were just talking. I once walked down, and saw him watching TV with the sound off, and with the caption on. He hated sound. After the Porn Freak moved out, the Jesus Lady came in. She was an oriental lady, a hunch back,and was about four foot something. Her hump came from a fall from the stairs, when her philandering husband pushed her down. I think she became crazy after that. She had trouble going to the bathroom, and had to pee into a pail before dumping it out. She used to wear pink all the time, and she said that pink was holy and so she would only use pink toilet paper. She wore this pink robe and pink hat. Her kids never visited, and there were always mice and cockroaches scurrying around in her kitchen. I felt sorry for her. However, she used to annoy me. She always talked to herself, engaging in long conversations where she joked, and argued. She would impersonate the other voice, he sounded like Dickey Mouse, except he was speaking Cantonese. She talked night and day, all the time. I was very disgruntled one day, and asked her politely who she was talking to. She said she was talking to Jesus, and she had a portrait of him by her bed side. I guess Jesus must be funny, because she always laughed at his jokes. One day, I got in trouble at school, and she said Jesus would make it all right because he knew I wasn't involved with the incident. The next few days, I got off the hook, which was a little interesting. I'm not sure how all these people affected me( there is a lot about these people I am still keeping secret) but I can say it was a much more interesting experience than living in suburbia.