The Worthless Toonie Blues

           

 
            Friday was the first time in a month that I was scheduled to have the exterminator come. After getting my place ready I took some time to thoroughly check the doorframe and the baseboards in my bedroom and was relieved that I didn’t find a single bedbug.

            The Orkin guy came at noon, which was an hour later than usual. He surprised me by saying I didn’t have to leave the apartment this time because they no longer use poison against the bedbugs. Now they have some kind of dust that fatally scratches them when they crawl over it. I later did a search and came across pyrethroid dust an extremely effective bedbug killer, so maybe that’s what this is. It was nice not to have to breathe poison for a change. He also told me that if I smell bedbugs it means they are dying.

            I took my neighbour’s empties to the beer store and got about six dollars. The plan had been to do my laundry after that but time would have been tight for teaching my yoga class directly afterwards, so I decided I’d do laundry after yoga.

            I heard a woman crying loudly below my window and thought that I recognized her voice. It was a person that often panhandles on Queen Street. I looked outside and saw that she was talking to a middle-aged guy with an African accent, who was standing in front of her with a cane. He had just given her a Toonie but she was still standing with her hand open as if it were empty, even though the two-dollar coin was big and shiny in her hand. “C’mooohn!” she cried, with her face twisted in agony “What am I supposed to do with this? Haven’t you got five dollars?” Calm, but confused, the man told her, “I don’t have any more money!” “C’mooohn! What did you give me this for? This is nothing! I can’t do anything with this!” He finally held out his hand and said, “Give it back then!” She still had her hand with the Toonie in it held out to him when she cried, “Noooh! Why should I give it back to you? You gave it to me! Haven’t you got another two dollars?” He again suggested that she give it back to him and there they were, each with their right hand held out to one another, demanding something. Her face changed from a twisted, pained, pleading expression to one of accusatory anger, though it didn’t have far to go from one to the other. She asked, “Why did you call me over just to give me this?” She started walking away in disgust and said over her shoulder, “Don’t give me any more fucking money!” I don’t think there will be any danger of that. She continued swearing and talking to herself as she walked across toward the Dollarama, indifferent to the traffic that had to stop for her. I remember walking on Queen Street about a year ago. She was ahead of me, panhandling, with her back turned to me. As I was passing her she suddenly turned around and so I had to swerve further to get around her. She swore at me and accused me of trying to knock her down. I hope the gentleman who gave her the Toonie realizes that she’s mentally ill, and that his experience won’t affect any future urges to help people out.

            I had one student in my yoga class and it was the same woman that came two weeks before. It looks like I might have one new regular student.

            After class I went home to get my laundry and managed to take both bags while riding my bike. Once my bedding was in the washer I decided to check out the Salvation Army thrift store next door to see if they had any pants that I like or anything else of interest. From time to time I’ve found some good things there, but lately there doesn’t seem to be anything. On the counter, by the door was a truncated, automated Santa Clause, turning its head and moving its mouth as it sang, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”.

            I watched the second and third episodes of “Radar Men from the Moon”. The episodes are seven minutes shorter than in the other Commando Cody series. The cliffhangers are kind of lame because there’s nothing really clever about how Cody gets out of the tight spot they leave him in at the end of an episode. It just turns out to have not been as dangerous a situation as they made it appear. For instance, at the end of the first episode the ruler of the Moon shoots a ray gun at Cody. The blast hit furniture he was standing behind and exploded, but it really didn’t look like it hit Cody. Nonetheless, that was the cliffhanger. At the beginning of episode two, he just ran out after the blast.

            Another funny thing is that when Cody isn’t wearing his rocket suit, he’s wearing a white shirt and a tie, even in the spaceship on the Moon.

            The stories are evidence that the second series was simply based, plotwise on this one, with only slight differences.