Dreams

            On Sunday morning I had about half of “A la pêche des coeurs" (Fishing for Hearts) by Boris Vian translated. 

            I continued editing “Tennisman” by Serge Gainsbourg on Christian’s Translations to place the chords in their proper places. 

            For lunch I had four year old Canadian cheddar with crackers.

            I took a siesta in the afternoon and ended up sleeping for an extra half an hour. 

            I read half of The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. White people have lost the ability to dream but Indigenous people haven’t. Somehow the white people have learned that they can retrieve this ability at least temporarily by extracting the marrow from Native people. The Indigenous people who aren’t in league with the white people are on the run and they have to return to the old ways to survive. The narrator is a Métis teenager named Frenchie and he has joined a diverse family of other Native fugitives who are heading north. Their leader is Miig, who knows many of the old ways. The elder is wise but senile old woman. There are three other young men, two women and two children, all unrelated. As they travel and face experiences along the way we hear their individual and often horrible stories that led them into running. At this point in the story they’ve come across a camp of two Indigenous men but they don’t know yet if they are friends or foes. 

            Everything about this story except for the dreams and the marrow is fairly plausible. There are people without bone marrow who need regular blood transfusions to replenish their white blood cells in order to survive, but if they didn't dream I'm pretty sure that would be front page news. Also the idea that global warming causes earthquakes is a little shaky but not totally without scientific backup. Changes in moisture under the Earth may affect tectonic plates. But I think that promoting the idea that Indigenous people are physically and mentally different from everyone else is a racist and dangerous way to go. 

            My landlord called to say he’d come by but I hadn't heard him knock. He said he'd come the next day. I reminded him to turn on the heat. He asked, “Why? Is it cold?" I said it has been cold and I told him that the city bylaw says that he’s supposed to turn on the heat by September 21, no matter what. He said, “I don't know about any law!" Then he argued that if the heat were turned on people would be too warm. It's so nice of him to be concerned that his tenants aren’t too warm in the autumn. It's also great for him that his consideration is rewarded by saving money on heat. 

            I decided to make burgers out of the tube of ground chicken I’d gotten from the food bank in the summer. But when I opened it up after thawing the meat inside was too semi-liquid to form into patties. I had to improvise by adding stuffing mix to the meat until it was manageable. I made two burgers and had one with chili sauce, mustard and scotch bonnet sauce on dark rye while watching Interpol Calling.

            In Paris, Zita McGrath is watching her race car driver husband, Cliff McGrath on television as he races in the long two-man Mille Miglia car race in Italy. But suddenly Cliff appears with a gun and kills her. In the race a surrogate is sitting beside Cliff’s brother Mike. Cliff heads for the airport to get back to the race before the finish. Meanwhile Duval is brought in to help investigate the murder. The suspect is Zita’s lover, who says he saw the killer drive off in Zita’s car. Duval believes him. The gun is traced to a man who says he sold it to an Irishman. Cliff makes it to Zurich. Zita’s car is found near Orly airport and Duval learns that someone meeting the gun seller’s description bought a ticket for Zurich. The police are waiting there but Cliff slips out and steals a sports car. Roadblocks are set up but he gets through several. Duval begins to consider the impossible notion that Cliff somehow murdered his wife and he heads for the finish line of the race. Cliff stows away on top of a truck and then boards a train, which he jumps near the rendezvous point with his brother. He stops the car, exchanges clothes with the surrogate, they kill the surrogate, drag him in the bushes and rejoin the race. The McGrath brothers win the race but they are called to the control room. Duval tells Cliff that he couldn’t have been driving all day because the lucky medallion he wears is not even soiled with mud like his brother’s. They are both arrested. 

            Zita was played by Margaret Diamond, who had bit part in British movies and TV series.