27The tranquil weekend transpired as anything but. I stayed on because I had no place to go. I also decided that, rather than wilt away, I should throw myself into the life of the place, such as it was. I met two other couples on vacation. Fred and Rita hailed from Hamilton. Fred was a teacher and Rita was a nurse. Then I met Joe and Madeleine from Belleville. A couple in their fifties with four grown children, Madeleine had persuaded Joe to take a break from his job as a site supervisor for a large construction outfit. They seemed like nice people, conservative, bewildered by the big city and the fast pace of life. Joe wore white socks with his sandals. Fred and Rita were an anomaly, a mixed-race couple in their mid-forties. They had three girls, teenagers who looked like Fred. Rita had v
