AS A CHILD, I LIVED WITH MY MOTHER, MY SISTER AND MY father in a small town in Ontario, Canada, where everyone knew that the dentist was a drunk and that the one, part-time homeless lady lost her kid in a freak accident in a silo after her husband had left her for the drunken dentist’s receptionist. There was a library and a courthouse in our small town. Also, three high schools. My mother taught at one of the high schools. My father worked at the courthouse.
My early childhood was uneventful. There was one funeral – my mother’s mother, whose will divided the family, with us ending up on the lucky side – and one birth – my younger sister.
At twelve, I was a well-adjusted boy. No setting things on fire or drinking my mother’s vodka. I never did drugs. I was not into upsetting my parents s
