Ogopogo country

The pubs were full. It was game five, Vancouver versus Chicago, and the special for the night was a 20oz Canadian and a bacon cheeseburger with poutine for $15. Meanwhile, in another part of town, the local writers’ group was holding their monthly meeting. So it was a select and stalwart gathering at Hooked on Books. In fact, two of the attendees hadn’t planned on coming, but walked by and decided to come in when they recognized us from having eaten dinner, just a half hour earlier, in an Indian-food restaurant down the street.

As a rainbow appeared against the gunmetal-coloured sky, questions arose as to how the Let’s See How Far This Car Can Go Book Tour came to Hooked on Books. After a reading from The Dry Well, a fun, informal Q & A lead to talk of houses, guns — we concluded it’s a good thing we don’t have easy access to them! — and how easily working long hours can lead to eating junk food.

We talked about floods and bugs in Manitoba, and the need for the local economy to expand beyond peaches and apples (although the arable land in this narrow valley is being aggressively challenged by the burgeoning wine industry and an accompanying palatial urban sprawl).

Later, in the pub, the hockey game over, it’s Mansbridge and Harper on the TV screen. They’re standing centre ice in the middle of an empty hockey rink somewhere, talking to each other like they’re best pals. I’m thinking their feet must be freezing, just like Harper’s hair. And I’m thinking how grateful I am for the candid and fun gathering tonight at Hooked on Books. Thanks Judy and Marcel for opening up Hooked on Books eighteen months ago — a charming bookstore that is incredibly inviting to readers and to writers, and to people we recognize from the restaurant down the street.