The Last Word

By Morley Kev

Attempting to avert malpractice for voluntary intervention outside
of the realm of a psychiatrist a patient is diagnosed as a paranoid
schizophrenic conveniently within the realm of psychiatry leading
to the decision to take a medical discharge from the shared employer rather
than agree to take psychotic medication with all the associated and numerous
potential side effects. While seeking commensurate compensation for a host of
injustices including wrongful release, malpractice inclusive of experimentation,
wilful negligence, and even fraud and attempted blackmail not only do the
relevant systems fail but without exception so do the respective appeal levels
resulting in our subject ending up in jail temporarily in solitary confinement
now alleged of becoming a dangerous paranoid schizophrenic forced to forfeit
all firearms as well as subsequently agree to an order ordinance prohibiting the
possession of any firearms or ammunitions for a period of five years, effectively
for live, rendering Canada a democratically elected government regulated
by nothing more than dictators that the appointed courts condone. Once
mortgage free with sizable savings and numerous other assets the victim over
a decade later after meeting with about 50 lawyers is broke and mortgaged
to the hilt barely able to make minimum monthly payments to remain in a
modest 1232 square feet home and afford a life style consisting of little more
than the essentials while watching his long held belief of becoming married
and having children with someone of his choice in an affluent lifestyle vanish
as the sun sets on his youthful years still celibate and no closure to financial
compensation for any injustice still experiencing cruelty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462861590

Book preview

Copyright © February 2011 by Morley Kev.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2011906449

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book is an actual account of personal suffering that transpired from 1995 until publishing. The names, dates, and places are factual except for the names of two individuals that were fictionalized out of decency.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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95279

Contents

Inside Cover Material

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1    A Day in the Life of

Chapter 2    Allegations

Chapter 3    Tribulations

Chapter 4    The Rest of the Story

Chapter 5    A Lifetime Later

Chapter 6    Is This Swift and Precise or Embarrassingly Slow and Nonsensical

Chapter 7    Lost Together

Chapter 8    The Last Word

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Appendix 7

Annex A Appendix 8

Appendix 9

Bibliography

Inside Cover Material

It is not uncommon to test the adequacy of a process by placing a layman at the controls and have that person respond to situations according to written procedures. The individual with no previous bias or assumptions notes inadequacies in the procedures as they arise for later consideration. Our subject is that layman without professional skills or specialised knowledge of several systems, namely a disability board, the medical regulatory bodies, lawyers, police, and the courts, all of which must be interacted with in order to obtain what appears at first to simply be disability benefits from VAC that soon become wilful negligence on the part of a military physician, fraud and attempted blackmail, as well as profiling for the purpose of aggrandisement although a civil suit and criminal charges remain outstanding. Hypnosis acknowledged by the attending military physician who must include wiretapping is unbelievably denied by his peers as well as the medical regulatory bodies, which the other agencies collectively prefer to accept rather than the truth. Although the endless therapy that originated in Alberta and continues in Ontario is common knowledge among a select community, the police maintain that nothing unusual is going on despite this event becoming the motive behind all creativity in mainly the USA entertainment industry for over a decade. Efforts to demonstrate inadequacies in the health care system are somehow interpreted to be part of the health care love in experience throughout Canada, including the much publicised Romanow Report rather than a stern chastising, which will result in the most remarkable sting of all times upon release of this book. It is game on, as the Brits say. Not only is the medical community left naked, so is a disability board, the medical regulatory bodies, and the legal community as these systems are systematically dealt with in order to obtain justice and commensurate financial compensation. System engineering principles are applied, resulting in over five feet of engineering notes. These engineering notes, which record reality rather than propaganda used to make us believe that all is well in Canada, are the recipe for this book. They take the reader on a journey reminiscent of the movie Misery only on a much grander scale and the cruelty exceedingly more imaginative. The book, although highly critical concerning health care and the courts, does suggest changes for the better often sardonically and is ultimately written in a constructive positive manner. If you were thrilled when you could finally see both the old woman and young woman while reading The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People , you will be thrilled time and again as this book constructively exposes just how subjective justice is concerning medical malpractice. Medical malpractice in the USA is as common as their flag, but in Canada where the medical community can only be described as ad hoc at best according to transferrable scientific principles described within, there are typically only twenty-five malpractice convictions per year in the Province of Ontario among hundreds of thousands of incidence exposed.

Dedication

The book entitled The Last Lecture written by Mr. Randy Pausch, PhD, a professor of virtual reality at Carnegie Mellon University—interestingly it really was Mr. Pausch’s last lecture, given that he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and has since passed on—discusses the importance of childhood ambitions and the more important reality of achieving those childhood ambitions.

While reading that a confident and competent father of three young children and husband to a loving wife has exited the game of life at halftime, I thought how nice it was to read about his accomplishments and what inspired him to do so, but I could not help but think of the millions and millions of other people who have also been forced to exit the game of life at halftime with drastically fewer accomplishments. Many never completing high school, much less become a professor, never getting married, never having children, and never finding joy in the tasks they respectively performed necessary to pay the rent and put food on the table.

Mr. Pausch wrote that what set himself apart from others were his childhood dreams and goals as well as achieving those childhood dreams and goals, which is the theme of his last lecture. He attributed winning the parent lottery as a major reason he was able to achieve his childhood goals and dreams. That, and the notion that there are only two kinds of families; those who need a dictionary to get through dinner and those who don’t, certainly reinforce that genetic and psychic determinants play a major role in determining oneself, the other being environmental determinants, which he alludes to throughout the text; often referring to a special mentor he met while studying at Brown University who he refers to as his Dutch uncle.

An injured lion still wants to roar. Mr. Pausch took his opportunity to roar, and magnificently did he roar. He took full advantage of the opportunities he had available to release himself of the devastating hurt and disappointment that many can only imagine he must have felt.

The need to roar is not restricted to those among us who face premature death. The widow, Mrs. Jai Pausch, would most likely affirm this notion. Anyone who experiences a significant unexpected loss, which they dearly value, will be devastated emotionally, and anyone emotionally devastated must be heard; unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with the opportunity to roar. Seemingly, the greater the injury, the louder one wishes to roar.

I cannot name those who have stood steadily beside and given me my opportunity to roar, but I am eternally grateful to each and every one of you, and there are many who have assisted right down to those who have simply kept me amused while I communicate my devastating disappointment, and dedicate this book to all those who have been emotionally devastated at some point in life but regrettably never had the opportunity to roar.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my dear friend Mr. Martin Gagne for accepting to be one of my three powers of attorneys upon arrival to the Province of Ontario. It was comforting to know that should I, the middleweight, get knocked out of the game, there is a heavyweight waiting in the wings to move things along. Thank you to Dr. Stephen FitzGerald for first having the patience and humility necessary to observe ever-changing symptoms while making accurate diagnoses as well as the tremendous care and ambition demonstrated while reading each and every page of this text prior to the publication process. Thank you to my family members for remaining steadfast in my support and believing in me amid some very challenging times. Thank you to friends and acquaintances that did not shy away from a little adversity or become mislead amid all the misinformation. Thank you to Senator Mahovlich and governor generals Her Excellency Adrianne Clarkson and Michaelle Jean for accepting my yearly Christmas letters for the past decade summarizing events as they unfold. Although they have no influence over the police and courts and certainly not panel review boards, they are nonetheless very influential people. Thank you to the staff and Randall’s Office Depot in Trenton, Ontario, where thousands and thousands of pieces of correspondence were copied, faxed, and sometimes edited since 1997. Thank you to the staff at Xlibris namely Ron Dabao, Kenneth Niemmes, Kay Benavides, Mara Echavez, and Edward Rubia, who assisted in the copyediting of this book; Anna Go, and Jane Guatno who handled production; Kent Ishizuka and others who will address marketing; and of course Reiona Apalla for convincing me to publish with Xlibris. Thank you to Mr. Joe Cretney for volunteering to record my unfinished music. Thank you to Ms. Len Win of the Portrait for You Art Studio ( [e-mail] ) who drew the perfect portrait of me in 2007 and so graciously gave her blessings to have the portrait exhibited on the front cover of this book. Thank you to my niece Emily for drawing the comics, and my nephew Justin for attending to the administration of the songs. Finally, although it is a violation of one’s right to self-determination, I thank those that innocently took the opportunity to put some positive thoughts into my head while others attempting to vindicate themselves, were not nearly as considerate, however, it certainly did confuse the issue.

Introduction

To repeat an excerpt from the Toronto Star newspaper—the text message on your cell phone politely enquires, How do you feel? Feeling more up than usual, you key in the number 3. The number and time are automatically entered into your electronic record. When you go to your regular checkup with your psychiatrists, there is a printout showing your mood profile over the past three months. Or if a couple of consecutive entries indicate that you are going out of control, you’ll receive a text message, saying, C u now. book appt. This may seem futuristic, but it is happening today in Oxford, England, for patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

One of the real problems that psychiatrists currently have is that they only know how you feel at the time that you are visiting them. With the aid of technology, a psychiatrist and a willing patient can develop a mood profile over a period of time. But there is another benefit that comes with technology, which permits the patient to be electronically coupled to a health care professional in real time. There is a placebo effect. It leaves patients feeling really cared for.

Healthanywhere, a division of IgeaCare Systems, based in Richmond Hill, has developed software, which enables selected clients through various programs such as the Re-act programme initiated by the North Simcoe Muskoka Community Care Access Centre who offer some clients older than fifty-five years of age and suffering from one or more chronic diseases 24/7 remote monitoring. The patient specially equipped can submit blood pressure, pulse rate, glucose level, and similar information to the health care facility in real time with merely a push of the button. The patient receives an automatic confirmation message indicating that the health care facility received the results, as well as a copy is recorded on the machine for the patient to review and track at home.

Wireless telemedicine is the key to making it possible for chronic care and elderly patients to remain in their home instead of becoming institutionalised. These virtual wards eliminate the stress of being uprooted as well as remove the need for patients to undertake hazardous travel during unfavourable winter conditions. The elimination of hospital beds provides a cost-saving option, and the patient is not exposed to a one in ten chance of acquiring a hospital infection customary in most hospitals (Gerstel 2009).

This new knowledge industry, which is intended to replace our lost manufacturing jobs, is presently testing the feasibility of electronic health record warehouses. Microsoft and Google are both presently testing such warehouses in the USA, which can be easily accessed by both patient for validation and health care professional to facilitate more effective implementation of health care.

Until recently we have been the great benefactors of privacy. Our privacy was so well guarded by circumstance notwithstanding government acts most of us habitually never give it a second thought. However, technology is eroding those circumstances at an exponential rate, and we are still basking in the safety of our old paradigms. To borrow an excerpt from the textbook entitled The Dance of Deception written by Ms. Harriet Lerner, PhD—I do not want my mail opened, my journal read, my phone tapped, my behaviour monitored, my property searched, nor my medical records or sexual history published in the local newspapers—the Internet was not well established at the time this text was written, if it had been, I’m sure it would have warranted comment.

Ms. Lerner was describing the extreme importance she places upon privacy, which she believes protects her from intrusion and ensures her sense of separateness as a human being among others. In addition to prevention of intrusion and loss of separateness as a human being, it is believed that privacy most importantly protects innocent and often ignorant citizens from spiteful acts of collaboration involving perjury equally as vital as the principle of probable cause itself, which prevents a law enforcement officer from investigating you just because he does not like the colour of your skin or the manner in which you dress.

Unfortunately, technology, namely computers and the Internet, are rapidly eroding what was once an abundantly precious right to privacy, which will have very serious and harmful effects upon fundamental civil rights unless it is recognised just how important a role circumstance or lack of technology contributed towards justice in the past, and measures are taken to compensate for this sudden availability of formerly very personal and private information. Confusingly, we go to great lengths to ensure that the dividing wall between two units of a duplex are of double wall construction and well insulated so that our neighbours cannot overhear our private moments, but will not hesitate to let the rest of the world observe those moments on the Internet. Perhaps it has something to do with the placebo effect health professionals allude to of patients who are under monitor or perhaps it is reality TV leaving us with feelings that it is OK to share our most intimate thoughts with millions of viewers who in most likelihood we will never actually encounter in our lifetime anyway. The need to belong or be recognised among others or the chance to gain financial security certainly outweighs the concerns for justice, at least until the moment arises where one is facing incarceration as a result of popularity as well as transparency, and the important principle of privacy we all take for granted, clearly becomes more important than anything else in this world.

The diagnoses within the realm of psychiatry are somewhat subjective, and the testing which one undergoes is anything but comprehensive leaving much to interpretation in the absence of extensive history. When mental illness is suspected by a physician rather than acknowledge malpractice leading to injury, a well-substantiated protected history to the contrary can be crucial in the absence of other evidence.

It is not uncommon to test the effectiveness of a process by placing a layman at the controls and have that person respond to situations according to written procedures. The individual with no previous bias or assumptions notes difficulties experienced in the procedures as they arise for later correction. Our character is that layman without professional or specialised knowledge of several systems, namely legal and pension boards, to name two, which must be interacted with in order to obtain extremely important immediate justifiable financial compensation for injury and wrongful dismissal from a government agency in order to right the ship of life and satisfy crucially important time-sensitive goals.

In doing so, our character has amassed almost five feet of legal folders over a decadelong struggle describing the situation, resulting in numerous recommendations with what is discovered to be inadequacies within the medical and law enforcement communities respectfully. Rather than only consider, what becomes an obvious act of fraud and blackmail, our character chooses to fight for much-needed change in those inadequate systems for the benefit of all other citizens while seeking commensurate financial compensation.

Independence and objectiveness are two essential principles crucially important in our justice system. A party that holds similar knowledge but shares neither responsibility nor accountability nor is affected in any manner from the findings is considered a good independent and objective source. The absence of preconceived thoughts or notions, like privacy, is a benefit we enjoy again mainly out of circumstance, but the relaxing of privacy laws and improved technology is compromising this fundamental principle as well.

The absence of standards within the health community identifying what has to be done and to what to degree of quality, as well as procedures to ensure compliance, necessitates that an independent medical examination (IME) be completed by another physician concerning malpractice supporting those claims prior to pursuing, which is proving to be quite ineffective. Consequently, cases of mental illness are on the rise as a result of mental illness becoming a popular defense against malpractices in the mental health industry; frighteningly, there is already mounting evidence of the mentally ill not fairing too well when confronted by police (Mandel 2010). With the police losing their tolerance with criminals, deploying a shoot-first-ask-questions-later mentality, and the mentally ill resultantly growing in numbers, who are not immune to this alarming trend; the likelihood of someone alleged of mental illness getting shot by the police is far greater than the likelihood of that same person winning a malpractice settlement.

This notion is of particular concern and is developed throughout the various chapters of this book as well as the other relevant numerous shortfalls observed in our present legal system bringing to light the lack of equality, to name one, which surfaces regularly. To mention some specifics, in 2005, there were only twenty-five malpractice convictions among hundreds of thousands of incidents in the Province of Ontario, which incongruously employs hundreds of malpractice lawyers. Rather than simply noting the obvious shortfalls in the legal system, such as expensive private lawyers whose salaries have risen from $130 an hour on average in 2005 to $220 an hour on average presently, or elaborate about the estimated $20,000 a day cost to argue a civil suit, or go into detail about the influx of stranded middle-class people attempting to represent themselves in court, further slowing an already cumbersome highly structured process the subtle nuances those gentle nudges the legal community employs to redirect or even discourage a potential client are captured necessary to impose what has been referred to as the dollar store mentality where all injustices seem to warrant the same settlement.

Now that North America has shed most manufacturing jobs to what were once undeveloped third-world countries, such as China, we are experiencing a real shortage of high-paying manufacturing jobs. What befell the textile industry is also happening to numerous other industries, including the well-rooted automotive industry, a main stead on this side of the pond for nearly a century and benefitted from by hundreds of thousands of citizens encompassing several generations. Canada, never particularly strong in manufacturing anyway, has been less affected; regardless, to replace those lost jobs and replenish shrinking government coffers especially evident in cities that unfortunately lie at what can best be described as the end of the pyramid letter rather than the top is looking to what has been described as a knowledge-based industry. That is to say, the government of Canada is looking to our health community to create a viable business opportunity that will allow Canada to absorb the losses experienced in other sectors such as manufacturing. To do so, the health care industry is looking to the sciences and the Internet to revolutionise what as well how health care is delivered. Through wireless telemedicine, hospitals could very well in the very near future be monitoring patients not just in Canada but from all around the world and hospital beds become occupied not just by Canadian citizens but by citizens from all around the world, and the rest of us in our character’s humble opinion upon recently reading The Ascent of Money by Mr. Niall Ferguson will either be accommodating this practice, cleaning up the environment, which goes hand in hand with this concept, or exporting commodities such as oil, minerals, and wheat unless we accept wages competitive with Brazil, India, and other fast-developing third-world countries. If an item is labour intensive and lends itself to shipping, it will most likely not be manufactured in North America.

Therein lies what our character foresees to be a giant Pandora’s Box. To accomplish this end requires considerable latitude in privacy laws especially concerning transmittal and storage of health care records on electronic database. Given the current pathetic success rate concerning malpractice convictions in Canada as a result of procedural inadequacies, such a move to create a new viable economy without first reassessing the affect of tremendously important eroding rights to privacy, which previously existed mainly out of circumstance rather than planning, will have serious implications for the already fragile protection of civil rights already second to the health care industry, which will also have ramifications on civil rights throughout other aspects of society, leaving already challenged citizens abundantly more and higher hurdles to overcome in order obtain what is becoming illusive justice throughout the legal system.

Point in case, the firearms registry program has been estimated to be a one billion dollar white elephant. However, all efforts to cancel this very expensive program of little value at a time when our deficit is burgeoning are rejected on the grounds that the police access the gun registry twenty thousand times per day. If one’s health care records are put on a database, do you not think that the police will insist upon having access to such information prior to responding to a house disturbance, which the courts will most certainly approve given their track record in Canada? Do you not think that a policeman aware that a caller has a history of mental illness or disturbing the peace and possesses firearms will result in the worst possible outcome? If one is looking for trouble, one will most certainly find it. Would you feel good about sending your daughter to a high-school prom where all the boys are equipped and instructed on the use of condoms as well as given intimate knowledge of all the promiscuous young girls in attendance, or would you feel better knowing that condoms will be checked at the door and the young men and women be given no additional information about each other, other than what they acquired on their own? To put it another way, if all the promiscuous boys are identified and provided condoms, and the promiscuous girls identified, could the chaperones expect anything but promiscuous behaviour at the high-school prom? Of course not. Then why should one expect any different behaviour from police given private and confidential personal information previously unknown?

This is not a research book per se, but it does include the research undertaken in the fight for autonomy as well as justice. The book establishes the good character of an individual who is alleged of sexual harassment allegations out of spite, which are unwisely entertained by the authority. The subject of the book long seeking female companionship for the purpose of marriage leading to children seeks vindication from the resident psychiatrists who with little thought initiates his own intervention without regard to legal considerations. Having received administrative measures, which threaten our character’s career as well as informed by friends of an obvious degradation in personality, our subject seeks legal advice and files a complaint against the physician with the appropriate regulatory body. In response, the physician rather than admits to malpractice alleges that our character previously suffered from mental illness leading to our character’s eventual medical release from employment and seriously jeopardizing future employment of any kind. The ensuing struggle over a decade long to restore our character’s good name and expose the cover-up necessary to obtain commensurate financial compensation as well as other considerations in order to restore our character’s independence is meticulously relayed down to the finest details.

Caught between a rock and a hard place from start until finish, our character, experiencing what can only be described as an endless Easter egg hunt portrayed by the police and medical community for the purpose of demonstrating mental illness; in order to restore vitally important autonomy, cleverly manages to assess the maturity of the health community in accordance with the SEI Maturity Model in the years that elapsed. The health community to be a perfect bull’s eye more correctly described as ad hoc, rendering all therapies under the guise of subjugation immoral if not illegal, resulting in denial of the obvious actions by the very same police and medical community. Justice becoming further and further delayed to the demise of our character’s beliefs and goals; now more determined than ever to have the truth heard as well as help others who have also become victims of propaganda; in the absence of an immediate and fair resolution, our character resorts to publicizing the entire matter contrary to strong beliefs in maintaining privacy in order to combat the distasteful propaganda he experiences for the purpose of setting the story straight. Thereby revitalizing the awareness of the extreme importance of civil rights, mainly privacy, and hopefully pave the way for misfortunate others while continuing to pursue justice although now greatly protracted.

To keep entertained as well as for the associated benefits of relaxation, our character takes up music as a hobby, this unfortunately becomes a vehicle to hide harmful post-hypnotic suggestions throughout his subconscious mind locked into place by the melody. Fortunately, the music also serves as a median to guard his positive response to what can only be described as endless physical and mental cruelty mitigating by comparison the despicable actions of Kathy Bates viewed in the movie Misery. This struggle is also related throughout the book, and some of those songs as well as the insights of those completed songs written and performed by our character are also included with the purchase of this book.

Chapter 1

A Day in the Life of

An alarm sounds to begin the day. A body slowly stirs, and an arm eventually frees itself from under the covers and reaches up to turn on the lamp sitting on the adjacent nightstand. The lamp illuminates the room sufficiently enough to reveal a carpeted bedroom occupied by a queen size bed, chest of drawers with attached mirror, wardrobe, and two nightstands—one on each side of the bed with matching lamps. There is a large painting directly over the headboard and a single window covered with a vertical venetian blind.

On the nightstand nearest the side nearest where a single occupant lies is a Westclox travelling alarm clock. The time on the clock is 4:30 am.

As the covers are thrown back, a body begins to emerge. The large arms and deltoids indicate that the gender is male. As he brings himself to a sitting position, a thick trunk is exposed heavy with pectorals and latissimus dorsi muscles. This man could be a six footer, but as he comes to a standing position on a pair of thick proportional legs, it is evident that this is a shorter man of five feet seven inches tall of very good symmetry who obviously maintains a rigorous weight training regime.

The gentleman still not fully awaken lumbers to a nearby light switch and illuminates the room with a flick of his index finger, revealing short dark brown hair receding a couple inches along each temple and a youthful face. His heavily muscled body is sheathed in fair skin that normally of a redhead, and other than a coif of hair on his chest, the only other visible hair on this man’s body is a thin coat of reddish brown coloured secondary hair on his forearms and calves. The better lighting also reveals that he could lose a couple of pounds around the midsection but only a couple.

A second look at the surroundings reveals a green pastel duvet, which matches the lighter aqua green nightstands with natural oak tops situated on both sides at the head of the bed. On each nightstand is a lamp. Both lamps, rather large resembling an egg with an egg cupholder above and below, are made of porcelain; the egg cups solid aqua green and the egg portion painted in a mosaic pattern, each randomly shaped segment mostly resembling a smooth cornered irregular square varies between one and two square inches in size and is of a yellow and beige speckle separated by fine aqua green lines with well-matched proportional aqua green shades sixteen inches across and sixteen inches high tapering to a foot at the top. Along the wall at the foot of the bed rests the chest of drawers and attached mirror barely squeezing between the wall proximal to the vacant side of the bed and door leading into the bathroom. Along the wall proximal to the occupied side of the bed centred between the door to the walk-in closet and the distal door that leads to the hallway, stands the wardrobe. Like the nightstands, all pieces are made by Shermag with a natural oak top and aqua green finish situated on a beige carpet. The room is not overlarge, perhaps twelve feet by fourteen feet, but there is sufficient room to get around as well as open drawers in order to remove articles of clothing. The painting above the headboard captured in a thirty-inch-by-thirty-six-inch wooden frame coloured forest green with several layers of matting the most visible a two-and-a-quarter-inch border of various shades of green grass depicts a lone male grizzly bear in the fall with a splendid long blond coat with a pine forest backdrop while strolling through a standing dead grass meadow with the remains of a barkless fallen tree blanched by the sun and weather over the many years in the foreground but not obscuring the blond grizzly supported by dark coloured contrasting limbs supporting the body of the grizzly above the dead grass reminiscent of columns supporting the roof of a veranda.

Our individual takes a few moments to gather his wits then heads off to the nearby washroom to take a shower and do those hygiene things in preparation for the upcoming day. The event amazingly takes fewer than fifteen minutes, and he returns to the bedroom to don himself in very casual but warm athletic apparel prior to exiting the bedroom, this time through the door leading to the hallway. Turning to the left, the entrance to the washroom from the hallway is immediately passed by followed by a set of closet doors hiding the jackets, hats, and the likes stored behind. Immediately across from those doors is the entrance to the spare bedroom, immediately beyond, the hall transcends into a spacious opening with a vaulted ceiling, the kitchen lies to the left and the living room is on the right. The country-style kitchen with beige ceramic tiles with brown specs on the floor and darkened oak cupboards contrasting the antique white walls—the same paint throughout the house trimmed in white—is entered in order to prepare breakfast. He fetches a bag of whole wheat bagels from the fridge immediately on the left and removes one before returning the bag of bagels to the fridge and closing the door. Continuing on by the counter piece, which separates the fridge and range to the counter running along the adjacent wall just beyond, the counter drawer on the left side of the sink is opened, and a butter knife removed, which is used to slice the bagel in half, placing the two slices of bagels on a plate removed from the first shelf of the cupboard immediately overhead. Moving back towards the fridge, the bagels are removed from the plate and placed into the black Black & Decker toaster oven that is located on the counter between the fridge and range and the knob turned sufficiently to select dark toast, leaving the plate and knife there on the counter immediately in front of the toaster oven. A box of Red River Cereal is removed from atop the fridge, and with the cereal in hand, a bowl is fetched from the open cupboard where the plate was taken from only moments earlier. The box of cereal and bowl are placed upon the counter immediately below, and the cupboard door is closed. From the same drawer the knife was taken, a spoon and measuring cup are removed prior to closing the utensil drawer with a sway of the hip. Exactly one quarter cup of cereal is measured then poured into the cereal bowl. Moving to the white Kenmore 1.3 cubic feet microwave located above the toaster oven, the spoon and the quarter cup yellow plastic measuring utensil are placed alongside the knife on the plate, the box of Red River Cereal is placed back atop the fridge. From the fridge, a pitcher of skim milk and a jar of strawberry jam are removed then the fridge door is gently closed with an available foot prior to placing the jam on the counter and taking up the measuring utensil. Using the quarter cup measuring utensil, a very generous half cup of milk is added to the Red River cereal sufficient to submerse the cereal prior to placing the measuring utensil and milk on the countertop alongside the plate. With the bowl in one hand, the other hand is used to open the microwave door before placing the bowl of slightly stirred cereal on the turn tray. Two minutes and thirty seconds is selected on the touch pad front control panel; any longer the skim milk would boil over, creating a mess on the tray, and any less the cereal would only be warmed not hot—never is it cooked. The directions on the box specify a full cup of water and seven minutes in the microwave, but doing so with milk vice water and a very generous half a cup vice a full cup, from experience, leaves the bowl empty of cereal, and the inside of the microwave nicely coated as if purposely textured in oatmeal. The pitcher of milk and jar of strawberry jam are taken to a table at the other end of the kitchen where they are placed upon a place mat depicting a wildlife portrait of North American big game animals at the nearest end. Removing two smallish white plastic bottles from the second shelf of the cupboard on the other side of the sink that the cereal bowl was removed, one lid is unscrewed then the other and a pill shaken from each bottle and carefully laid on the countertop, all the while he can hear the timer on the toaster oven methodically ticking away. One tablet a multi-mineral and multivitamin supplement, the other an omega 3-6-9 supplement.

Screwing the caps back onto each respective bottle, they are returned to the second shelf and the door closed before grasping the pills in hand. From the overhead cupboard located on the same wall as the microwave but on the other side just beyond the range only a few steps away, an empty glass is taken from the first shelf as well a bear-shaped plastic bottle of honey is removed from the shelf immediately above. The two pills are placed into the empty glass, and the glass and honey are moved to the large rectangular table and placed alongside the milk and jam just beyond the place mat. The solid maple table and six chairs is part of a Roxton dining and living room suite. Without an actual dining room for the hutch and buffet, they line a centred partition wall that separates the kitchen and living room, and a serving tray completely covered with family pictures is tucked in the corner, which is kitty-corner to the fridge, just past the doors that are just past the end of the countertop, the doors leading to a very spacious deck. Like the bedroom, the kitchen is navigable but quite cozy. At that precise moment, the toaster oven bell sounds, indicating that the bagels are finished toasting. Moving to the counter where the toaster oven rests, two nicely toasted bagel slices are removed from the oven and placed upon the plate alongside the butter knife and spoon, which are taken to the table. Once there, the lid is removed from the jar of strawberry jam, and the knife is used to spread the jam rather thickly on each slice before returning the knife to the plate. There is a rather large white plastic pail located on the other end of the table. Once finished spreading the jam, the two vitamin pills are removed from the glass and placed on the plate. The glass is taken to the white plastic pail, and with the free left hand, the lid is removed then placed nearby upon the table. A plastic scoop is taken from the pail, and precisely two scoops of protein whey are measured then poured into the glass and the microwave buzzer sounds while replacing the scoop then lid once completed.

On the way to the microwave oven, the glass containing the cream-coloured powder with a consistency not unlike all purpose flour only a little bit more coarse but not as course as granulated sugar is set upon the place mat alongside the plate. Once at the microwave, the door is opened, and the hot bowl is carefully removed to avoid burning the fingers as well as to avoid an unwanted mess necessitating an impromptu clean-up of the oven and just as carefully is placed upon the counter below. The microwave door is closed, and the bowl containing hot Red River cereal is transported to the table.

Once back at the table, the bowl is placed alongside the plate just in front of the glass of protein powder. The bottle of honey is picked up, cap removed, and honey is squeezed from the bear-shaped plastic bottle forming a complete circle just inside the outer circumference of the bowl. The cap is restored, and the bottle is placed well beyond the place mat. Next, from the pitcher, a squirt of milk is added to the bowl of cereal before pouring skim milk into the glass, which precisely holds two cups. The pitcher of milk is placed alongside the bear well beyond the place mat; then, the spoon is taken into the right hand on this morning because the left hand was used to pour the milk, and the protein powder and skim milk solution vigorously stirred for several seconds. With spoon still in hand, he sits himself before the place mat and ladles the honey into the cereal and commences to eat.

In fewer minutes than it took to prepare breakfast, it is consumed. The chair is carefully slid back while coming to a standing position, and the two pills are popped into the mouth and washed down with the two cups of skim milk—protein solution. Upon returning the lid to the jar of jam, it, and the milk are returned to the fridge as well as the honey returned to the appropriate cupboard, door purposely left open previously. The dirty dishes are fetched from the table and placed into the sink to be cleaned later in the day just as efficiently as breakfast was prepared. Off to the washroom to wash the hands then floss and brush the teeth prior to running a comb straight back through the short well-kept dark brown hair. A return visit to the bedroom to slip on a heavy hooded cotton pullover then back into the hallway, this time via the washroom door to the closet immediately beyond on the left. From there, a set of royal blue ski coveralls made by Etirel and a three-coloured ski jacket made by Ocean Pacific as well gloves, toque, and scarf are removed from the closet, before heading down a brief set of stairs located on the right, opposite the kitchen entrance, to a landing just before the main entrance, where the articles are donned. The jacket, mainly grey with red shoulders, and a blue breast mostly obscured by a two-inch wide vertical red stripe, that borders the grey V-shaped lapel and the brand Ocean Pacific, prominently displayed in two-inch horizontal red lettering, just inferior to the sternum, and just superior to where the blue ends, is quite striking, but barely matches the royal blue pants. After slipping the feet into a warm pair of mukluks very similar to military arctic wear, then subsequently wrapping a multicoloured scarf, resembling a package of Life Savers, around his neck prior to setting a royal blue toque upon his head, then drawing the strings of the hood of the pullover; it is observed, while removing a set of keys hung on a bear-shaped key holder nearby the door, then carefully placing them into the right front pocket of his ski jacket, that the entrance of the door is reminiscent to a frosted glass that is used to serve a daiquiri or perhaps a tequila sunrise, as there is a two-inch border of frost all around the inside perimeter, a drink he has had to deal with for the past few mornings; however, sunrise will not occur for another long five hours.

Grasping a gym bag prepared the night before, waiting nearby on the floor, with gloves adorned, the inside door is first opened with the free hand; then, the outer screen door is opened. The exchange of cold air from outside and warm air from inside briefly creates a dull moaning sound as he passes through the doorway into the cold outside. The cold is immediately felt upon the little exposed area of the face. Down a couple of concrete steps to a concrete slab sidewalk and about ten paces along a dark stained wooden fence to a garageless driveway. Once through the open gate just beyond, located in the corner of the fence, which encompasses the smallish snow-covered backyard, a skim of snow on the gravel driveway squeaks under his feet, making a sound similar to that of eating fresh curds from Black River Cheese company founded in 1901 located on the Black River tributary, which feeds into the northeast shore of Lake Ontario and visited weekly every summer during his youth to purchase a bag of curd to snack upon prior to launching the McIntosh built seventeen feet shiplap steel ski boat propelled with a six-cylinder Volvo marine engine purchased from the Prince Edward Yacht Club, where his father worked as a chef. While passing by the front of the jeep, the gym bag is momentarily set down on the snow before the extension cord is unplugged from the block heater cord barely protruding from the grill but not without a struggle before the end of the cord extending from the house is placed over the fence, careful not to let the female end of the plug contact the snow and become blocked, and the gym bag is grasped again. The hands, despite covered in royal blue fleece-lined ski gloves made by CIS—the first pair of gloves owned that actually fit are functional and warm—are now begging to be placed into a warmer pocket. Tous les disimiler combinaisons de ski, la veste et les gants ont été achetés à un magasin de sports à un mail à la rue Jean Québec a couple of years prior. Old habits are hard to break, and coming from a small hamlet where everyone is well known to each other, the door is habitually not locked to the white jeep Renegade with white hard top and red interior beneficial in this circumstance, given that mechanical apparatuses tend to lose their malleability in cold weather and grease tends to thicken like molasses. The lightweight door of the jeep on this morning opens slowly and cumbersomely like a thick heavy steel vault door found in a bank and the heater inside once the engine is up to operating temperature will provide just as much important protection from the extreme harsh elements as does the bank vault safe guard our monies and valuables.

The purpose of the engine block heater is to prevent the oil from becoming too thick so that the starter will be able to turn the engine over sufficiently quick enough to start the engine. The charge of a battery is seriously compromised in extreme cold, and it is common practice to turn the lights on for a couple of moments prior to engaging the starter to extend the capacity of the battery, thereby providing the greatest likelihood of a successful ignition. After raising the front seat forward in order to place the gym bag on the backseat and once comfortably seated inside and the seat belt fastened into position, the headlights are turned on then off fifteen seconds later. The gloves are removed to locate the keys inside the right pocket of the jacket and inserted into the ignition without hesitation upon removal. The dilemma is always whether to move slowly and ensure that the keys are inserted into the ignition on the first try as dexterity slowly diminishes or move quickly while dexterity is good, hoping that the keys are not fumbled. Most have observed how easy it is to fumble a much larger football during games played on a cold November day in Canada or January in the USA and how difficult it is to recover the ball once fumbled. Fumbling is disastrous. The gloves are quickly restored to the hands once the key is in place prior to engaging the starter. The engine turns over slowly despite having been running less than five hours ago. Having played hockey last night, the late hockey game again, which starts at 10:00 pm and is normally over by 11:30 pm, following a quick shower after the game and sucking back a beer with the guys, sometimes two, certainly never consuming more than three, given that there is a midnight curfew, whereby all people must leave the building. The jeep, after a short drive, was parked at about 12:30 am. It is only a ten-minute drive home but seldom is the arena departed prior to 12:15 am. Usually, the arena custodian has a beer with the players, while they finish their respective last beer, pack their equipment, and gather sticks before exiting the side door, which automatically locks behind them.

In the few moments that the key is held before the engine fires, the cold is almost immediately transmitted from the cold steering column through the gloves to the fingers. The steering wheel is no more forgiving than the ignition switch, so one waits for precious warm air to begin to flow from the heater to warm it as well as warm other controls before proceeding. Although the engine turned over relatively slowly, warm air not yet hot air arrives just as quickly as the fan is switched on, thanks to the block heater. It is not thickened oil that has slowed the starter but rather the effects of cold on the battery over a four-day stretch of extreme cold weather. A battery blanket may have to be added to the shopping list if the extreme cold persists much longer. While waiting for the interior of the jeep to warm, the clear glass surrounding him is truly appreciated. One benefit of extreme cold is that glass never frosts up, and therefore windshields never require scraping, and visibility is always good, a small blessing. Jeeps don’t have many accessories, but there is an abundance of glass, and they come with a very good heater.

Although the heat arrives surprisingly quickly, it takes a good five or ten minutes before the controls have warmed sufficiently enough and have relinquished their biting sting. In those few moments, thoughts of last night’s hockey game are briefly reflected upon. No goals or assists for himself, but a good effort just the same, and the team managed a victory. Everyone certainly enjoyed themselves; as usual they remained in the sweat-scented dressing room until the arena attendant showed them the door. While depressing the clutch with the left foot while applying brake pressure with the right foot, the emergency brake is released. Gripping the shifter with the right hand, reverse gear is selected, and the clutch is released just enough to hold the vehicle in place. Living near the end of a dead-end street, there is never much worry about backing into the street especially at 5:00 am; regardless, a quick check is made before relocating the right foot from the brake to the gas pedal, which is depressed just enough to increase the RPM a few hundred revolutions while simultaneously releasing the clutch in order to fully engage the transmission. The wheels are stiff and refuse to budge, necessitating that the right foot further depress the gas pedal in order to overcome the unusually high inertia resulting from higher friction caused by the cold, and the jeep begins to back its way out onto the street. Turning the steering wheel clockwise the vehicle enters the street such that the jeep faces down the long sloping alleyway and quickly comes to rest as the clutch is depressed and gas pedal released; no brake is applied as the cold axles grudgingly bring the wheels to a halt.

Grabbing the shifter with the right hand, first gear is selected, and the jeep begins to roll forward as the clutch is released and gas pedal depressed simultaneously. The tires as normal develop a flat spot from resting in one place overnight but as a result of the extreme cold have not yet regained their true round shape. Also the coefficient of the springs and shock absorbers has significantly increased, resulting in the jeep cobbling down the first fifty yards or so of the back street, much like how the Flintstone vehicle was depicted on the TV early each Saturday morning viewed years ago. Once again, the clutch is depressed, but this time the gas pedal is momentarily released while second gear of the transmission is selected, which is reengaged as the clutch is released. The end of the street is now less than a hundred yards away, and the jeep is patiently left in second gear as the stop sign is approached.

Shockingly, the rear tires lose traction just before the stop sign, simply from releasing the gas pedal in order to begin to slow, and the jeep begins to fishtail. Road salt is ineffective in cold weather, and most intersections will become slippery over time as vehicles lock up their tires, at least those vehicles that do not have computer-assisted braking, as they frantically apply brakes to stop at the last minute or spin their tires while urgently accelerating away from the intersection. By applying the front breaks rather than accelerating out of the situation, the only option in this instance, the jeep does a complete 360 degree turn and comes to rest immediately adjacent to the stop sign. The warmth of the heater suddenly feels much warmer and can now be felt upon the little exposed area of the face, and a few moments are taken at this precise time to shed some clothing and improve visibility. The compression of the engine was sufficient to cause the back tires to break traction at the slippery intersection. Fortunately, this particular time, it occurs at very slow speeds at 5:10 am on a spacious and vacant back alleyway rather than on a busy highway. This proves to be invaluable training for when the exact same thing happens years later while traveling much faster on return from Edmonton AB with Fern Langlois on Highway 11.

Just passed Smokey Lake, a vehicle in front failed to signal and slowed down via gearing down rather than applying brakes, thereby giving no indication of a change in speed. The road was becoming slippery from a mixture of rain and freezing rain, and there was some buildup of ice on the wipers and windshield also partly obscuring vision; frighteningly, the Jeep was still in two-wheel drive, customary while travelling at highway speeds. Once observed how quickly the Jeep is closing in on the other vehicle, the gas pedal is let off prior to disengaging the clutch, causing the Jeep to immediately begin to fishtail. Well knowing the consequences of not accelerating, it will not be possible to avoid a collision by slowing down; therefore, a pass will have to be made. The gas pedal is immediately depressed, and steering wheel immediately turned clockwise in order to counteract the counterclockwise spin. At this time, the fishtail is modest, and the road ahead is observed to determine which direction the vehicle in front will be turning as well as when it will actually be making the turn. The only driveway observed is still some distance up the road on the left-hand side, leaving plenty of time to pass, so the Jeep is gently steered counterclockwise toward the passing lane, resulting in resumption of the counterclockwise fishtail. The car in front then unexpectedly moves into the passing lane, completely vacating the right-hand lane. Why didn’t the damn thing do this a couple of seconds sooner! While attempting to redirect the accelerating Jeep now towards the vacant right-hand lane by turning the steering wheel ever so slightly clockwise, the counterclockwise spin ends, and a clockwise spin begins. The clockwise fishtail becomes worse, requiring much more acceleration and significantly more counterclockwise steering in order to align the Jeep in the direction of travel to avoid striking the almost crawling vehicle just in front of and to the left with the rear driver side quarter. The fishtail is timed such that the Jeep passes by the slower vehicle perfectly parallel to and in the passenger lane but at about one hundred kilometres an hour at this time. The unavoidable corrections taken in order to avoid contacting the other vehicle have worsened the situation, making it almost impossible to correct the fishtail. Not wishing to fly off the road into the ditch on the passenger’s side while travelling backwards, the steering wheel is turned clockwise towards the ominous ditch while accelerating even more in order to stop the counterclockwise spin then again clockwise once out of danger. Now well beyond the turning vehicle and not wishing to go any faster, the throttle is held steady, and it is attempted to keep the Jeep on the road with corrective steering, only resulting in a slow continuous counterclockwise fishtail, and without acceleration it is impossible to control the direction of travel. The ditch on the side of the road of oncoming traffic is quickly approaching while slowly spinning counterclockwise and is entered while the Jeep is perpendicular to the line of travel, not good but better than going in backwards, the situation only a few moments ago. Not wishing to roll side over side until coming to a stop somewhere well into a farmer’s field subsequent to crashing the page wire fence, the steering wheel is turned hard to the right so that the tires are in line with the direction of travel so as not to catch the snow on the side of the road while the transmission is dropped into fourth gear, and as the truckers say, the pedal is put to the metal and then some praying that the front wheels would not catch and gambling that the right rear wheel will catch the snow on the side of the road and propel the front end forward. The ditch is at least ten feet deep, maybe fifteen, and sloping into the field at about thirty degrees. The gamble is correct, in anticipation of the front end hastily coming around, the steering wheel is immediately turning counterclockwise keeping the tires in align with the direction of travel and the throttle kept fully depressed as the Jeep is driven to the bottom of the gulley, which helps to settle things out, and once under control again is driven just as quickly back up the threatening ditch onto the road before the next culvert appears, guideline springs up, or oncoming vehicle approaches. Things happen so quickly; there is not actually any time to observe anything other than the terrain immediately before. Some air is taken while reaching the crest of the ditch, and the clutch is immediately disengaged and throttle removed, and thankfully the Jeep remains inline, eventually steered to a stop well down the road where the windshield is cleaned and four-wheel drives engaged before resuming the journey back to Cold Lake. Not a single word from Fern at the time or thereafter, he must have felt that everything was well under control. If you own a Jeep or plan on owning a Jeep, it is suggested that you always use four-wheel drive on slippery roads, and if you are in two-wheel drive and must come to a stop on a slippery surface, disengage the drive train with the clutch before removing the throttle, and make sure the front and back brakes are always of the correct braking ratio.

Thoughts of curling occurred while turning left onto a gradually ascending short stretch of road, which parallels the main highway. What just happened could best be described as an inward turn to the button using curling jargon. The inward draw is not so welcome in that the vehicle tends to cross the centre line of the road, alternately exposing the driver’s side then passenger’s side of the vehicle to potential oncoming traffic as the vehicle curls to a stop. The outturn draw is much preferred, given that cars parked along the side of the road do not add to the velocity of the impact. In comparison to Russian roulette, the possibility of an oncoming vehicle at that precise time would be representative of a bullet in the