I lay in bed this morning thinking about my early memories. I can remember sitting in a highchair with a contraption in front of me that went "plink, plonk." Then something flew up out of it, and I was delighted -- a jack-in-the-box. I can remember my aunt and uncle's cat Tinker. And lying on my stomach watching a ballerina. I asked my Auntie Anne about it 20 years later, and she said it must've been Christine's music box, as it had one of those twirling ballerinas. I can remember playing in the street. There was a Big Bully I was leery of -- he was 4 or 5. I remember going to ballet school and my best friend Belinda, who probably grew up into a normal person, and not a freakin' weirdo like me. And I can remember, before we left, being given good-bye presents by my brother Steven's friend. Steven was given a ceramic statue that looked like our leg-humping dog, Bobbie. My sister Deborah was given something I used to be able to remember but can't now, and since she admits she can't remember anything, she didn't even recall having been given anything when I asked her last Spring. I was given a stuffed Eeyore -- my favorite, favorite. My sister and I were very much into Kanga and Roo, but that was probably because she was. I always loved Eeyore, who was exactly like my mother. In Canada Deborah and I would sing Christmas carols all summer long, to the great annoyance of Steven, who'd shout, "Shut UP!!!!!" We had a stack of classical records and would dance the minuet and practise ballet, with Deborah tormenting me as she liked to be the "teacher." One Christmas we were given huge, stiff, unsatisfactory dolls, and we'd make them dance the minuet. They disappeared, thank god -- they were as tall as me, and entirely overcome with rigor mortis. Once we were given battery-powered cars, but when the batteries wore out my parents threw them away. Steven had one of those hockey flipper games, and we liked that a lot. Of course, we skated, and every tiny town had a rink. You could even skate on the field if it flooded before it froze. Then we moved to Pennsylvania and the winters grew warmer and warmer until the ponds didn't freeze over at all. My skates grew moldy and out-grown.