Get ready for a home run season! We’re thrilled to announce that Canadian Tire at the Sunrise Centre on Ottawa Street has stepped up as our official sponsor for the 2025 KW House League Baseball season with an incredible donation. This generous gift will help support families in need with registration and equipment support and support much-needed upgrades to team equipment. Here's to a season fueled by community spirit and the joy of the game!

This is one of the big reasons that Chemtura and the MOE/MECP wanted me off of CPAC. It wasn't just what I knew and was willing to share with the public it was what I continued to learn the more data and information that I got. Things like NDMA 100 or 200 metres cross-gradient from Uniroyal Chemical being found in a deep aquifer below the Stroh property. Things like both dioxins and DDD being found in the sediments of the Stroh Drain where they absolutely should not be found especially many decades after Uniroyal stopped discharging their liquid wastes to the natural environment. Things like the extent of DDT, its' metabolytes, dioxins, PAHs, mercury and PCBs being found in soils and sediments miles downstream in the Canagagigue Creek also many decades after the dumping allegedly stopped. There has also never been an intelligent explanation as to where the PCBs came from. Things like a direct discharge of the Stroh Drain to the Martin swimming pond. OMG. 

I wish I knew more about the pit that was mentioned in a Comment to one of my Blogs recently. I have seen a colour picture or two which seems to show something between the old Stroh barn and the Uniroyal/Chemtura property line . It actually seems to cross the gravel road that runs from the old house and barn westerly towards the gravel pit area. Besides that possibility I am aware of two other low lying areas nearby, one on the Uniroyal property and one on the Stroh property but I don't think either of these are what the commenter is referring to.  

I expect that it is anyone's guess as to what other "surprises" have been covered up, lied about and or hidden. The commenter also wondered about exactly who and how the decisions were made in the late 50s and early 60s to provide the U.S. military with Agent Orange. Did the authority and permission only come from the Canadian Federal government or was the province (Ontario) involved . Wouldn't it also be nice to know if the Town of Elmira were ever asked beforehand about this?

TL;DR: Startups are fundamentally acts of faith — builders believe in ideas before they exist, investors bet on people before there’s proof, and customers trust in products before they’ve been tested. While data and metrics attempt to quantify success, they can’t replace the core trust that holds the ecosystem together. Faith fuels ambition, drives innovation, and connects builders, investors, and customers in a shared leap into the unknown. It’s not just a soft concept; it’s the invisible engine behind every company.

In the world of startups, there’s a constant search for data points, metrics, and tangible proof of success. Venture capitalists demand traction, product-market fit, and hockey-stick growth charts. Builders strive to demonstrate KPIs, CAC-to-LTV ratios, and user retention rates. Customers read reviews, compare features, and seek social proof before clicking ‘buy.’

But beneath all the spreadsheets, dashboards, and data rooms lies something far more elemental: faith.

Building something new is, at its core, an act of belief. Builders begin with an idea — a vision of a world that doesn’t yet exist — and they pour time, energy, and resources into bringing it to life. This is done with faith: faith that someone will care, that someone will need what they’re building, that the market will respond. Before the first customer appears, before the first line of code is written, it’s all faith.

This faith isn’t blind optimism. It’s a calculated risk, a belief in people’s ability to solve problems, create value, and execute on vision. Builders must have faith in their team — that they’ll show up, innovate, and follow through. They have to trust co-builders, early employees, and even advisors to play their roles with dedication and integrity.

Customers, too, engage in acts of faith. When someone downloads a new app, purchases a product from a fledgling company, or signs a contract with an unknown startup, they trust the builder. They believe the product will do what it promises, that the company will be there when support is needed, and that the return on their investment — whether time, money, or both — will be worth it.

Investors, perhaps more than anyone, are in the faith business. While diligence processes exist to minimize risk, at the end of the day, every investment is a bet on people. A builder’s charisma, vision, and resilience often weigh more heavily than the most detailed spreadsheets. It’s a leap of faith — trusting that this builder, with this team, in this market, will defy the odds.

Yet, somewhere along the way, the startup ecosystem has tried to intellectualize faith out of the equation. Entire industries exist to turn subjective beliefs into objective measures. Pitch decks are reverse-engineered to hit the right metrics. Builders bend themselves into data-driven narratives that sometimes obscure the raw belief that sparked their idea in the first place.

However, no amount of data can fully eliminate the role of faith. It’s the invisible thread that ties together the entire ecosystem — builders, customers, investors, teams. Metrics help validate decisions, but they never replace the trust that underpins them.

Faith doesn’t just sustain ambition — it fuels it. The more belief someone has in their vision, their team, and their capacity to create change, the bolder they become. Faith gives ambition its legs, pushing builders to tackle bigger problems, reach for higher goals, and persevere through inevitable setbacks. It’s the core energy that transforms simple ideas into world-changing companies.

Faith is also contagious. It’s shared through the act of trusting someone — when a customer chooses a product when an investor backs a builder, when a team member joins a risky venture. Every act of trust strengthens the collective belief that something meaningful is being built. The more people who share that faith, the more momentum a builder gains.

Paul Graham’s concept of Founder Mode highlights this act of faith at its most personal level. Founder Mode isn’t just about leading a company differently; it’s about the internal belief that a builder must have in themselves to see an idea through. This belief often runs counter to traditional management wisdom, which prioritizes process and detachment. Builders in Founder Mode reject the idea of stepping back. Instead, they dive deeper, trusting their instincts even when conventional advice says otherwise.

It’s this faith in oneself that allows builders to push through gaslighting from stakeholders, overcome self-doubt, and make decisions that feel right, even when others advise against them. Founder Mode is the purest form of entrepreneurial faith — the conviction that no one else sees what you see, and you have to bring it into existence.

Marvin Liao, in his reflection on startups and self-belief, describes the founder’s journey as a kind of modern myth. Founders are the cult leaders of their vision, rallying others to join them in a collective act of belief. It’s not status or money that drives most entrepreneurs — the deep need to create something from nothing, to prove that faith can turn into reality.

This mythic drive explains why so many successful builders return to the startup world, even after achieving financial security. It’s the dopamine of discovery, the addiction to creation, and the love of the impossible made possible.

Daniel Todd, in Faith, Hope, and Love Can Help You Build a Great Business, emphasizes that faith is not just a mindset — it’s an action. It’s the decision to invest in people, to see potential where others might not, and to nurture that potential through belief and support. Businesses grow not just through strategies and tactics, but through the faith leaders have in their teams and the reciprocal trust that builds within organizations.

When leaders demonstrate faith in their employees, it inspires loyalty, hard work, and a shared sense of purpose. It turns companies into communities bound by mutual trust and ambition.

Recognizing this doesn’t mean rejecting data or due diligence. It means acknowledging that, at its core, building something new requires trust in people — their creativity, their work ethic, and their integrity. When we lose sight of that, when we reduce everything to numbers alone, we risk undervaluing the very human element that drives innovation.

So, to builders: embrace the faith that drives you. To investors: remember that beyond the metrics, you’re betting on people. And to customers: know that every new product you try carries the dreams and dedication of someone who believed it could exist.

In the end, it all comes down to faith. And that’s not a weakness — it’s the very foundation of building anything new.

The Foundation of Faith: The Invisible Thread Connecting Builders, Investors, and Customers was originally published in whoyoucallingajesse on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Pygments is a generic syntax highlighter written in Python

Python 1.9k 20 issues need help Updated Jan 11

Rich is a Python library for rich text and beautiful formatting in the terminal.

Python 50.9k Updated Dec 2, 2024

Java 8, released in 2014, introduced several powerful features that revolutionized how developers write code. With a focus on functional programming, streamlined data processing, and improved API support, Java 8 significantly enhanced the language. Features like Lambda Expressions, Stream API, Optional class, a modern Date & Time API, and Default Methods made Java more efficient, readable, and adaptable to modern development needs.

In this article, we will explore these key features, understand their purpose, and see how they improve Java development.

Let’s understand one by one with me.

1. Default method
2. Functional programming
3. Lambda Expression
4. Stream API
5. Date & Time API
6. Optional Class.

Default methods were introduced in Java 8 to provide backward compatibility to existing interfaces. Before Java 8, adding a new method to an interface required all implementing classes to provide an implementation, which could break existing code. To solve this issue, Java introduced default methods, which allow interfaces to have methods with a default implementation without forcing changes in implementing classes.

A default method is defined in an interface using the default keyword and includes a method body, unlike traditional interface methods. Since default methods have a predefined implementation, classes that implement the interface inherit these methods automatically. However, implementing classes can override the default method if needed.

One of the main advantages of default methods is that they support lambda expressions and functional programming. Additionally, default methods cannot be implemented in classes directly; they are specific to interfaces. This feature makes it easier to evolve interfaces over time without affecting existing implementations.

public class DefaultMethodExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        B b = new B();
        b.greet();
        b.sayGoodBye();
    }
}

interface A{
    default void greet(){
        System.out.println("Hello");
    }

    default void sayGoodBye(){
        System.out.println("Good Bye");
    }
}
class B implements A{}

Multiple inheritance with default method.

Default methods in Java are inherited by implementing classes because they have a method body in the interface. However, if a class implements two interfaces that have default methods with the same method signature, it leads to multiple inheritance ambiguity. In such cases, Java does not know which method to invoke. To resolve this, the super keyword can be used to specify which interface’s default method should be called.

public class DefaultMethodExample1 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MyC myC = new MyC();
        myC.greetMe();
        MyD.greetMe();
    }
}

interface MyA{
    default void greetMe(){
        System.out.println("Hello World");
    }
}

interface MyB{
    default void greetMe(){
        System.out.println("Hello Maleesha");
    }
}

interface MyD{
    static void greetMe(){
        System.out.println("Hello Tharuprabha");
    }
}

class MyC implements MyA, MyB{
    @Override
    public void greetMe() {
        MyB.super.greetMe();
    }
}

Functional programming in Java allows passing parameters using lambda expressions. A functional interface is an interface that contains exactly one abstract method but can also have default and static methods. To ensure an interface is functional, we can use the @FunctionalInterface annotation. However, this annotation is optional the program will still compile without it. If the interface contains more than one abstract method and we use @FunctionalInterface, a compile-time error occurs.

From Java 8, interfaces can also have static methods, which must have a method body. Unlike default methods, static methods are not inherited by implementing classes.

@FunctionalInterface
interface MyFunctionalInterface {
    void abstractMethod();

    default void defaultMethod() {
        System.out.println("Default method in interface");
    }

    static void staticMethod() {
        System.out.println("Static method in interface");
    }
}

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MyFunctionalInterface obj = () -> System.out.println("Abstract method implementation");
        obj.abstractMethod();
        MyFunctionalInterface.staticMethod();
    }
}

This example demonstrates lambda expressions, the @FunctionalInterface annotation, and static methods in interfaces.

Lambda expressions, introduced in Java 8, enable functional programming in Java by making code more readable, concise, and efficient. They simplify working with libraries and APIs and provide support for parallel processing.

When a lambda expression simply calls another method, we can replace it with a method reference. There are three types of method references:

• Static Method Reference — ClassName::methodName
• Instance Method Reference — object::methodName
• Constructor Reference — ClassName::new

import java.util.function.Supplier;

class Example {
    static void staticMethod() {
        System.out.println("Static method reference");
    }

    void instanceMethod() {
        System.out.println("Instance method reference");
    }
}

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Runnable ref1 = Example::staticMethod;
        ref1.run();

        Example obj = new Example();
        Runnable ref2 = obj::instanceMethod;
        ref2.run();

        Supplier<Example> ref3 = Example::new;
        Example newObj = ref3.get();
    }
}

Java provides several built-in functional interfaces in the java.util.function package to support lambda expressions and functional programming. These interfaces help perform common operations without writing custom interfaces.

1. Function<T, R> – Static Method Reference

The Function<T, R> interface has a single abstract method apply(T t), which takes an input and returns an output. It is useful when we need a transformation or computation on input data.

public class Operation5 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Integer> list = Arrays.asList(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10);

        Function<Integer,Integer> function = x -> x * x;
        list.stream().map(function).forEach(System.out::println);

        //after simplify
        list.stream()
                .map(x -> x * x)
                .forEach(System.out::println);

        //filter the even numbers
        list.stream()
                .map(x -> x * x)
                .filter(x -> x % 2 == 0)
                .forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

2. Predicate<T> – Constructor Reference

The Predicate<T> interface has a single abstract method test(T t), which returns a Boolean value based on a condition. It is used for filtering or validation logic.

public class Operation4 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<String> name = Arrays.asList("Kamal","Nimal","Sunil","Sunimal", "Amal","Ruwan");

        Predicate<String> predicate = x -> (x.endsWith("mal"));
        name.stream().filter(predicate).forEach(System.out::println);

        //after simplify
        name.stream()
                .filter(x -> x.endsWith("mal"))
                .forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

3. Consumer<T> – Object Method Reference

The Consumer<T> interface has a single abstract method accept(T t), which takes an input but does not return a value. It is used for performing operations like logging or printing.

public class Operation2 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Integer> list = Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10);

        Consumer<Integer> consumer = (x) -> {
            x = x*2;
            System.out.println(x);
        };
        list.forEach(consumer);
    }
}

These are the step to simplify a lambda expression.

1. Single line method body — remove curly brackets.
2. Only one parameter — remove parenthesis.
3. Zero, two or more parameters — keep parenthesis.
4. Return a value.
5. @funcionalInterface annotation
6. method reference.

This is a simple guideline to remember how to simplify a lambda expression in java.

The Stream API is an abstract layer introduced in Java 8 that allows developers to process data in a declarative manner, similar to SQL. Before Java 8, working with collections required writing multiple for loops and conditional logic to extract data, making the code more complex and harder to read. Additionally, implementing parallel processing required writing manual parallel code, which was both error-prone and difficult to maintain.

To address these challenges, Java 8 introduced Streams, enabling developers to write logic declaratively while leveraging parallel processing capabilities without writing extra parallel code. Streams process elements from a source sequentially, such as collections, arrays, or I/O operations, but do not store elements themselves.

Streams support aggregate operations like filter, map, reduce, and find, making data processing more efficient. Most stream operations return a stream, allowing pipeline-style operations where multiple transformations can be chained together. Finally, the collect() method is a terminal operation that is usually placed at the end of the pipeline to gather the processed data into a collection or other structures.

Let’s explore some Stream operations………….

1. forEach() – Iterating Over Elements

The forEach() method is a terminal operation that iterates over each element in a stream and performs an action. It is commonly used for printing or modifying elements.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class ForEachExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<String> names = Arrays.asList("Alice", "Bob", "Charlie");

        // Using forEach() to print each name
        names.stream().forEach(name -> System.out.println(name));
    }
}

2. map() – Transforming Elements

The map() method is an intermediate operation that transforms each element in a stream and returns a new stream. It is typically used for modifying data, like converting strings to uppercase or extracting specific properties from objects.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

public class MapExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<String> names = Arrays.asList("Alice", "Bob", "Charlie");

        // Convert each name to uppercase
        List<String> upperCaseNames = names.stream()
                                           .map(name -> name.toUpperCase())
                                           .collect(Collectors.toList());

        System.out.println(upperCaseNames);
    }
}

3. filter() – Selecting Elements Based on Condition

The filter() method is an intermediate operation that selects only the elements that match a given condition. It is useful for removing unwanted elements.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

public class FilterExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Integer> numbers = Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6);

        // Filter even numbers
        List<Integer> evenNumbers = numbers.stream()
                                           .filter(num -> num % 2 == 0)
                                           .collect(Collectors.toList());

        System.out.println(evenNumbers);
    }
}

I think you can understand well about Stream API with the given examples. try more by yourself. Cheers…….

Java 8 introduced a new Date and Time API under the java.time package to overcome the limitations of the old java.util.Date and java.util.Calendar classes. It provides immutable, thread-safe, and more readable date/time handling.

• LocalDate – Represents a date (year, month, day) without time.

LocalDate today = LocalDate.now();
System.out.println(today); // Output: 2025-02-21

• LocalTime – Represents only time (hours, minutes, seconds).

LocalTime time = LocalTime.now();
System.out.println(time); // Output: 14:30:15.123

• LocalDateTime – Combines both date and time.

LocalDateTime dateTime = LocalDateTime.now();
System.out.println(dateTime); // Output: 2025-02-21T14:30:15.123

• ZonedDateTime – Handles date, time, and timezone.

ZonedDateTime zonedTime = ZonedDateTime.now();
System.out.println(zonedTime);

This API makes date/time manipulation easier, more accurate, and less error-prone in Java applications.

Java 8 introduced the Optional class (java.util.Optional) to handle null values more effectively and avoid NullPointerException. It is a container object that may or may not contain a non-null value.

import java.util.Optional;

public class Operation7 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Optional<Person> p = Person.getPerson();
        if(p.isPresent()) {
            System.out.println(p.get());
        }else{
            System.out.println("No person found");
        }
    }
}

class Person {
    String name;
    int age;

    Person(String name, int age) {
        this.name = name;
        this.age = age;
    }

    public static Optional<Person> getPerson() {
        return Optional.of(new Person("Maleesha", 26));
    }
}

There are some Key methods in Optional class. let’s explore………..

• of(value) – Creates an Optional with a non-null value.
• empty() – Creates an empty Optional.
• ofNullable(value) – Creates an Optional, allowing null values.
• isPresent() – Checks if a value is present.
• orElse(defaultValue) – Returns the value if present; otherwise, returns a default.

Optional<String> opt = Optional.of("Hello");

Optional<String> opt = Optional.empty();

Optional<String> opt = Optional.ofNullable(null);

if (opt.isPresent()) {
    System.out.println(opt.get());
}

String result = opt.orElse("Default");

In this article, we explored some of the exciting features introduced in Java 8, including Default Methods, the powerful Stream API, the modern Date and Time API, and the convenient Optional Class. We also delved into the principles of Functional Programming and the use of Lambda Expressions, which enable us to write more concise and readable code. These enhancements not only simplify our code but also promote better practices for handling data and avoiding common pitfalls, making Java development more efficient and enjoyable.

Thank you for joining me on this journey through Java 8! Stay tuned for more insightful articles that will help you deepen your understanding of Java and improve your coding skills.

Until next time, goodbye to all my geek friends! Keep coding and exploring the wonders of programming! 🚀✨

Exploring Java 8 Features was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If we talk about the complexity of the process in any sector then the healthcare sector witnesses one of the most complex procedures. From staffing shortages to increasing demand for services there is a lot to look at. These challenges have ultimately increased the demand for innovative solutions like AI.

However there are some healthcare businesses that are massively adopting the integration of AI into their existing systems, but the majority are still in the research phase. AI in healthcare is not only enhancing all the diagnostics and treatment but is also helping streamline operations and improve overall patient care.

If you have a medical center that lacks AI integration, then you are surely missing out on the transformation. AI can help you and your work in multiple ways like analyzing a huge amount of data, creating treatment plans, and streamlining your internal operations.

In addition to this AI is also playing a crucial role in optimizing healthcare IT infrastructure allowing providers to manage resources more efficiently while reducing the cost. In this blog below we will quickly take a look at the pros of using AI in the healthcare industry.

When you research and practice digital trends in IT specifically for the healthcare industry you will find it has a lot more capabilities than you could have even imagined. Here’s a list of some of the most popular practices done in healthcare with AI integrations:

Technology advancements transform the way we earlier used to do things and AI-powered diagnostics in the healthcare industry is the biggest example. All the AI-integrated diagnostics leverage advanced algorithms for analyzing medical data, specifically for imaging and pathology.

These AI integrations have some unparalleled capabilities that help in identifying the patterns in medical imaging, enabling professionals to detect disease at an earlier stage. This capability not only helps in improving the patient’s outcomes but also helps in optimizing the workflow within healthcare settings.

The creation of individual-specific treatment plans following a manual process can be a time-consuming process. If you are a medical professional then switching to AI for creating treatment plans personalized for your patients can be the right choice for you. The AI captures and utilizes the patient data for creating customized strategies considering their individual health profiles.

The AI analyzes all sorts of required data including genetic information, medical history, and lifestyle factors. Not only this AI can also help you to make predictions on how patients will be responding to various treatments or medications. With assistance, more effective care can be provided while minimizing the adverse effects. This will ultimately enhance patient care.

It’s very important to understand that the time taken to develop a new drug using AI is comparatively less when compared with the traditional manual process. AI and machine learning are deployed in the biotech sector to create new and better medicines.

AI in healthcare not only helps in the detection of disease at early stages but also brings the right medication treatments for hard-to-treat diseases. AI-powered drug creation not only handles all the major issues and limitations in the traditional R&D processes, but it also provides higher success rates and cheaper drug discovery methods.

If you are a healthcare specialist or own any healthcare center, you can bring the above-mentioned AI-powered tools into your business. In line with this, you can hire app developers who can hear out your plan and implement your needs to your system without any hassles. By hiring developers you save good time to focus on other important things demanding your attention and time

Indeed, AI can do many things to streamline the processes in the medical sector but have you ever wondered about the technologies used? Let’s talk about some of the most used technologies that you even see in your day-to-day life.

Nowadays patients can easily access medical services from the comfort of their houses by leveraging the top-notch features of telemedicine. Patients in remote areas can easily connect with healthcare specialists without getting caught up in the hassles of physical traveling.

AI bots promoting telemedicine help in maintaining continuous communication between patients and healthcare professionals. This ensures a better recovery rate for chronic disease management while ensuring effective management and communication.

A centralized document repository acts as a document management for securely storing patient information, allowing for easy access by all healthcare providers. When it comes to the data and information for a patient’s medical history, medications, and test results, the EHR secures it all making it easily accessible only to authorized personnel.

AI-integrated EHR systems enhance decision-making by bringing clarity and transparency to all the associated documents in a single place. Furthermore, it provides tools for various tools to provide predictive analytics and decision support.

In today’s fast-paced world, monitoring health has become very crucial. It’s quite understandable you can’t stay with a doctor 24/7, but you surely can wear devices that help you keep a check on your health. Various applications for mobile devices and top-notch watches allow users with ease to monitor their health metrics like heart rate, activity levels, sleep patterns, and many other similar things.

With real-time health tracking patients can understand their needs and take an active role in their health management process. Wearable health devices promote better adherence to treatment and improved health outcomes. Apart from the already running health devices, organizations can also create their own app for their patient by coordinating with a app development company or any other specific region.

It may sound surprising to some but use cases for robotics in healthcare is very common. These robotic assistants have transformed the whole landscape of surgical processes while reducing the risk of uncertain human errors, pain, mismanagement, and various other side effects.

Surgical robots help in the process of enhancing the powers of surgeons by providing greater dexterity and control over complex situations. In line with this, it also reduces the recovery time and results in improved surgical outcomes.

Now we know that AI is transforming the face of the healthcare sector, but the question is how beneficial it is. The list of benefits of bringing technology and AI integrations into the healthcare industry includes several points:

1. Efficient Diagnoses: With AI the diagnostic results are more accurate. A quick and accurate result can help with early disease detection by eliminating the need for costly tests and procedures.
2. Cost Saving: It may require some additional charges to integrate AI into existing healthcare systems but once integrated it can help businesses save bucks. AI automation can approximately save up to 45% of administrative tasks, helping the healthcare sector to save up to billions annually by reducing operational costs.
3. Customized Treatment: Personalized treatments with AI can help professionals analyze patient data to create a tailored plan for treatment while optimizing resources and reducing unnecessary problems.

Claiming that AI will surely continue to transform the healthcare sector is not an understatement anymore. With each passing day, AI is becoming more powerful with multiple features and capabilities. So, you must plan your strategy to leverage the capabilities of AI and try consulting a mobile app development company to bring your thoughts into action. Without any further delays, you can start your transformation journey for your healthcare business today.

How Technology is Revolutionizing the Healthcare Industry? was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Last week, the Trump administration removed references to transgender and queer people from the Stonewall National Monument website. This act, as reported by BBC News, is particularly noteworthy given the historical importance of the Stonewall Inn bar in New York. The 1969 police raid at this bar led to riots, a pivotal moment in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. Now, the first national monument in the U.S. dedicated to LGBTQ+ history bears the scars of erasure.

Here is a capture of Stonewall’s website from the Internet Archive on January 5, 2025, and here is a link to its website today. You’ll find pages that used to read “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+)” now read “lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB).”

Erasure can also happen in our workplaces when someone claims credit for a project without mentioning contributors. Or ignores suggestions people make in meetings and shared documents. Or doesn’t invite someone to an important meeting.

Let’s look out for erasure and actively counteract it. Acknowledge contributors who are being overlooked. Point out if someone is missing from a conversation. Ask why some identities were erased from a website.

p.s. If you can, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Internet Archive. We need them now more than ever to help fact-checkers hold those in power accountable.

Share this action on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, or YouTube.

On February 13, 2025, a coalition of 16 Attorneys General of U.S. states issued a press release about the legality of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility employment initiatives.

The Attorneys General emphasize that DEIA best practices are lawful and that the federal government lacks the authority to prohibit such practices in the private sector through executive orders.

They clarify that while discrimination is illegal, DEIA initiatives are distinct from unlawful hiring preferences and are essential for fostering inclusive and legally compliant workplaces.

So, if your organization or nonprofit is considering canceling any DEIA initiatives, ERGs, training, etc., share this press release with decision-makers. Reassure people that implementing DEIA policies aligns with state and federal civil rights laws, enhances business performance, and reduces litigation risks associated with workplace discrimination.

Since President Trump assumed the chair of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, several performers have cut their ties with the organization. Comedian W. Kamau Bell, however, decided to proceed with his recent performance.

In an interview with NPR Morning Edition, Bell explained his decision. The performance had been in the works for many months. He knows his audience wants to hear from him. And he believes he should show up and be himself, even in spaces he might disagree with.

Bell ended the interview with this powerful message:

“People say stay in your lane, and we go, “No, no. Know your lane.” What can you do in the lane that you’re already in that can help make it easier on somebody who can’t do the work that you can do? That’s where it starts. People are like, “I’m going to go back to law school.” No, no, no. What are you doing now? “I’m going to start a nonprofit.” No, no, no. What are you doing now? And how can you start making that lane more equitable, more inclusive, more diverse where you are?”

Folks, what will you do right now to improve your lane within your workplace or community?

As you may know, the holy month of Ramadan begins on February 28th this year.

I appreciated reading Understanding Ramadan and Supporting Your Muslim Colleagues by Yusuf Zakir, chief DEI officer at Davis Wright Tremaine. He explains that during Ramadan, most Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, are more dedicated to prayer, increase their charitable giving and community service, and spend more time with family and other members of their place of worship.

Here’s Zakir’s advice for supporting coworkers during this time:

• Acknowledge the month’s significance by wishing them Ramadan Mubarak (have a happy Ramadan) or Ramadan Kareem (have a blessed Ramadan).
• Understand how busy they may be, working their regular hours while fasting and then participating in prayers and festivities in the evening.
• Encourage them to take off Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the 30 days of Ramadan and is commonly considered the most widely celebrated holiday for Muslims worldwide. You can also wish them Eid Mubarak (have a happy Eid).

This week’s spotlight on an ally action from the Better Allies community is from Aubrey Huff, who wrote,

“In event planning, I’ve committed to asking for speakers’ phonetic name spelling when I collect their needed information. I insert the phonetic spellings into the scripts so the emcee can be sure to pronounce them correctly. This might be commonplace, but I learned the hard way when I forgot to include it once and the emcee pronounced a featured speaker’s name incorrectly multiple times [cringe].”

And please do this for all speakers, even if you think their name is common or easy to pronounce. What’s straightforward for you may not be the case for someone else.

If you’ve taken a step towards being a better ally, please reply to this email and tell me about it. And mention if I can quote you by name or credit you anonymously in an upcoming newsletter.

My friend Jeannie Gainsburg, author of The Savvy Ally, created an engaging short video about DEI activities still legal in the USA. She based it on a social media post I made that thousands of people liked and shared. 🤗

That’s all for this week. I wish you strength and safety as we all move forward.

Karen Catlin (she/her), Author of the Better Allies® book series
pronounced KAIR-en KAT-lin, click to hear my name

Copyright © 2025 Karen Catlin. All rights reserved.

Being an ally is a journey. Want to join us?

• Follow @BetterAllies on Bluesky, Instagram, Medium, Threads, or YouTube. Or follow Karen Catlin on LinkedIn
• This content originally appeared in our newsletter. Subscribe to “5 Ally Actions” to get it delivered to your inbox every Friday
• Read the Better Allies books
• Form a Better Allies book club
• Get your Better Allies gear
• Tell someone about these resources

Together, we can — and will — make a difference with the Better Allies® approach.

Don’t Erase People, and Other Actions for Allies was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’re excited to announce that registration for our Select Baseball tryouts is now open! This is a fantastic opportunity for young athletes to showcase their skills and potentially join one of our competitive teams for the upcoming 2025 season.

Please note that your player must be registered in the KW House League Program to play in the Select Program.

KW Select is a combined program of Kitchener and Waterloo residents, you could be placed on either a Kitchener or Waterloo team.

Tryout Details:

• U8/U9 (2016,2017,2018)  – March 16 (RIM Fieldhouse 1, 4pm-6pm) and March 29 (Bechtel Fieldhouse 1, 3pm-5pm)
• U10/U11 (2014,2015) – March 9 (RIM Fieldhouse 1, 4pm-6pm) and March 16 (RIM Fieldhouse 2, 4pm-6pm)
• U12/U13 (2012,2013)– March 9 (RIM Fieldhouse 2, 4pm-6pm) and March 16 (RIM Fieldhouse 3, 4pm-6pm)
• U14/U15 (2010, 2011) – March 9 (RIM Fieldhouse 3, 4pm-6pm) and March 23 (RIM Fieldhouse 3, 9am-10:30am)

Tryout Cost - $20.00

To ensure your child has the chance to participate, please complete the registration form prior to your age groups first tryout date. Please use this LINK to register.

These tryouts will be an excellent opportunity for players to demonstrate their abilities, and for us to identify the best fit for our teams. Whether your child is new to Select Baseball or has prior experience, we encourage all interested players to come out and give it their best!

More information will be supplied at the tryouts.

For more information about Select Baseball, please visit;

KMBA – Select Baseball
WMBA – Select Baseball

Or Email

kwselect@kitchenerminorbaseball.ca

A python wrapper for libmagic

Python 2.7k Updated Feb 19

Hmm let's see: besides word of mouth first hand testimony there are maps, reports and other documentation. These include CRA, GHD, CH2MHILL, Terraqua, Dames & Moore and other professional reports. There are the early (1991) Environmental Audit Reports done by CRA as well. There are topographical maps indicating ground surface elevations produced by CRA, Region of Waterloo, Min. of Environment etc. Indeed some work is required to put it all together and determine the most likely outcomes of various bad decisions made over the years. One of the more potentially shocking ones is whether or not the Martin family were ever advised when the upstream source of "water" on the Stroh property to their swimming pond was enhanced in 1983 by the man made extension of Martin Creek. This man made extension has since been known as the Stroh Drain or the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB).

There are other interesting variations between official maps other than the true location of GP-1. Questions arise as to what percentage of liquid toxic wastes actually flowed directly or indirectly into the favoured GP-1 location.  Or is it just as likely that Uniroyal used pumps to get some of the offending liquid toxic wastes into the favoured GP-1 location? 

Quoting a famous saying "When one is up to one's as* in crocodiles it is difficult to remind oneself that the initial objective was to drain the swamp."  The swamp on both Uniroyal's eastern border and Stroh's western border was finally drained with the construction of the 1983 SDDB. The SDDB drained both surface water as well as contaminated groundwater from both sides of the property line. To this day the SDDB has 2,3,7,8 TCDD (dioxins) in its' sediments at least thirty times greater than the federal health criteria and quite frankly with more sampling likely far in excess of that.

Despite all this our authorities have all chosen to bury their heads in the sand and govern via the ostrich method..  

AI-augmented development in Vim and Neovim

Vim Script 126 Updated Feb 19

Three years ago, I wrote my first production API, and if I’m being honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought that once I landed my first job, everything would magically fall into place. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. But what did happen was growth — and a lot of lessons I wish someone had shared with me when I was just starting out.

This isn’t just another “tips for junior developers” article. It’s a retrospective from someone who’s been in the trenches, figured a few things out, and still has a lot to learn. So, if you’re a junior developer (or about to be one), I hope this helps you navigate your journey with a little more confidence.

When I started, I thought knowing every JavaScript library made me a great developer. I memorized syntax, watched countless tutorials, and felt like I was constantly playing catch-up. But as time went on, I realized that knowing how to solve problems was far more valuable than knowing every new framework. The constant anxiety of “falling behind” started to fade when I shifted my focus to understanding fundamental concepts — data structures, algorithms, and clean code principles. The tech stack will change; problem-solving skills won’t

Early on, my code worked, but it wasn’t pretty. And I thought that was enough. But as my responsibilities grew, I learned that writing maintainable code is just as important as writing functional code. What helped me level up was understanding SOLID principles, embracing DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself), and taking code reviews seriously — without taking feedback personally. Your code isn’t you. Striving for readability and maintainability over cleverness makes a world of difference.

I used to think that being a good developer meant writing good code — full stop. But I quickly learned that communicating with both technical and non-technical teams is just as critical. Explaining technical debt, setting realistic expectations, and writing clear documentation turned out to be game-changers for me. The best backend developers I know are also great communicators. If you can make a non-technical person understand why something matters, you’re doing it right.

I won’t lie — there were (and still are) days when I feel like I don’t belong in tech. That I’m not smart enough or experienced enough. Impostor syndrome hits hard, especially in a field that evolves at lightning speed. But tracking my progress helped. Looking back at the problems I solved, the systems I designed, and the projects I shipped reminded me that I do belong here. And so do you. It’s okay not to know everything. What truly matters is how you approach learning.

There was a turning point in my career when I stopped thinking of myself as just a coder and started thinking about the bigger picture. How does this feature impact the user experience? How does this architecture choice affect performance and scalability? When I started asking “why” — why this feature, why this design pattern, why this tech stack — I became a more valuable developer. Writing code is important, but understanding the business context and thinking like a problem solver sets you apart.

If I could give just one piece of advice to my junior self, it would be to find a mentor. I was hesitant to reach out to senior devs, thinking I’d be a bother. But what I found was that most people are more than willing to share their knowledge. Joining tech communities, contributing to open source, and simply asking questions accelerated my growth more than any tutorial ever did. You’re not alone. Find your tribe and learn from others.

If I could go back to my junior developer days, I’d tell myself this:

• It’s okay to make mistakes — that’s how you learn.
• You don’t have to know everything; you just need to know how to find the answer.
• Three years goes by fast, and before you know it, you’ll be the one giving advice.

I’d love to hear what lessons you all have learned as a junior developer. Drop a comment and let’s share some wisdom — because we’re all in this together.

What I Wish I Knew as a Junior Developer was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Just like I recently wanted a poster about my offer to create websites for social development organizations for free.

I used Figma to create an effective and beautiful poster very quickly.

And I’d love to help you create visuals for your own projects and stories — without requiring $$ for expensive software or professional help.

Follow this quick tutorial and you’ll be designing in no time.

Recently, I decided to use my web development skills to help organizations that do noble deeds in society.

You know — children’s homes, old-age homes, food banks, animal shelters...

I wanted to get the word out. But social media posts with just text rarely grab people’s attention.

So, I wanted to create a visual that I could share with my network.

I had a few options: Google Slides — too basic, GIMP (or Photoshop) — too complex for a beginner, or hiring a designer — too expensive.

So, I chose Figma — a tool that is wildly popular in design circles.

Figma is supremely powerful while being unbelievably simple.

Professional designers use Figma for complex projects, yet beginners can create impressive work within minutes. It’s like having a professional design studio that doesn’t require years of training to operate.

Today, I’ll show you how I created my poster in Figma.

So that you can create visuals for yourself in under 10 minutes.

Figma is easy to access. You can install it on your computer or you can simply use it online at Figma.com.

Here are the key Figma properties we’ll be using:

• Frames: Think of frames as your canvas. They’re containers that hold your design elements and can be sized specifically for different platforms.
• Images: External visual elements that you can import into your design.
• Text Objects: Individual text elements that can be styled independently.
• Rectangles: Shape elements that can be filled with colors or gradients.
• Gradients: Color transitions that can be used to create depth and improve text readability.

For those of you who prefer video tutorials over text, here is a 10 minute tutorial.

When you complete the tutorial, you will also have created a beautiful visual you can actually use.

1. Open Figma.com. Click on Login. Then, create a free account and login.
2. Create a new file by clicking on the “New design file” button.

1. The main toolbar of Figma appears towards the bottom of the screen. Click on the “Frame” tool (the second icon in the toolbar)
2. Click and drag on the large empty space to create a Frame with dimensions 1200 x 630 pixels

These dimensions are optimized for Facebook and LinkedIn sharing, so that your design displays properly across these platforms without unwanted cropping.

For other requirements, you can change the dimensions or use one of the preset dimensions from Figma. They appear as soon as you click on the Frame. icon.

If you do not have a relevant image, you can generate one using AI -

1. Visit Fotor.com or Imagine.art or similar AI image generation platforms
2. Use a detailed prompt to generate your image, such as “Several happy children in a children’s home, boys as well as girls. Dressed in shades of blue and green.”
   - Pro tip: Be specific about colors or other attributes in your prompt if you have specific requirements or preferences
   - Focus on authentic, respectful representation
   - If you want the image to fill the complete poster, you can specify the ratio of 16:9, as that is closest to the 1200 x 630 dimension
3. Download the generated image

1. In Figma, open the Image/video selector and select your desired image. Drop the image inside your frame.

2. Resize and position the image as needed

1. Draft your initial message
2. Refine the text through iterations (on your own or with help from a friend or using AI assistance through Claude, ChatGPT, or similar AI chatbots)
3. Break down your message into separate text objects:
   - Main headline
   - Supporting text
   - Call to action
   - Image credit
   Why separate objects? This allows for individual styling and better visual hierarchy
4. Add the text objects in Figma. You can copy/paste your entire text into Figma, or you can use the Text tool to type it.

You can select all the text components to style them at once, or to align them relative to one another.

1. Style each text object differently.

• For styling, use the Typography, Fill, Stroke, and Effects options.
• Vary font sizes for hierarchy
• Use consistent font families

2. Position text elements strategically:

• Consider visual flow
• Leave breathing room between elements
• Align elements consistently
• Use the Position panel to adjust alignment

If you are adding text on top of your image, it may not be easily readable. To fix this, add contrast.

1. Create a new rectangle covering the entire frame.

2. Apply a linear gradient fill:

• Select colors from your image using the eyedropper tool
• Adjust gradient stops (positioning of colors)
• Fine-tune opacity levels

Why this matters: The gradient creates contrast between text and image, improving readability while maintaining visual harmony

1. Now that you have finished designing your poster, select the entire frame. An easy way to do this is to click on the frame’s name in the Layers panel (left panel). Unless you have renamed it, the frame will be called Frame 1.
2. At the bottom of the Design pane (right panel), click on the + icon next to “Export”. This will reveal the Export button. Click on this button.

3. Select the desired export location and click Save.

That’s it! Your first Figma creation is ready to share with the world. Congrats!

If you’re looking to create something visual — whether it’s a motivational poster for your room or a design for an app you are building — I’d be happy to help!

I can share more tips or even schedule a free call to guide you through your first design.

Just reach out in the comments below or message me directly.

I am a design beginner myself, but I’d love to help you begin your journey more easily than I did.

Remember, for a good design , sometimes, all you need is the right tool and a little guidance.

Create Your Own Visuals in Under 10 Minutes was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

KW Habilitation is thrilled to introduce Connect for Success, a conference for people working in Developmental Services, happening on Thursday, May 8th, 2025, from 9 AM to 4 PM at the Crowne Plaza in Kitchener, Ontario.

For years, we have been committed to fostering professional development within our organization, offering meaningful learning opportunities for our teams to grow, connect, and enhance their skills. Now, for the first time, we’re opening the doors to professionals across the Developmental Services sector. This event is an opportunity to bring people who are dedicated to supporting people with developmental disabilities throughout their lifespan together.

• Paul Huschilt (Morning Keynote) – A Resilience & Wellness Expert, Paul will deliver “Humour, Resilience & Change”, providing practical tools to navigate stress and build resilience through humor.
• Michael Jacques (Afternoon Keynote) – An author and activist, Michael will share his personal journey and discuss the importance of belonging and acceptance for individuals with developmental disabilities.

• FASD Doesn’t End at 18 – Strategies for supporting youth with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder as they transition into adulthood.
• Compassion in Care – Trauma-informed approaches to palliative support for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD).
• Bridging Aging and Developmental Disabilities – Collaborative solutions for supporting aging adults with IDD, including dementia training programs.
• Addiction and Harm Reduction – Understanding addiction and how to provide effective harm-reduction support.
• Trauma-Informed Care & Resiliency – Practical strategies to integrate trauma-informed care into support for individuals with autism and IDD.
• Fostering Resiliency through Trauma-Informed Care – Insights from implementing trauma-informed practices in a large organization, emphasizing staff wellness and improved outcomes for individuals with autism and IDD.

• Date: Thursday, May 8th, 2025
• Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
• Location: Crowne Plaza, 105 King Street East, Kitchener, Ontario
• Registration Fee: $150.00 (includes refreshments and lunch)

This conference is designed for professionals working in the Developmental Services sector. Whether you’re a direct support professional, manager, or leader, you’ll gain practical tools, valuable insights, and meaningful connections to enhance your work.

We’ve been proud to build a strong learning culture within KW Habilitation—now, we’re excited to expand the conversation, share knowledge, and connect with peers from other organizations.

Register today and join us for this incredible learning experience!

The post Bringing the Sector Together: Connect for Success 2025 appeared first on KW Habilitation.

♦

The photo above is of downtown Saskatoon, taken from the University bridge by Trevor Pritchard. The photo is used in accordance with his Creative Commons license.

After fighting off Salvadore and reuniting with Polk, Aurora leaves the wilderness and She and Polk arrive in Saskatoon. It's time for answers, starting with who is the person Matron sent them to see. Read on to find out.

<<- Back to Chapter Six

The Dream King's Daughter - Chapter Seven: The Paris of the Prairies

Aurora walked to school in silence, following old routes on autopilot. Kids darted past, laughing and calling to each other.

She passed through an alleyway between a store, a row of houses and a park, a favourite shortcut for school kids because it was out of the eyes of the teachers. She side-stepped a group of kids kicking a ball about. Other kids bounced balls off the back of the store.

Turning a corner, she saw Albijana stumbling backward and landing heavily on the concrete. Roger and his stooges laughed as Albijana rolled over, clutching her wrist.

Roger stepped forward menacingly. Aurora darted in front of him as Albijana struggled to her feet.

"What did you do that for?" she yelled. "Leave her alone!"

Roger stopped, startled. The moment stretched out, then broke. He snickered. "Stay out of this, shorty. If you know what's good for you."

He made to pass her, but Aurora planted herself in his way. "Apologize!"

There was a gasp from the gathering crowd of children. Even Albijana caught her breath.

Roger rolled his eyes. "Get out of my way, squirt!" He tried to brush past her.

Aurora shoved him back with a grunt. Roger stumbled, more from surprise than from the shove. He scowled at her. "What the hell? You got a death wish?"

Aurora saw Anne at the back of the crowd, covering her mouth with both hands. Everybody stared at her in shock or dread. But a voice spoke up at the back of her mind. I can use this.

She trembled but kept her gaze steady. "I'm not afraid of you, Roger."

Roger grinned. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna fight?" He laughed.

She kept her gaze locked on his face. She tried to slow her thumping heart. "Sure."

There was another gasp from the crowd. And a flash in his expression. For a moment -- Aurora could hardly believe it was real, but it was there: surprise, curiosity, even a hint of fear. This wasn't going the way he expected. Nobody had ever challenged him like this before. But he clamped down on his doubts, and his glare hardened. He looked her in the eye. "Okay! Bring it on!"

And as she looked into his eyes, she saw it.

Darkness. Fire. Roger screams.

Got you.

"Not right now." She stepped back as Roger swung at her.

"I knew it!" he shouted triumphantly. "You're chicken!"

"No," she said evenly. "School starts in five minutes. You want to explain to the principal how you were late because you were busy beating up a girl?" She held her voice steady. "After school. How about after sunset? Right here. All right?"

He sputtered. "Me? Sure!" He jabbed a finger at her face. "Just be here, you little twerp."

He pushed past her and stomped off.

Aurora let out a long breath. She wobbled, dizzy. She leaned against the wall for support.

The other children stared at her. Some remembered the time and nudged their friends. They left for school, many of them looking back.

Aurora found Albijana standing by her side, staring at her in wonder. "Why did you do that?"

Good question, said something in Aurora's mind. "I couldn't just stand there."

"He'll kill you!" gasped Albijana.

Yup, said that part of Aurora's mind. But she gave Albijana's hand a squeeze. "Maybe. Maybe not. Will you help me?"

Albijana hesitated. She glanced after Roger and the other children. Then she looked at Aurora and nodded.

Aurora smiled. "Good."

#

The song of the rails competed with Polk's snores. The signposts counted down the distance to Saskatoon. Aurora kept an eye on the way ahead, watching for, among other things, the light of an oncoming locomotive that would send them scrambling out of the railtruck. But as they drove on, she kept glancing over at Polk.

"Who are you, really?" she muttered.

I could wake him up and ask him point blank, confront him with the images of his dream. It's not like he'd skip out while we were driving at sixty kilometres per hour.

She reached out to nudge him, but then the car ran over a rail crossing next to a grain elevator. In the light of the loading ramp lamps, she saw him sprawled in his seat, mouth open, drooling, a vicious red mark across his throat.

Aurora pulled her hand back.

He's stayed with me through all this, she thought. Even after I abandoned him. He may have hidden his true self from me, after I had confided in him my own special powers, but when I ran away, he ran after me. And gotten himself strangled by possessed saskatoon bushes.

So, he's on my side. But what side am I on?

Ahead of her, the sky lightened towards dawn. A new day. Then she thought, it's my birthday. I'm sixteen today. In all the excitement, the date had sneaked up on her without her noticing.

She gave herself a wry smile in the rear-view mirror. Happy birthday, Aurora!

The truck ran over another level crossing. The flashing red lights of the crossing arms blurred as she passed. The hills had given way to farm fields. She scanned for crows, but the sky was empty.

Crows, she thought. A man is hunting me who can control crows. He can trap me in dreams. He's powerful. How can I stop him?

But I have powers, too. I can see people's dreams by looking them in the eye. I somehow called up snakes to suck Salvadore into the dirt, and I found Polk. If this crow-man has all these extra powers that I didn't know about, what other powers do I have that I don't know about?

She sat back in her seat and stared out the windshield. How do you find extra senses you don't know you have? It's like exercising phantom muscles.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then another. And another. She cleared her mind. Made it free like a canvas, ready for the painter.

Come to me.

She opened her eyes and looked at the brightening horizon. Her mouth dropped open. "Whoa!"

She applied the brakes, and the rail truck coasted to a stop. She threw it into park, left the engine running, got out and stood on the embankment.

They were atop a small rise. Below her, Saskatchewan stretched for miles beneath a dome of midnight blue. The silhouette of Saskatoon's skyline poked up at the horizon, its glow lightening the sky.

And in the fields, floating in five lines, each a mile apart, translucent curtains of shade slipped back and forth across the wheat, like thin bands of rain without the clouds.

They made no sound. Around her, only crickets chirped.

"What the hell?" she whispered.

But she knew, instinctively, what they were.

They're dreams! These are the things he trapped me with when I slipped in and out of the real world. And they're impossible to see by day.

The passenger side door opened. Gravel crunched underfoot. "Aurora?" Polk mumbled. "What's wrong?" He followed her gaze and took a step back. "Oh, hell!"

Aurora looked at him. "You can see them too?"

He turned to her, opened his mouth to answer, and then froze. She could see the wheels turning.

"Yes," she said, "you've just given yourself away."

Polk groaned. "I'm an idiot!" He beat his hands against his sides. He kicked the side of the truck. He turned away and thumped the door with clenched fists. Then he looked at her. "You knew I was hiding something, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh. When you fell asleep last night, I overheard one of your dreams. I knew you had something to do with that crow-man who's following us."

Polk shook his head. "That's why you ran away, isn't it? You thought I'd betray you? After I walked across the wilderness with you? Through the heat, carrying that stupid canvas bag?" His voice rose. "Eating cold beans? Running after you and getting strangled by plants?" He pounded the roof. "How could you think that I would ever--"

"Then who are you, Polk?" she yelled. "What are you?"

"I'm not a monster or some alien, I'm just like you."

"If you're just like me, then I wouldn't be too sure about the not-a-monster part!"

His breath caught. He stared at her. "You're not a monster, either," he said softly.

"Then what am I?"

He looked away. "I don't know."

Aurora swore.

"I mean, I don't know how to describe it. It's just that... we're different. We don't really belong where we are, but we have nowhere else to go."

"Who are 'we'?"

Polk waved his arms. "You. Me. Matron. Us. We look human. I feel human, my mom was human, but I'm... not. Well, not completely. We..." He sighed. "We normally inhabit the realm of dreams."

Aurora tasted this on her tongue. "Realm of dreams?" she echoed.

"Well, we're not there now. We've scattered across Earth, trying to live like normal people."

She let out a short, sharp laugh. "Good luck." She looked up at him. "Why scattered?"

Polk looked at the curtains of shadow shifting back and forth in front of the sunrise.

"Because of the man in black? Who is he, Polk?"

His face was grim. "He's the king."

"The king of what?"

"Of dreams."

Aurora snorted in disbelief. "The king of dreams? I'm being hunted by the dream king?"

Polk nodded.

"What's going on, Polk?"

He rubbed his forehead. "Look, do you think we could talk about this while we're driving? We're wasting gas just standing here."

She looked at him a long moment, then opened the door. They climbed inside. She put the truck in gear. It sped up, and the ties between the rails became a blur again. She eased back in her seat and looked at Polk, her arms folded across her chest. He sat hunched up on the passenger's side, staring at his knees, his knuckles pressed to his lips. Finally, he spoke.

"I really did swear to protect you. Three years ago, when Matron told me you were coming, she told me that you were in danger and the Dream King would try to find you. She told me it was very important that this did not happen. She made me swear on the memory of my parents."

"That's a lot to dump on a kid."

"I could handle it," Polk said carelessly, still not looking at her. "I don't remember much... But I do know the Dream King killed my parents."

Aurora sat up in her seat.

"My father was... one of us," he said. "My mother was... a nurse, I think. I was just a little kid when it happened, so I don't remember. Matron took me in."

She had to clear her throat. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It was years ago."

"How did the Dream King kill your parents?"

He flinched. "I don't know! Nobody knows for sure. It was like there was an explosion and then a great big fight to get him back under control. Then we scattered."

"Why?"

"The dream realm wasn't safe for us anymore, Matron said. Not with him... hunting."

They scattered, like my mom, Aurora thought. That wasn't Winnipeg I saw in my mother's dream three years ago. And she's been a school counsellor for as long as I can remember, not some fancy psychologist.

Then, is it true? Is the Dream King really my father?

Matron's words echoed in her head. You can't let him take you! It will be disaster if he does! Followed by Polk's hunting.

I don't want a dad like that.

They drove on in silence for several minutes. Finally, she asked, "Why are you doing this, Polk? Protecting me?"

"I told you, I swore--"

"On your parents' grave, who you never really knew," she cut in. "That's not a good enough reason to follow me across this wilderness. So why are you really here?"

He closed his eyes. "Don't ask me that. Please."

"Tell me."

"It's not important."

"Tell me!"

"Fine!" he shouted, rounding on her. "Look at me."

She looked him in the eye.

Polk walks across the gravel lot behind the diner and pushes aside the stalks of wheat as he enters the neighbouring field. He smiles as he wades into the waving sea of golden brown. The blue skies stretch on forever, and he shields his face from the sun.

The familiarity of Polk's dream swept over her, and she lost herself in the images for a moment, drinking in the security and comfort she'd known before everything went to hell.

Polk wades through the wheat. His heartbeat speeds up as he slips through the stalks towards the clearing where they'd arranged to meet.

Wait, thought Aurora. I haven't seen this bit before.

And there is Aurora, luminous in her jeans and t-shirt, beaming at him, reaching out to him. Polk takes her hand. She wraps her arms around him. They kiss. They--

Oh!

Huh.

Um...

Aurora stared at Polk. Polk looked away. "Happy now?"

"Uh." Aurora faced front and twisted her hands together. "Yeah-- uh, no, uh--" She swallowed. "How long...?"

"Since I first saw you." Polk sank into his seat. His glare could have burned a hole in the dashboard. "I thought-- I think... that you are very beautiful."

She looked at him in astonishment. He glanced up out the front window. "And now I think you'd better stop the truck."

Aurora snapped her attention back to the windshield. She jammed on the brakes. The railtruck skidded to a stop. A towering shade slipped silently up the rail embankment and over the rails in front of them, slow as a battleship in harbour. The rising sunlight shone through it as though it were gauze. It was hundreds of feet long, its top lost in the sky. She wondered whose dream it was or if it was a collection of dreams. Either way, she knew she didn't want to get caught in it.

"Okay," she breathed. "Just hold still..."

Polk held his breath.

A gap between the curtains crept across the landscape towards them. It looked barely wider than the truck. Aurora put the car in gear but kept her foot on the brake. As the gap eased itself up the rail embankment, she jammed on the accelerator. The truck shot forward. The gap slipped in front of them, and they sped through, with only inches to spare. The curtain of shade filled the rear-view mirror. Aurora breathed again.

The next line of shades was a mile down the track. The railtruck paused until a gap passed in front of them, then they zipped through. They stopped and started through the two lines of shades that came next. The sky brightened, and the silhouette of Saskatoon's skyline drew nearer.

The sky was pale green and peach with dawn by the time Aurora brought the railtruck to a stop in front of the last line of shades. They sat a long moment, engine idling, while Aurora peered out the front window. "These are getting harder to see in daylight."

Polk leaned forward, squinting. "Yeah. This is going to be a problem."

"Help me, Polk."

He looked at her. "How? What makes you think I can help you?"

"I only just realized I can see these things. You saw them right away. I can only see... like... super-thin bedsheets. They're like ripples of air."

"That's about what I can see, too, yeah."

"I need you to tell me when I can go."

They looked at each other. Polk faced forward. "Okay. Get ready."

Aurora strained to focus on the next gap in the final line of shades. The edges of the dark sheets looked ragged, as though sunlight had chewed through them. Keeping one foot on the brake, the railtruck in neutral, Aurora revved the engine.

"Now!" Polk snapped.

Aurora shoved the truck into gear and stamped on the accelerator. The truck shot forward. Suddenly, the vague patch of shadow in front of them solidified into a curtain that was directly across the railway tracks. Aurora gasped, but before she could hit the brake, the edge of the curtain came into view in front of her. The tracks were clear. The car sped through.

She glanced at the rear-view mirror, and her breath caught. The wind of their wake had plucked at the shade curtain and it was fluttering up, after them. The veil of darkness descended on the truck. Around her, Aurora heard the distant cry of crows.

Aurora pushed the gas as hard as she could. The truck sped up. The curtain floated down, brushing over the tailgate before settling back on the tracks. It drifted slowly across the fields, then vanished in a beam of sunlight.

Aurora looked at Polk and grinned. "Thanks!"

"Don't mention it." He looked away.

Aurora stared at him, but he didn't look back, so she faced forward. The railtruck drove on to Saskatoon.

#

They saw their first cars as they approached the city. A highway swung into view and paralleled the railway tracks. Aurora turned her head to watch the vehicles; it felt like days since she'd seen people in cars.

She stopped the truck at a crossing with a gravel lane leading off the highway. Ahead of them, they could see the skyline of the city.

"Here we are," Aurora said. "Saskatoon."

"The Paris of the Prairies," said Polk. "Well, what do we do now? Get out and walk?"

Aurora fished through her pockets and pulled out the paper Matron had thrust at her before she fled Cooper's Corners. The slip was torn, and water and sweat had made the ink run, but she could just make out what Matron had written. She pocketed it. "We could spend hours wandering through this city on foot. No, we've got to keep driving."

"Okay, but in what?"

Aurora looked at the dashboard and spotted a lever with an image of a set of railway tracks on it. She flipped it up. Machinery whirred underfoot as the metal wheels retracted. Then she pressed the accelerator and turned the steering wheel. The truck swung onto the gravel lane, bumping over the rails, and stopped by the side of the highway. They waited for a gap in the traffic, then drove off down the road into the city. Aurora felt the traffic close around her like a blanket.

"Okay," said Polk. "When I can afford a car, I'm buying one of these."

Aurora chuckled. "As if."

They followed the highway into the city. Aurora kept her eyes open for crows, strange clouds, or Salvadore standing on a street corner.

Then again, if what he said was true and he could appear a few feet away from somebody by way of their dreams, she could understand why he wouldn't use that power often. If he appeared here in traffic, in front of her car, she'd probably dent the truck. Twice.

After a couple of wrong turns, they found the address in a shopping plaza tucked among a field of box stores and swung off the road into the parking lot.

They stood at the edge of a patch of empty asphalt, buffeted by the sounds of traffic. A building stretched around two sides of the lot, filled with small stores that were still dark beneath a canopy that covered the walkway in front of them. Only the breakfast bakery at the end of the row of stores was open. In the breeze, Aurora caught the heady smell of baking bread. Her stomach rumbled. She looked at Polk and caught him staring wistfully at the bakery.

She touched his arm. "Let's find this place first. Then we'll eat."

His face fell, but he nodded and followed her across the parking lot. They looked for unit D, found the fourth shop from the end of the row and tried the door. It was locked.

Polk stood behind her and peered at the items on display in the window. "Huh." There were books about fairies in the window and a glass dish of crystals and semi-precious stones.

Aurora looked up at the sign. "'Mystic Dreamers'? This is some New Age shop. Why would Matron send me here?"

"Maybe because of this?" Polk pointed to the glass door near eye level. On the other side, dangling from the top of the door, was a glass spirit ball.

Aurora felt a feeling of familiarity, like deja vu.

"Matron didn't say who she was sending you to?" Polk asked.

"There wasn't time to tell me."

"So, what do we do? Wait?"

Aurora ran her hand over the door and touched the glass in front of the spirit ball. "I guess. Maybe we could have a little breakfast--"

"Aurora?" The tone of Polk's voice made her look up. He nodded over her shoulder. "Someone's watching us."

Aurora turned and saw a woman standing at the end of the covered sidewalk, framed in the early morning light. Aurora's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.

The woman stood with her arms limp at her sides, a bag of groceries forgotten where it had fallen on the ground, oranges rolling away across the parking lot and beneath parked cars.

She looked smaller and thinner than Aurora remembered. Her smart pantsuit had been replaced by a floral-print dress and a beige windbreaker, and her blonde hair was longer and wilder. She looked pale without make-up, as if she'd been bleached by the sun and hollowed out by the wind.

A lump caught in Aurora's throat. She cleared it away roughly. "Mom?"

Dawn Perrault's hands rose to cover her mouth. She dropped them and took a step forward, then another, and another. Soon, she was running. The air left Aurora as her mother threw her arms around her. Polk dodged out of her way. Aurora staggered back into a support column with a grunt.

"It's you!" her mother gasped. "It's really you! I thought I'd never see you again."

"Mom," Aurora gasped. Even Dawn's hair seemed thinner, brittle, like it could break in Aurora's fingers.

"Look at you!" Dawn cupped Aurora's face in her hands. "You've grown up! You're a young woman! I've missed so much."

"Mom!" Aurora struggled to free herself.

"What are you doing here?" Dawn was babbling. "How did you know how to find me?" She stopped. "Does Matron know?" Her eyes scanned the parking lot as though checking for hiding places.

"Yes, Mom. She sent us here. She said I could be safe here."

"What? How?" Dawn's gaze fell on Polk. Her eyes narrowed. "And you are?"

Polk flushed red and gave a little wave. "Um... hi! I'm Polk, Matron's foster son. Pleased to meet--"

Dawn suddenly whipped out her purse and fumbled through it. "C'mon, we can't stand out here. Inside!" She yanked out her keys with a spray of Tic Tacs and used Kleenex, unlocked the door and swung it open. "Inside! Now!"

An electronic doorbell tweedled as Aurora and Polk crossed the threshold. Aurora coughed at the rush of incense. Wickerwork and sackcloth muffled the traffic noise outside. The shelves held bowls of beads, carved wooden toys and bags of Fair Trade coffee. The counter was improvised out of milk crates and a single plank of wood. Then Aurora looked up.

The ceiling was festooned with spirit balls.

Dawn began to flutter about, moving papers off the counter and rearranging the bowls on the shelf. "Excuse the mess. Have you come a long way?" She gave them a quick glance. "Yes, of course you have. You must be hungry, but I don't think I have anything to eat."

Aurora stood in the aisle, surrounded by crystals and beads. Polk stood behind her. "Mom."

"Maybe we could grab a bite at the bakery," her mother went on. "They do a decent egg sandwich--"

"Mom!" Aurora cut in.

Dawn stopped. She looked at her daughter, her shoulders trembling.

There was so much Aurora wanted to say, so many questions, that the words caught in her throat. She looked around at the shadowy store, the improvised counter and the battered cash register. "You... you own a shop?"

"It pays the bills."

Silence descended. Mother and daughter stared at each other across the counter.

"Mom." Aurora's fists clenched and unclenched. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Dawn shook her head. "You were twelve, Aurora."

"Right! I was twelve. Do you know how frightening it is to have something like this happen to you when you're twelve? Do you know how frightening it is to think you're alone?"

"Yes, I know how frightening it is to be alone, Aurora."

"You knew!" Aurora yelled. "You could have told me--"

"I didn't know what to tell you!" Dawn shouted. "All I knew was that it wasn't safe for you anymore."

"So, you wiped my memories? You sent me away to hide with Aunt Matron? Some plan, Mom! Guess what: it didn't work!"

The colour drained from Dawn's face. "He came for you?"

"Yeah. Who is he, Mom? Is he really my dad?"

Dawn turned away and covered her face with her hands. Aurora stood, breathing heavily.

Dawn turned back, wiping her cheeks. Leaning on the counter for support, she looked Aurora in the eye.

Dawn steps forward. "Show me."

The Dream King's smile widens. He opens the door of his truck.

Dawn climbs in.

The truck drives out of the parking lot and onto the road, heading into the night. Faster it moves, and faster, breaking speed limits, but no one notices. The streetlights play off its shiny black exterior, fluttering off the mirrors, teasing the shadows like feathers. The wheels lift off. Wings catch the air.

The giant crow rises skyward, Dawn clasping the back of its neck. She smiles...

Aurora shook herself from the dream.

Dawn touched her wrist. "I'm sorry, dear. I'm so sorry. Look, let's... let's have some breakfast, okay? I'll think better if I have some coffee inside me. Then I can tell you everything I know. Please, Aurora?"

Aurora looked at her hands, then nodded.

"You two go on to the bakery," said Dawn. "I've got to write a note for the door: 'Back in 30 minutes' or something."

"Promise you won't run off?" Aurora said in a small voice.

Dawn crossed her heart.

"C'mon, Polk." Aurora walked out the shop door. Polk grinned nervously at Dawn, who glared at him, then followed.

As they strode along the sidewalk towards the bakery, Aurora said, "You don't have to be here for this, Polk."

"Uh, yes, I do," he said reluctantly.

"There's going to be a lot of tears."

"Maybe I could go to the back or something. Seriously, are you okay?"

"Sure, I... Well... Now that I'm so close to the truth, I-- This scares me."

The air darkened as though a cloud had passed in front of the sun. As they reached the bakery, Polk frowned at the bright blue sky and pushed open the door. The shop bell jangled as they entered. Aurora and Polk took deep breaths of air scented with fresh-baked bread. Then they looked up and saw the ceiling was also hung with spirit balls.

"Mom's doing good business," Aurora muttered.

"Hmm?" said Polk. Aurora gestured at the ceiling. He looked. His brow furrowed. "What's the deal with these?"

"They're... charms," said Aurora. "Harmless stuff to keep glass-blowers employed and less culturally appropriative than dreamcatchers. They're supposed to trap bad dreams."

Polk raised an eyebrow, then looked up at the spirit balls again. "She likes to be prepared. Protecting her store and her favourite coffee shop."

"Hey," said a waitress standing by the counter. "Have a seat!" She waved at a table by the front window. The restaurant was more than half full of factory workers or older couples, all eating breakfast.

Polk and Aurora sat. The waitress was by their side instantly. "Hi!" she chirped. "What can I get you?"

"Coffee," Aurora said.

Polk nodded. "Coffee."

The waitress flipped up her notebook and began scribbling. "And the breakfast special today is three eggs, any style, with your choice of bacon, sausage or ham, with hashbrowns and toast, just $9.95. Does that sound good?"

"Sure," said Aurora. "Scrambled. Sausage. Brown toast." She looked at Polk. "You?"

"The same."

"Thank you!" the waitress chirped. "I'll be right back." She fluttered off.

Aurora watched her go. "I'm not ever like that, am I?"

"Only if you accidentally put sugar in your coffee." Polk gave her a lopsided grin, and Aurora smiled to see it. She realized then that she didn't ever want to lose it.

She leaned forward and clasped his hand. "Look. I'm sorry. I should have trusted you."

"It's okay." He looked at his hand in hers. "Somebody should have told you. This would have gone a lot easier if there were fewer secrets."

"You're not kidding..."

"But not everybody has all the answers, Aurora," said Polk. "And they probably never will. You'd better be prepared for that."

"The Dream King might know," she said under her breath.

Polk stared at her as if he hadn't heard her properly. "Aurora, don't think that. You don't want to be anywhere near him. It'll be a disaster."

"Yeah, well, how do you know that? Did you see what happened? Can you explain it? I have a feeling that I'll only stop running once I get all the answers."

Polk looked out the glass door. "Here comes your mom. Let's see what she tells you."

The shop bell jangled. Dawn paused at the threshold, taking a deep breath. Then she crossed the floor and sat down across from them.

The waitress came sweeping in, plunking mugs of coffee on the table. "Here you go! And would the lady like anything?" She held her notepad at the ready.

"Nothing for me, thanks," said Dawn. "Just coffee."

"Sure!" the waitress chirped. Dawn waited until the waitress was away, then leaned forward. "Aurora--"

The waitress came bustling back and plunked the coffee down in front of Dawn. "Oh, I almost forgot," she said to Aurora and Polk. "We're out of sausages. Bacon or ham only for the special today."

"Bacon's fine," said Polk.

"Me, too," said Aurora through her teeth. "Thank you."

"Great!" The waitress beamed and whisked away. Dawn, Polk and Aurora looked at each other. Silence stretched.

Dawn took a deep breath. "Aurora--"

"Shall I top up your coffee?" The waitress was right beside them, holding the carafe expectantly.

The three stared at her in disbelief. Dawn turned to Aurora and said, "What do you want to know about your father?"

The waitress looked from Aurora to Dawn and back again. "Oh, is this a bad time?"

Aurora and Dawn glared at her.

The waitress laughed nervously. "I'll come back later, then."

Dawn turned back to Aurora and continued more quietly. "Love, ask me anything. You deserve to know. I'll tell you all I can."

"Who is he, Mom?" asked Aurora. "Is he really my father?"

Dawn steepled her fingers over her mouth and nose and sat still for a long moment. Then she looked Aurora in the eye.

"Before you were born," she began. "I ran a successful practice as a psychologist in Toronto. I specialized in hypnosis and the dream state."

"Now close your eyes, Sally, and tell me what you see."

"I'm flying, Dr. Perrault," says the child. "I'm flying over mountains."

"I dealt with night terrors," Dawn went on. "I was good at what I did."

"Where are you flying to?"

The child breathes deep. "Nowhere. It's so beautiful. I don't want to come back down."

Then the girl's brow tightens. "But something is pulling me down."

Dawn frowns.

"No," Sally whimpers. "It's dark!"

"But there was one particularly tough case," said Dawn. "A girl named Sally." She looked Aurora in the eye again. "Nothing would make her nightmares go away."

Aurora slips into Dawn's dream. She stares through Dawn's eyes at Sally, the little, brown-haired girl, sitting in a chair, her eyes closed.

Sally opens her eyes, and Aurora slips further in.

Dreams into dreams.

Sally stands in the middle of a forest. Aurora stands beside her, but Sally doesn't see her. The air breathes whispers. Sally sees faces at the edge of her vision, which disappear each time she looks at them. She hears the rustle of feet and paws approaching.

"Stay away!" Sally yells. "Stay away!"

Dawn's voice echoes from around the dreamworld. "You know what to do, Sally. It's your dream. Use it!"

Sally closes her eyes. When she looks around again, a wall is growing around her, brick by brick, rising up and closing above her head.

Dark leafy hands slam against the window. The oak door bangs and shudders against the beat of something heavy outside.

"It's not working!" Sally wails. "They're coming in!"

The door cracks, bulges.

Sally screams. Aurora rushes forward to hug the girl, but her arms pass through Sally's body.

Dawn's clinical voice echoes around them. "Sally, it's only a dream. You are in control. Find your strength, Sally. You need to find your strength."

"But suddenly, I had a breakthrough," said Dawn.

Sally stops, then looks up at Aurora. "Who are you?"

Aurora starts to answer, but realizes that Sally is not looking at her, but through her.

She turns around and sees the Dream King.

Aurora gasps and crabs back, but he doesn't look at her. He is a mass of shadow. He has dark hair and is wearing black jeans, black boots and a black shirt with a collar. Behind him stands Matron, smiling approvingly.

The Dream King gently lays a hand on Sally's shoulder.

Dawn's voice echoes. "Sally? What's going on? Who is with you?"

The man smiles at Sally, like the sun behind clouds.

"Who are you?" Sally asks again.

"Strength," he says, with a voice like thunder.

He kneels behind Sally and takes her hand, holding it out. The air shimmers in front of her fingers, and the walls distort in front of them, like clay beneath a sculptor's hand.

Sally focuses on her fingers and the world changes.

The door dissolves, leaving only sunshine and meadow behind. Somewhere in the distance, a dark shape screams its frustration. The sound fades.

Sally stands with the dark man in the world she created, on a top of a hill, overlooking a meadow.

"Fly," says the dark man.

And Sally flies.

Aurora blinked out of the dream. She rubbed her forehead and kept her gaze on the table.

"It was a miraculous recovery," said Dawn. "I've never had anything as good. I counted it up as luck, but that night... he appeared."

Aurora remembered her mother's dream.

"I have been wanting to meet you for a long time, Dawn. I've seen how you heal people's dreams. You're a Dreamwalker. I've watched your gentle hands at work--"

"I'm a psychologist. A hypnotist. I don't use my hands."

He laughs. "Will you come with me?"

She steps forward. "Show me."

He opens the door of his truck. Dawn climbs in...

"You met him that night." Aurora looked up at her mother in disbelief. "And you just went with him? You didn't know a thing about him!"

Dawn's eyes flashed with defiance. "I know it wasn't rational, but I don't regret it. I don't regret it at all. I have never loved anyone or have been loved in the way that he loved me."

Aurora shifted uncomfortably.

"It wasn't long before I was pregnant." Dawn looked down. "I never once thought about having a child until I was with him. And he stayed with me. We looked forward to our lives together, raising you." Her eyes darkened. "But it didn't work out that way."

"You ran," said Aurora. "Why?"

Dawn grabbed a napkin. She twisted it in her hands. "I had to. Something terrible happened."

"Mom, what happened the night I was born?" asked Aurora. "Why are we running?"

Dawn's breathing quickened. "Bad things. I don't want to remember!"

The waitress was at their table again. "Will you be having any dessert?" she squawked.

Aurora waved her away. "Not now, we're--"

Wait a minute. Squawked?

Aurora looked up. The waitress cocked her head. She looked at Aurora from first one eye and then the other.

Aurora stood up, knocking her chair back. Dawn screamed.

The waitress tucked her notepad under her arm. "The Dream King will see you now."

Then she flung out her arms. Above them, the spirit balls exploded. There was a flurry of feathers and glass shards. Aurora flung up her hands to protect her eyes. When Aurora opened her eyes, the door of the restaurant swung open to the jangle of the shop bell, and then the waitress was gone.

Aurora and Polk stared around at a restaurant that was full of statues.

Outside, Saskatoon stood silent and motionless.

Forward to Chapter Seven ->>

♦This aerial view of downtown Saskatoon, as seen from a hot air balloon, was taken in 2014 by Daryl Mitchell. It is used in accordance with his Creative Commons license.

Previously on The Dream King's Daughter, Aurora and Polk arrived in Saskatoon, to discover that Aurora's mother Dawn had been hiding out there all this time, as a proprietor of a new age shop. At a bakery/restaurant, they talk about how Dawn had met the Dream King, but Dawn can't remember the incident that made her flee for her life. Just then, the Dream King makes his move, pulling Aurora and Polk into a dream version of Saskatoon, where they are the only two people alive. Now comes the first real confrontation between Aurora and the Dream King, and Aurora discovering the depth of her power.

<<- Back to Chapter Seven

The Dream King's Daughter - Chapter Eight: Bouncing Off Clouds

Aurora looked up at the buildings that lined the alleyway. They were blank walls of brick, with only one window breaking the monotony. Two lamps near the window winked on in the early twilight.

Albijana hung back. "Why are you doing this?"

"Somebody has to teach Roger a lesson," said Aurora.

"Teach him what? How to hit a moving target?"

Aurora smiled at her. "It will be okay. Trust me."

Albijana looked at her a long moment. "What do you need me to do?"

Aurora handed her a couple of pairs of large black athletic socks. She pointed at the lamps. "I want this alleyway to be a bit darker. I'm not a good climber. Can you climb up there and pull these over the lights?"

Albijana took the socks, looked at the lamps, then looked at Aurora. "Okay."

As Albijana climbed up the posts and dragged socks over each lamp. Aurora looked around as the shadows deepened and the alleyway dimmed to twilight. 

Finally, Albijana slipped down to the pavement. "What now?"

"We wait, and you stay out of the way."

"That's all? What are you going to do? Why do you want it to be darker?"

Aurora just smiled. "You'll see." At least, I hoped we'll see.

They heard footsteps, the scuff of sneakers. They weren't alone anymore. Other kids clustered by trees, or fence posts, straining to get a good look without getting in the way. The alleyway filled up with mutters and giggles. Aurora touched the flashlight she had hidden up her sleeve. "It's almost time."

"Aurora," said Albijana. "We can still run. You don't have to do this."

"No. No more running."

The giggles stopped.

Roger sauntered into the alleyway.

#

Aurora and Polk stood up in the middle of the silent bakery-diner. Their shoes crunched on broken glass. No one else moved. The customers looked like three-dimensional photographs. Aurora turned to Dawn. "Mom!"

Dawn didn't move. Then she started to fade, along with the others. The people vanished like ghosts. Polk and Aurora were alone.

Outside, in the clear blue sky, thunder rumbled.

"He's got us," Polk whispered. "I should have known; when the sun dimmed, there weren't any clouds around. Just before we came in here, remember? It was a dream curtain."

Aurora shushed him. Polk's voice seemed impossibly loud in the silence. She thought she could hear her thumping heart. She strode out of the bakery and into the parking lot. The stores were all closed, even her mother's. Aurora tried the door and stared at the darkened window, feeling a pang of loss. She'd only just found her mom again. 

The few parked cars were empty. In the roadway next to the parking lot, cars stood in traffic, empty, their headlights on. "What's he done to all the people?"

Polk pinched his wrist. "Ow!" He pinched it again. "Ow! Oh, this is bad!"

Aurora swallowed the panic that was building in her throat. She ignored the traffic lights and crossed the road. The stoplights changed. The clicking of the switches in the lamppost sounded loud in the silence.

Halfway across the road, Aurora turned and walked along the yellow line that ran down the centre. The wind whistled through the telephone wires.

She stopped. Polk stopped beside her.

"This city's empty," Aurora said

"You think?" Polk said sarcastically.

"Except for us."

Thunder rumbled again. Aurora looked up and around. When she looked north, she flinched. The sky above was clear and bright, but the northern sky was dark. Clouds billowed onward like weather in a sped-up film. Lightning flickered over the buildings.

She swore.

If you're looking for someone, she thought, one way to find them is to remove everyone who isn't that someone. The person that's left is the one you want.

She watched the pouring clouds. Even in dreams, what kind of thing could make a whole city's population disappear, even the dogs? Heck, what if it wasn't just this city? What if me and Polk were the only two humans left on the planet?

A thing like that could squash me like a mosquito if it wanted to. So, why didn't it?

But if this thing is my father, he wouldn't want to squash me, would he? He'd want to hug me and hold me, kiss my scrapes and booboos and make it all better. He'd want to hurt those who'd taken me away from him. He'd tear the human race away to find me.

And that's just what this person has done.

But this can't be my father, she thought. There's no way I could be related to that!

"Aurora!" said a voice like thunder.

The voice came from everywhere at once, echoing off walls and hills, bouncing around buildings. Polk and Aurora were surrounded by warehouses and factories that blocked the view of the horizon.  Aurora looked around for a better vantage point. She spotted a ladder bolted to side of a long, squat building, the sign on which advertised "5 Pin Bowlerama". The ladder led to the roof. She ran over and clambered up the metal rungs, Polk close behind her.

They stepped out onto the gravel-covered roof. The northern sky stretched out above, black and boiling.

"Aurora!" The voice made the roof shake.

"Where's it coming from?" She looked around but saw nothing. Polk looked at the sky. He leapt back in shock. "Sweet Jesus!"

Aurora looked at the northern horizon.

The northern horizon looked back.

The clouds had formed a face. A trick, Aurora told herself, a slant of the early sunlight that turned the vapours shiny white or night black. Shadings formed eyes, nose, lips, in the shape of the man who had come to the diner, all in black, right down to his eyeballs.

A trick of the light. Except that the cloudy lips moved. "Aurora. I have found you at last."

"Who... are you?"

The face in the clouds smiled. "I am the Dream King."

Gravel scrunched behind her as Polk slipped back against the wall of a utility hut.

Aurora clenched her fists. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. She licked her lips. "Why have you been chasing me?"

"Don't you know me, Aurora? I am your father."

Aurora stared at the cloud face, her hands clenched at her sides, searching for something familiar, either from distant memory, or from her own gaze into a mirror. Nothing.

The clouds frowned. "I can tell you don't recognize me. They would have made sure of that, wouldn't they? I haven't seen you since I held you as a newborn in my arms."

Aurora sucked her teeth. Then she said, "I know who you are. What are you?"

"I am the Dream King," the cloud rumbled. "I balance the dreamworld and guide the dreams of humanity. I have searched everywhere for you, looking in people's dreams, listening for the signal of your mind. I almost had you years ago, but your kidnappers hid you again."

"Those weren't my kidnappers! They were Mom and Aunt Matron, the people who loved me and cared for me and brought me up..." She broke off.

Mom who'd brought me up... until three years ago when, in terror, she'd hid me away in some out-of-the-way place and tied me down under layers of false memories that hid who I really was.

She began to understand why she'd felt so angry at her mother, now, and Aunt Matron. They'd never let me be myself. I wasn't some country waitress trapped in some dead-end village, but I don't know who I am. Mom never told me. Nobody had let me find out who I really was.

Maybe this Dream King could tell me.

But she felt so small under his sky-sized face. In those eyes, how could I be anything but the smallest insect?

Keep him talking, and figure out where I can run.

"What do you want?" she shouted.

Laughter rippled across the dead city. Warm, but tinged with - could that be nerves? "You're my daughter, Aurora. I've spent years looking for you. I've abandoned my duties and thought of nothing but you. And at last, I've found you. Now I can bring you home."

Aurora tried to think of the sort of bedroom she'd have in the Dream King's house. She guessed it wouldn't be the sort of place where you could hang posters.

The cloud face shifted. The eyes widened and the mouth twisted with longing. "Come with me, Aurora. Come home."

Aurora took a step back. "No."

The clouds grew darker. Polk stood at the top of the ladder. "Get ready to run," he hissed.

"Aurora..." The warning thunder rippled across the bricks and asphalt.

"No," she said again. "You didn't ask to see me, you didn't write, you didn't come up to me quietly and introduce yourself. No. You tried to take me by force. You sent a snake man to stalk me! You attacked Matron! You attacked Polk! You attacked me! What father does that to his child?"

Lightning flickered around the edge of the Dream King's face. "They've turned you against me!"

"Listen!" Aurora yelled. "I've lived sixteen years without knowing you. I don't need you in my life, so just send a birthday card next time! Go away!"

Thunder shook the ground. "Come back to me!" The Dream King's face twisted in anger... and kept twisting. The eyes bled black. The cheeks ripped open. The mouth stretched into a gigantic cavern. Darkness spewed out, a thick cloud of black shapes that filled the sky with beating wings. Crows!

Polk darted back and grabbed her arm. "Run! Now!"

The cloud of crows swept closer and closer. Aurora turned to run. No, she thought. We can't run. We've got to fly! The words came from some instinct deep inside. We've got to fly. We can't run; they're too fast. This is a dream, so we've got to make it happen. C'mon, fly! Fly! Make me fly! In her mind's eye, she imagined a gigantic bird grabbing her up and sweeping her to safety.

She pulled free of Polk's grip and ran towards the parapet. "Polk! Help me! Now!" she shouted, reaching behind her without looking.

A talon gripped her forearm and lifted her off her feet. Aurora looked up in astonishment. A wingspan of a giant kestrel filled her vision, half the width of the roof. Polk squawked.

"What the hell am I doing?" he screamed. "What's happened to me?" It was Polk's voice, but it came out as a screech from the beak of the gigantic kestrel. His talons loosened. Aurora slipped. They sailed over the edge of the building parapet.

She clawed at him, pulling large feathers from his chest. "Hold onto me!" she shouted. "Whatever you do, don't let go!"

"But, how--"

"Shut up and go! Go!"

The cloud of crows was almost upon them. Polk clamped back down on her shoulders. His claws dug in, but Aurora didn't protest. "Faster!" she shouted. She gripped his spindly legs. "Faster!" With a great swoop of his wings, they sailed forward, rising above the buildings.

The crows spread out like buckshot, a cloud that towered over them and stretched across half the sky. Polk flapped desperately. The wind beat at Aurora's face and tore at her clothes, but the birds' cries filled her ears. Beneath her, rooftops and squares of green parkland swept past. They followed the sweep of the river that cut through the centre of town.

"Faster!" she gasped.

Polk squawked. "What's that?"

Aurora looked. A white speck came into view ahead of them. It was a dove, flapping desperately. And just like Polk, it was huge.

It was sweeping right at them. There was no time to avoid it. Aurora yelled and closed her eyes.

The dove shot past. The wind of its wake buffeted Aurora's face. She heard it meet the cloud of crows with a sound like snowballs pelting a brick wall. She grabbed a look over her shoulder and saw the cloud of crows disintegrating. The dove wheeled and clawed, covered in black specks, some of which slipped off and fell to the ground.

But most of the flock swept onward.

Aurora looked around for something she could use to stop them. Flying through the air, there wasn't much at hand. Okay, nothing.

A park stretched out below, along both sides of the river. Behind her, she heard the flapping of wings grow louder. If only we could hide under the trees, she thought.

The trees in the park twisted. A webwork of greenery slithered upward, like vines on an invisible trellis. Polk and Aurora shot past it. The impromptu fence rose behind them. The first crows smacked into it and got tangled among the branches.

Polk flew on.

Gripping his legs, Aurora looked back. The crows buffeted the leafy fence. The sky behind it rumbled and flashed. And then the darkness grew translucent. The plants and the crows faded from sight, and the clouds broke apart and faded into blue. The northern sky was clear again. The giant kestrel and its passenger flew alone over an empty city.

Polk sagged. He grunted with the effort of flapping his wings. They started losing altitude. He gasped. "I... can't..."

Aurora looked ahead to the roof of a high-rise apartment. It was the closest. It also happened to be the tallest building in the city. "There! That building! Set down there."

Polk puffed the distance. Aurora saw the roof rise up faster than she wanted it to. She cartwheeled her legs for the landing. Her feet struck gravel. Polk let go and she sprawled.

He fell forward, his legs giving way as they touched down. He skidded over the roof, turning as he slid from bird to human. He jolted to a stop, then painfully pushed himself up onto hands and knees. "What... just happened?"

"Sleep," said Aurora. Polk fell forward and lay still. Like an enchanted prince, she thought. 

Which makes me what? The wicked witch?

But he needs a rest, she told herself firmly. And I need time to think alone.

She picked herself up and brushed herself off. She rubbed the spots on her shoulders where Polk's claws had dug in. Then she walked to the roof's edge and leaned against the parapet, staring north at the clear sky. The breeze fluttered her hair. She thought about what had just happened.

She looked at her hands. She remembered what she'd told Britney.

"You've already imagined a fence, right?" said Aurora, "and it came true?"

Britney nodded. "But he jumped over it," she mumbled.

"And you've already imagined a door, right," Aurora continued. "So you know that you can imagine whatever you want in the dream, and it's right there in front of you. Right?"

And not just the dream, Aurora thought. I asked for a ride, and we found the rail truck. I could stop snakes in mid strike and make new ones burst from the ground.

And now she was in a dream -- in her element, even though she never slept. She could turn Polk into a bird. There was no limit to what she could do.

She looked at her hands again. No limit at all.

She walked backwards from the parapet until the whole edge of the roof and the buildings beyond were in view. She closed her eyes. "Let there be a fence," she said.

She opened her eyes. Around her, on the roof inside the parapet, a bare metal fence, a railing with posts, guarded the edge.

She kept her eyes open this time. "Make it a picket fence!"

The metal turned white. The posts multiplied and aimed points at the sky. The railing became a wooden crosspiece.

She clicked her tongue thoughtfully. She hadn't said what colour. Maybe she'd thought it. "Higher!"

The white pickets stretched up and up, aiming for a vanishing point in the sky.

Lower, she thought.

The pickets shrank down.

Huh, she thought. I don't even have to talk out loud.

Stop.

The fence stopped at waist height and stayed like that.

Aurora looked at the high-rise across the street. She motioned at it, palm up.

The building rose up like a silent rocket. Floor after floor flicked past her, and then came the foundation, ripped out of the ground, dirt and chunks of concrete streaming off.

She held out her hand, palm down, and lowered her arm. The skyscraper slowed, stopped, then began to descend. It met the ground with a dull thud. 

Aurora looked to her left and right, then raised her arms. Every building, every house, every church steeple, every tree, rose slowly into the air. Aurora gently waved her arms, and the waves travelled out across the city, ripples in a sea of cement, steel, masonry and greenery beneath the morning sky.

Aurora dropped her arms to her sides and looked at the undulating skyline. A new-found sense of power rose in her chest and tickled her throat. She laughed.

Okay! Now what?

Polk stirred and muttered in his sleep.

What could I possibly test that would tell me the limits of my power? She looked at the sky. Okay. She took a dozen steps backward, focused on the parapet in front of her, and braced herself.

Beside her, Polk rolled over and looked up. "Hey, Aurora. What--"

Aurora sprinted forward. The parapet bounced in her field of vision. Beyond it, the Saskatoon cityscape rose into view.

Polk jumped up and ran after her. "Aurora!" He grabbed her just as she cleared the parapet. They fell.

The wind beat at her face. Glass and concrete flashed past, upward. The lines on the road below grew more and more distinct. And, behind her, someone was screaming.

As she looked over her shoulder, her arms and legs splayed out like a skydiver, she caught sight of Polk, falling with her, eyes staring and face white against his wind-flattened hair.

Aurora twisted around in mid-air, grabbed his outstretched hand, and pulled him closer. He clutched her desperately. She could just hear his screams over the scream of the wind in her ears. The ground was getting awfully close.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt the wind ease up. Polk pressed against her as they slowed. She eased herself upright and held onto Polk as they stopped falling. Then she let go of him.

Polk stared at her a long moment, gasping. Then he filled his lungs. "What the hell did you do that for?!"

Aurora started to speak, but then she realized that she was out of breath too. She took a moment to catch it. "Just testing a theory."

"What theory?" yelled Polk. "Gravity? News flash, Aurora: it works!"

She grinned. "Not here, it doesn't."

"What--"

"Two things. One, we just jumped off the tallest building in Saskatoon and didn't get mashed. And two: we didn't actually land."

He looked at his feet. He was standing six feet off the ground. He yelped and fell the rest of the way, landing in a heap.

Aurora giggled.

"That's not funny!" Polk picked himself up off the sidewalk and brushed himself off. He gaped up at her as she floated. He walked around her and underneath her, looking for wires. Aurora hovered with her hands clasped behind her back.

"What--"

"This is a dream, remember?" said Aurora.

"Oh." Polk closed his mouth. "So, you thought you'd test it out, and see if you could, what, fly?"

Aurora floated down to the ground. The asphalt scrunched gently underfoot. "Seems to be working."

"That was--" He struggled for the right words. Finally, he said, "That was insane! You had no idea it would work, and you just jumped off a building?"

"Hey, I turned you into a bird, didn't I? Don't you think that's a sign that the normal rules don't apply here?"

"Well, this isn't your personal playground, okay?" Polk stormed off down the road, shaking his head, fists clenched.

"Polk?" Aurora shouted. She ran after him. "Polk, wait!"

He stopped so suddenly, she bumped into him. He looked around at the buildings floating up and down the street, rising and falling in their aerial ballet. "Did you do this?"

Aurora smiled modestly. "Yeah."

"Way not to draw attention to yourself."

She blushed. She swept out her hands, and the buildings sank onto their foundations with the groan of mountains settling.

"Okay." Polk looked around then strode off towards a mini-mart on the ground floor of a high-rise apartment. Aurora ran to keep up.

The door swung open as they approached. Aisles of cans and produce stretched out on either side. Near the cash, a deli counter offered stools, and seats around two tables.

"Polk, stop!" Aurora shouted.

"Why don't you just stick a wall in front of me?" he shouted back. "That'll stop me real quick."

"Polk, I-- I won't do that. Please stop?"

He stopped, then turned and looked at her, arms jammed in pockets, shoulders hunched.

"Polk, what's wrong?" Aurora twisted her hands together. "This is good news, isn't it? We're not as helpless as we thought."

"You, maybe," said Polk. "Does that give you the right to turn me into a bird or put me to sleep? Or scare me half to death with your suicide tricks?"

Or invade your dreams, Aurora thought. She looked at the floor. "I'm sorry." 

He looked at her, then looked away. "It's-- Okay, I understand. Well-- I don't, but..." He sighed. "I know what it's like, to suddenly discover you have new powers. You want to use them."

She cocked her head. "You have powers too?"

His cheeks flushed. He traced the outline of a tile with his shoe. "Uh... yeah. I haven't told anybody about this. Nobody knows."

"What do you do?"

He looked up at her, then down. "I can slow down time."

"Slow down time?"

"Yeah."

"Anything else?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, can you stop time?"

"No."

"Can you speed it up?"

"Er... I never tried. I generally can slow it down just a little, for a little while." He gave her a grin. "I... er... I use it to take longer naps."

Aurora steepled her fingers over her mouth. Her shoulders shook.

"It's not funny," he grumbled. "Yeah, I'm a little jealous of you, right now. You have all these powers. My dad seems to have been a king of daydreams or something."

Aurora snorted. She turned away.

"It's not that funny!" he snapped. "I mean, it works out well for everybody. I have time to work for Matron, and I get a couple extra hours of sleep."

Aurora burst out laughing. She doubled over. Polk scowled. Then he began to chuckle too. Then they were both laughing, stress and adrenaline pouring out of them.

Aurora drew herself up, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Polk." Then, more seriously: "Really, I am. I'm sorry for dragging you into this, and for doing all those things to you."

"That's okay, I guess. We were being chased."

"And I'm sorry I looked into your dream and found out how you really felt about me."

His cheeks reddened. "Well... I might have told you, eventually."

She came forward, took a deep breath, and held out her hand. "Friends?"

The flash of disappointment in his eyes lasted only a second. He clasped her hand. "Friends."

He gave a little grunt of surprise as she reached up and clasped the back of his neck, pulled him down and kissed him. Time slowed as they lingered on it. Polk put his arms around her and held her tightly. Then she let him go and stepped back.

Polk stared at her, his eyes shining.

"Oh, and Polk?"

"Uh-huh?"

She grinned at him. "In your dreams."

He reddened again, but he flashed her a grin. "Careful, there. We're in a dream."

She shrugged casually, though her face felt hot. "Yeah? So?"

His grin vanished. Suddenly, he reared back, crying out. His body shook and jerked. Aurora yelled. Polk crashed to the floor, two metal barbs stuck in his back, attached to wires. Salvadore stood over him.

Aurora raised her fists. "You!" she snarled.

He flashed a smile at her and began fishing through his pockets for a new set of wired darts.

"What is this, the third time you've tried to grab me?" she said. "I'm surprised the Dream King hasn't fired you."

"Actually," said Salvadore cheerily. "He terminated my employment." He beamed at her. "He didn't like my methods, apparently; said so, after you complained, I was lucky to escape with my life." He found what he was looking for and pulled out a new nozzle for the stun gun. He reloaded. "So that means I'm back to my original plan: to capture you for my own purposes."

"If you hurt me, he'll kill you," she said quietly.

"Actually, I never intended to hand you over to him," said Salvadore. "I was there to thwart his quest. Trust me, I may like my share of screaming, but I'm not stupid. You're a threat to everything, girl. Having something to hold over the Dream King? That's an added bonus. After all, a man in my position has ambitions."

"What do you mean, your position?" said Aurora.

"I'm a number two. An opposing figure, if you will." He shrugged. "Who do you think balances the King of Dreams, girl?  Weren't the snakes and the spiders enough of a clue?"

Polk struggled up on hands and knees. Aurora knelt beside him. She looked up at Salvadore. "I get it," she said. "Nightmares."

Salvadore smirked. "I also do bats, standardized tests, and suddenly finding yourself naked with everybody pointing at you and laughing."

Aurora looked past him. A flurry of cans rose up two aisles over, like a metal dust storm. She looked back at Salvadore.

He slid the new pins into his stun gun and looked up. "So, will you come quietly? Oh, of course not. Silly me." He aimed the device.

There was a sound of clanking feet. It was a strangely heavy, metallic sound, with a hint of sloshing liquid. Clomp! Clomp! Clomp!

Crouching on the floor, Polk looked up. He scrambled back in horror. Aurora stood up, holding Salvadore's eyes.

Around the end of the aisle, a tall scarecrow figure made of canned vegetables marched into view. It turned and clanked up behind Salvadore. It stopped a pace behind him, bean-can hands on baby carrot hips.

Salvadore froze. He looked at Aurora, who was smiling.

Tin Can Man reached out and tapped Salvadore gently on the shoulder.

Salvadore turned around. And looked up.

The monster looked down at him and cocked its extra-large can of tomato soup head.

Aurora grinned. "I can do nightmares too."

Salvadore ducked, but not fast enough.

Clonk!

He sailed into the air, cleared the shelves two aisles away and landed in the pineapple display. Tin Can Man clanked slowly after him.

Polk staggered to his feet, clutching his side. Aurora helped him up. "Told you we weren't helpless," she said.

"That..." Polk gasped. "...was evil!"

"No," said Aurora. "This is evil." She cackled theatrically and pointed at the ceiling. Her voice echoed from the store's PA system. "Cleanup in aisle three!"

She pulled Polk along two aisles and towards the pineapple display. Salvadore lay in the middle of a mass of rolling pineapples. Polk skidded on a squished orange. Tin Can Man stood to one side, hands on his hips.

"What are you doing?" asked Polk as Aurora let him go.

"I need to know." She kicked aside a splattered tomato and pushed back a mass of crushed apples. She knelt over Salvadore. His head was tilted back and his eyelids fluttered.

"Look at me," she said. "Look at me."

He squinted at her blearily.

"What am I?" She stared into his eyes. "Tell me what I am. What we are."

He struggled to look away, but Aurora peered close. Her eyes held him. She could feel the tips of his dreams like invisible tendrils around his head, brushing her face. She reached out with the fingertips of her mind, grabbed one, and pulled.

Salvadore yelled.

Polk started forward, but Aurora put out her hand. She stayed focused on Salvadore. "Come on," she snarled. "Let me see!"

She pulled harder.

Images burst on her.

Matron holds a squalling infant. Dawn lies semi-conscious in her hospital bed.

"What," says Matron slowly, "do we do, with the baby?"

Silence rings the room. The other figures stand around, battered. They look at the ceiling, or the floor. In a corner, a young Polk sucks his thumb.

"What?" says Matron more loudly, "do we do, with this baby?"

More silence.

"He won't stop looking for her," says Matron. "I wouldn't if this were my daughter. So, we have to hide her. How?"

Salvadore steps forward and brushes fingertips over the newborn's hair. "You know, there is an easier way."

Matron pulls the infant away as Salvadore makes a grab for it. "No, there isn't."

"Yes, there is. I can see it's on your mind, Matron. You're saying it to yourself again and again. It would be so much easier, solve so many problems, if this baby were dead."

"That's not who we are," Matron snaps. "That's not what we do!"

"Nonesuch!" says Salvadore. "I know what you do to protect the dreams of children, Matron, and as for me, where is fear without the threat of violence? And where is the threat without the act? Death's counterfeit and all that? Shakespeare was more right than he knew."

"No!" Matron shoves him away. Dawn is waking up, her eyelids fluttering.

"What happened?" she mumbles. "Where's my baby? Give me my baby!"

Matron lays Aurora on Dawn's stomach. "Here's your baby," she says softly. She kisses Dawn atop her head. "We'll protect you. But you've got to run."

Aurora blinked back to reality. "What--"

Salvadore's hand shot up and closed around her throat. She gagged.

"We've never had to deal with someone like you," he snarled. "We've never had so much power concentrated in two people. He didn't know what to do with it. He doesn't even know what happened! He just exploded because of you. It would be so much easier if you just died, right here, right now."

Aurora gurgled and clawed at the fingers tightening around her neck. Polk shouted, darted forward, skidded on mashed tomatoes, and fell. He slithered forward on his hands and feet.

Aurora forced herself to stop trying to claw Salvadore's vice-like hand from her throat. She pictured Tin Can Man. It clunked forward, shoved Polk out of its way, and swung its bean-can hand down hard. Salvadore looked up. His face went white.

Clonk!

Salvadore's grip relaxed. Aurora pulled free. She stumbled back, gasping, swallowing and massaging her throat. She scowled at Salvadore's slumped form, then looked up at Tin Can Man. The creature raised its arm for another strike.

"Aurora!" Polk shouted.

Aurora raised her hand. Tin Can Man dropped its arm. It tilted its head at her in a questioning way, then fell apart in a clatter of metal and sloshing liquid.

Aurora and Polk staggered to their feet. Polk gave her a look that was edged with something she didn't recognize. Could it have been fear? No! Why should he be afraid of me? "C'mon, let's go," she said.

Polk hesitated, looked down at Salvadore, then turned away.

The exit doors swung open for them -- they weren't automatic, she noticed; she had just pushed them open with a brief wave of her hand -- and they stepped out into the street.

They stopped in the middle of the empty road and looked around, uncertain.

"So... what do we do now?" asked Polk.

"Well, the good news is, we're not helpless. The bad news is, I don't know what else we can do except run."

"So, we run?"

"We can't run forever. That's the even... badder news." She took a deep breath. "Well, it'll give us time to think." She thought a moment. "We head south."

Polk heaved a sigh. "Again? Where now? Regina?"

"We could rest our feet, you know."

Polk's gaze tracked up as she floated five feet into the air above him. She smiled, hands clasped behind her head.

"Show off," he grumbled.

"Try it!" She grinned at him.

"Are you kidding me?'

"Go on, try it!" She waved him up. "It's your dream, too. C'mon, let's have some fun."

Polk looked at his hands and down at his legs. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He rose slowly into the air.

He opened his eyes again and blinked in astonishment. Then he tried to pick himself up faster. His legs kicked uselessly. All he could do was wait until he was within Aurora's reach. Then she grabbed his hands and pulled him the rest of the way.

Polk looked around at the empty street they hovered over. He laughed nervously. "'There is no spoon'," he muttered.

"What?"

"Never mind."

She let go of his hands and floated back a few paces. "So... Shall we fly? Easier than walking."

"Fly? Like..." He smiled and threw out his arms. As he moved, he changed. White feathers sprouted all over him. A gigantic kestrel flapped in the air. Off he flew.

Aurora laughed. "Oh, no, you don't! You're not beating me in this race!"

She threw out her arms. Feathers caught the air and brushed the high-rise windows as they swept her forward. The floors of each building became a blur as she flew after Polk.

They banked and cartwheeled, dodging between the buildings, Aurora chasing Polk. Their squawking laughter echoed off the glassy towers. Then, looking back at her, Polk let out a squawk of fear. He flew to a parapet and perched, staring down at her. Aurora flapped up beside him. He scuttled back a few steps.

"What?" She looked at him with first her right eye and then her left.

His head bobbed nervously. "N... nothing. It's all good."

She opened her beak to call him a liar. Then she saw her reflection in the glassy side of a tower across the street.

The reflection of a giant crow stared back at her.

This was very early in the 1990s as community members began to meet regularly at public UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) meetings. Gad I was so naive then. I even believed that the sitting Woolwich councillors were there at UPAC out of concern for the public health. Ha! They were there to insulate and assist Uniroyal Chemical as well as to divert any discussion or evidence pointing to Township negligence or inappropriate behaviour regarding Uniroyal.

The alleged envelope mentioned in the title above was supposedly filled with cash and actually was for what I thought at the time was a legitimate reason.  We were told that it was compensation for crop damage that occurred from Uniroyal's most northern pits overflowing and damaging Stroh crops close to the property line. In fact literally for many years one could see that whether corn or soybeans, crops next to RPE-1 & 2 did not do well at all.  They were either stunted, shorter or simply did not grow all of which is hardly surprising as we knew that Uniroyal products included herbicides and pesticides.

Meanwhile the anonymous commenter has added more information suggesting that the Stroh gravel pit operation may have been somewhat for show or for less than appropriate purposes. I really can not confirm or deny that although I suppose the argument could be made that for at least a certain time period gravel may have been used for construction purposes (driveways etc.?) as I believe that one of the sons was involved in home construction possibly in Wellesley Township. How closely the pile(s) of gravel on site matched the home construction period I do not know.   

I do know that when a new home was built on the Stroh property it was moved several hundred metres to the east away from the Canagagigue Creek. I also am aware of serious health problems that afflicted a number of the Stroh family that might or might not be attributed to chemical contamination. I expect that running a small family farm back in the 1940s and 50s was financially difficult and it would be unlikely that the head of the family would turn down financial offerings from the next door neighbour, a huge multi-national, multi billion dollar enterprise.

So much has been covered up by friends and fellow travellors of Uniroyal Chemical. So much self-serving, public interests be damned attitudes flourished. Money truly is the root of all evil. 

I found yesterday's 10:48 am. comment on yesterday's post very interesting.  The anonymous person suggested that the long term gravel pile(s) on the Stroh property west of their old barn may have been hiding chemical discharges from Uniroyal onto the Stroh (or even Martin?) property . I doublechecked some colour maps I have and indeed the gravel piles were almost due west of the old Stroh barn and would visually have hidden surface liquid discharges leaving the Uniroyal property and moving south or south-east towards the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm not far from the Martin swimming pond. 

The utter failure of our authorities (MOE/MECP) to ever seriously and publicly investigate these allegations is beyond bizarre. In fact I would suggest that the lack of interest and the refusal to even publicly discuss citizens' concerns constitutes negligence by our authorities; municipal, regional and provincial. It also may signify guilty hands or minds as the best way to avoid being ensnared in an investigation is by being in charge of whether or not there ever is an investigation.

We know that liquid discharges left the Uniroyal site all the way down (north to south) their east side property line with the Stroh farm. Soil testing has proven that. We also have a couple of high concentration samples of 2,3,7,8 TCDD (dioxin) in the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm sediments. There would not be any contaminated discharge from the high north-west to south-east ridge which crosses the Stroh property line very close to Uniroyal's southern property line. 

Uniroyal's entire length of their southern property line is next to the Martin property. It is likely that GP-2  (gravel pit #2) overflowed occasionally and sent some of it's chemicals onto the Martin property. There is also a small gap between the bottom (south end) of GP-1 and the east end of GP-2 which discharged water and chemicals south and south-east albeit hidden from the Stroh side by the conveniently located gravel pile(s).

The question is not whether, it is when these likely criminal, environmental acts will be properly investigated and by whom.

Figure 1: Mapping SWE data via SNODAS data layer

With a big winter storm sweeping across Ontario over the past week, we thought it might be a good time to review the various snow modelling products available through the HydroClimateSight decision support platform.

SNODAS

Figure 2: Integrated, catchment level historic SWE data

First, HydroClimateSight provides a record of past snowpack data through the National Snow and Ice Data Center’s Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) data product. This data layer is available through the “Remote Sensing” tab and can be activated through the “Current Conditions” data layer menu (see Figure 1). SNODAS is a data assimilation product which integrated multiple sources of data, including in situ measurements, LiDAR and satellite derived data products and provide the best possible estimates of snow water equivalents (SWE) to support hydrologic modeling and analysis. The SNODAS data layer is updated daily and available at a 1km resolution. Use the time-stepper buttons at the bottom left of the window to review SNODAS at different times, the platform provides access to one year of historical SNODAS data.

Site Specific Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) Data - Historic/Observed

Figure 3: Integrated, catchment level SWE forecast

SNODAS is a critical component in the provision of Aquanty’s hydrologic forecasting services. Both the physics based (HGSRT) and machine learning based (HydroSphereAI) forecasting systems require some form of forcing data. For the physics-based models forcing data consists of liquid water fluxes data (rain plus snowmelt). The machine-learning forecast forcing data consist of total precipitation, atmospheric radiation metrics, wind, humidity and temperature. The forcing data are derived in part using site specific snow water equivalent (SWE) data. Historic SWE data for a particular catchment area is available through the “Snow Water Equivalent” tab (see Figure 2) when you click on active stations within any forecast feed. These data are produced by integrating historic SNODAS data over the upstream catchment area at each individual forecasting station. To access this data, open the desired forecast feed and click a station. If this station has a polygon associated with it (which is true for ALL stations in the Conservation Ontario forecast feed) you should be able to review average SWE depth (mm) and total SWE volume (m3) of the associated catchment area.

Site Specific Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) Data – Future/Forecasted

Forecasts for upcoming SWE are available by accessing the “Weather Forecasts” tab within any station window (see Figure 3). In this window you can find a 7-day (GEPS Daily) and 32-day (GEPS Subseasonal) forecast of upcoming SWE, potential evapotranspiration, and liquid water flux (rain + snowmelt). The SWE forecast is produced using iSnobal, an open-source model which simulates the surface energy and mass balance of the snowpack; it is initialized from SNODAS and forced using the same ensemble weather forecast used to drive the AI streamflow forecasting models. On the HydroClimateSight platform we are currently forcing our models using the Global Ensemble Prediction System (GEPS) from ECCC.

Machine-Learning Based Snow Model

While we can’t offer this to HydroClimateSight users at this time, Aquanty is actively working on a machine-learning based snow model which should be available to users in the coming weeks. When it is available, our ML-snow model outputs should be available through the Snow Water Equivalent. The ML-snow model will operate in much the same way as HydroSphereAI (i.e. our streamflow forecasting algorithm). The algorithm will be trained on a similar database of catchment attributes and historic weather data, with the main difference being that the prediction target is SWE from the ERA5-Land reanalysis datasets, rather than streamflow. We are actively working on developing this ML-snow model, and have validated ERA5-Land SWE against snow course surveys and found very good agreement (as good as SNODAS) in Ontario. Stay tuned for updates!

KWMP is seeking a creative team to help bring our production of The Wizard of Oz to life!

KWMP’s production of The Wizard of Oz aims to stay true to the timeless classic but, at the same time, present a fresh and exciting version that surprises and delights our audiences.

Staging a production of The Wizard of Oz is no small feat, and we recognize that it will require the collaboration and creativity of the directing and production teams to bring this story to life within the practical constraints of both our budget and the theatre space. Our intent is that the cast will include children in some roles and a reasonably sized ensemble to support the lead characters.

We are looking for the following roles:

• Director
• Music Director
• Choreographer
• Stage Manager
• Production Manager
• Set Designer
• Costume Designer
• Props Designer
• Scenic Painter
• Technical Director
• Lighting Designer
• Sound Designer
• Hair and Wig Designer
• Makeup Designer
• Assistant Stage Manager
• Rehearsal Pianist

For full details in regards to the Creative Call and each positions’ roles and responsibilities please read the Creative Call document carefully. Once you are ready to apply, please use the Creative Call Form.

Deadline to apply: Friday, March 28, 2025

The post The Wizard of Oz – Creative Call appeared first on K-W Musical Productions.

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KITCHENER - The versatile and well-traveled Nicholas KyRose is touching down in Kitchener this summer.

Nico, a pitcher and outfielder, most recently spent time with the Western District Bulldogs of Australia's Division 1 Greater Brisbane League in 2022-23. There, he hit a team-leading .317 in 18 games, including a pair of home runs, and a .438 on-base percentage while playing as an infielder and outfielder.

On the mound, he finished with a 6.65 ERA, a stat that got better as the season went along. The righty struck out 62 batters and walked 41 in 69 innings of work.

KyRose's collegiate career saw him play for Yuba College and Ventura College, as well as the University of La Rochelle in France.

In Switzerland, he would win the Swiss National League title in 2020 with the Therwil Flyers. He hit .304 during the regular season, and .455 in the playoffs. 

His ERA would also dip from 6.94 in the regular season to 4.50 in the playoffs.

"Nicholas is well-traveled in his baseball career, and has had success at every stop," said general manager Shanif Hirani. "His versatility of being a two-way player gives us a lot of options on how to deploy him. He is an impact player on both sides of the ball and we're excited to have him with us."

What: SDC Pre-Election Event To Focus On Community Power
When: 7:00pm to 9:00pm on Friday 21 February 2025
Where: Social Development Centre Waterloo Region (enter from Duke Street)
Location: 23 Water Street North, Kitchener, Ontario Map
Online: waterlooregion.org/sdc-pre-election-event-to-focus-on-community-power
Register: on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.ca/e/cutting-through-elections-noise-a-forum-for-building-community-power-tickets-1248691492869
Contact: Phone: +1‑519‑579‑3800, E-mail: sdcwr@waterlooregion.org

The last-minute announcement of a provincial election has left many of us reeling. And there’s a growing sense that our governments and political processes don’t work for us.

But what if we can turn our collective anxiety into something productive? That is our hope with “Cutting Through the Noise: A Forum for Building Community Power.” Happening Friday 21 February 2025 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, the event will create a space for us all to catch our breath, acknowledge our worries, and practise building local collective power in the face of systems that fail us.

Only together can we create the futures we want. Grassroots organizers, community groups, and residents from across Waterloo Region are welcome. Please RSVP today and share widely.

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Things are not okay, and we can all feel it.

Mass layoffs seem imminent in the face of a looming tariff war. Housing costs are eating up an ever-increasing share of our incomes. Our schools are under-funded. Our hospitals are inundated. And homeless encampments have become entrenched, as more people are pushed into poverty. All of this against a backdrop of dizzying political announcements – new legislation, new funding, new election timelines – and yet, no improvement in the realities we see around us.

But history has shown us that social change is possible.

The rejection of encampment evictions at 100 Victoria St. in Kitchener. The overturning of land swaps at the heart of Ontario’s Greenbelt scandal. The change in a 13-year stance when Canada condemned Israeli settlements in occupied-Palestine. Time and again, we’ve seen deep-seated political forces fall apart in the face of sustained community action.

Let’s turn our collective anxiety into something productive.

Join us on Feb. 21 and together, we can combat the feeling that we’re on our own. We can listen and care for one another, even as our systems fail us. And in the midst of so much noise, we can practise building local, collective power to create the future we want.

Some Resources Your May Find Helpful in The Lead Up to Election Day

With the provincial election announced a mere 28 days before Election Day, we understand many voters don’t feel like they have enough time to get to know their candidates or the platforms of their respective parties. Here are some of the resources we’ve come across that you might find helpful:

1. A primer of questions about decent work and cost of living (Justice for Workers)
2. Candidate responses to questions compiled locally by One Millions Neighbours Waterloo Region
3. Resources for voters who care about Good Food for All (Sustain Ontario)
4. Search for your candidate’s campaign page (Elections Ontario)
5. Promises made by each of the 4 parties (Global News)
6. How to cast your vote on or before Election Day (Elections Ontario)

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With his bucket loader packed with pails of animal feed, Trillium Meadows farmer Hans Lindenmann slowly navigates the steep hills and sharp turns of the snowy pathway that lead to his herds of red wattle pigs and European red deer.

It’s a piercingly sunny and bitingly cold February morning – -20C with the wind chill – and he has to knock on the pigs’ shelters to get them to venture outside for breakfast.

“The deer are fine outside all the time in this cold,” Lindenmann says. “The pigs need some encouragement to come out.”

As he cleans out their concrete feed-troughs with a shovel, the massive, shiny red-coated hogs with their wiggly wattles, or tassels, dangling from their jowls soon appear.

They’re spurred to put a bit of porcine pep in the step of their cloven hooves: Lindenmann is dumping buckets of fresh produce – heads of lettuce and other greens, peppers, apples – on the ground in their enclosure.

They scramble to munch the same food we eat: it’s a cool connection.

“I go to Ark’s Harvest in Vankleek Hill to get some of their food,” he says.

The non-profit venture and store, with locations in Hawkesbury and Cornwall, is dedicated to food security and sustainability through their food-share program.

It’s a philosophy that Trillium Meadows espouses: Lindenmann collects leftover produce that is past its prime for us but which the pigs devour greedily.

His regular trips to the store are part of Trillium’s sustainable farming and form a closed-loop food system that reduces waste.

Lindenmann grows hay elsewhere and purchases grains from local farms – Trillium Meadows is too hilly for successfully growing other crops – which he grinds for his livestock on-farm.

Hans and Marianne Lindenmann came from Switzerland in 1998 and bought the 100 acres that is Trillium Meadows. It’s just the two of them and their son who work the far

In Switzerland, Lindemann was sort of forest ranger-manager and was involved with hunting, so he knows big game and forests very well.

“When I saw I saw the deer farm here, I decided I try to buy it. It took a year to get all the permits, and we did some upgrades.”

Until a couple of years ago, Trillium Meadows raised wild boar, but across the province there was a backlash when the creatures would escape farms and do damage. The province subsequently banned raising them.

Citing that the problem was mainly in Quebec, Lindemann says his stock was always contained, but the province would have none of it. He switched to heritage pigs.

“I would have continued with wild boar because I had a huge clientele. People really liked the meat,” he says.

He and Marianne searched for a unique breed, first giving consideration to the woolly Hungarian Mangalica before settling on red wattles.

“There were four heritage vendors at one market, but nobody had red wattle,” Lindenmann says of the breed, the males of which can reach over 300 kgs.

Over his two decades in the business he’s also had to teach butchers how to make the cuts.

“I had to teach them how to separate the muscles because there are tender muscles and there are tough ones, and you don’t want them on the same steak. Now I have really good relationships with the butchers.”

For the rest of the story, visit Tribune-Express.

Check out my latest post Red wattles and red deer: natural farming from AndrewCoppolino.com.

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KITCHENER - The Panthers have added some catching depth to the roster.

Brandon Sekulovich is heading to Kitchener for the upcoming season.

Sekulovich is currently with the Asian Breeze in Arizona, a team that plays minor league baseball teams during spring training in Arizona. If you've heard of the team, it's the same team former MLBer Trevor Bauer played for in 2024.

Sekulovich has made eight combined appearances in the IBL for both Hamilton (2019, 2022) and Toronto (2023, 2024).

He is also looking to play for the University of Toronto Blues in the fall, as he attends for his pre-med studies.

"We are excited to have Brandon with us this year," said general manager Shanif Hirani.

"His leadership skills, as well as his infectious attitude and appetite for winning will make an impact both on and off the field for our organization."

"Looking to be an invaluable asset to the Kitchener Panthers organization," Sekulovich added.

"(I want to be) an immediate impact player both on and off the field (who) leads by example, and I look forward to gaining more game-time experience and dominating the league this season!"

Spark’s execution process involves multiple stages of optimization to improve performance and efficiency. These optimizations happen at two key levels:

1. Logical Plan Optimization — High-level transformations applied before execution.
2. Physical Plan Optimization — Low-level optimizations that generate an efficient execution plan.

Logical Plan:

In this phase, an RDD is created using a set of transformations. It keeps track of those transformations in the driver program by building a series of RDD as a Graph of transformations called a Lineage Graph.

Logical Plan is divided into three parts:

Step 1 — Unresolved Logical Plan OR Parsed Logical Plan

• Spark converts the SQL query or RDD/DataFrame operations into an Unresolved Logical Plan
• At this stage, Spark does not know about table structures, column types, or functions
• It only check whether code is valid and the syntax is correct.

Step 2 — Resolved Logical Plan OR Analyzed Logical Plan OR Logical Plan

• Spark resolves table and column names using the catalog.
• It replaces unresolved functions with built-in functions.
• And the plan becomes a Resolved Logical Plan by passing on to “Catalyst Optimizer” which will apply its own rule and will try to optimize the plan.

Step 3 — Optimized Logical Plan

• Spark applies rule-based optimizations (e.g., predicate pushdown, constant folding).
• The optimized plan is still independent of execution details.
• Once our Optimized Logical Plan is created then further, Physical Plan is generated.

Physical Plan:

Once Spark optimizes the logical plan, it converts it into a Physical Plan that simply specifies how our Logical Plan is going to be executed on the cluster

It generates different kinds of execution strategies and then keeps comparing them in the “Cost Model”. Spark decides which partitions should be joined first (basically it decides the order of joining the partitions), the type of join, etc for better optimization.

• The optimized plan is broken down into stages (a DAG of RDD transformations).
• Spark divides jobs into tasks and assigns them to executors.

Physical Plan is specific to Spark operation and for this it will do check up of multiple physical plans and decide the best optimal physical plan. And finally the Best Physical Plan runs in our cluster.

🚀 Spark first optimizes the logical plan using rule-based transformations and then applies cost-based optimizations to generate an efficient physical plan.
🔥 Understanding these optimizations helps in writing efficient Spark jobs that avoid bottlenecks and improve performance.

Hope this is helpful 😊

Physical and Logical Plan Optimization in Apache Spark was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.