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134                     AN EXILE OF THE MIND                                                                    MAGGIE, THE FLOWER CHILD                        135




































              Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park by Diego Rivera.                            They teetered dangerously when the  small  Greek  island  hidden  deep  in
                                                                                                      door opened  and let  in a draught.  the Cyclades and as yet undiscovered
          car to  a destination without  them  After  the  U.S.  immigration  officers                He would lie awake at night hoping  by  tourists.  Russell  and  I mailed
          in it. It was a cheap  way to travel  had done their duty, I turned around                  no one would enter the room on a  parcels  of  books  and  set  off  across
          the length of the continent with no  and walked back over the border to                     windy night.                         Europe  to romantic  cities  and
          money exchanged.                     rejoin my worried companions and                          I also  caught up  with  the Right  languages  misunderstood,  using
            Once  again I heard  the  familiar  to find more reliable transportation .                Hon and his  titled  sister.  Her car  our usual mode of travel.
          clank of a cell door closing behind     After calling at the Del Prado Hotel                was stopped by the large hand of a      Hitch-hiking  proved  difficult
          me. Arrested  when  about  to head  in Mexico City to see Rivera’s famous                   policeman for some minor offense.  in  France thanks  to De Gaulle not
          south from the U.S. border in a Ca-  mural,  we  explored  this  intriguing                 He  sprang back in apology  after  a  happy  with  thumb  travellers  bum-
          dillac  convertible  with  Shirley  and  country before returning to Canada                 peek at her license. Shrieks of exple-  ming rides on his turf. And he told
          John waiting patiently at the border.  where  Shirley  finished  her  studies               tives assaulted his ears as we drove  everyone about it on television. We
          After my mugshot and fingerprints  and I boarded a ship to England.                         off  with  a  screech  of  tyres.  In  the  lived on wine, Bock beer, cheese and
          were taken I  was frogmarched be-       I found  my  friend  Russell  in a                  backseat  I cringed  below  window  sardines under the  cover of a tent
          tween  grim-faced  officials  over  the  one-room squat in  London  amidst                  level with her mortified brother.    pitched against the cold mists in the
          border bridge back into Canada. My  walls  of books ceiling  high  on                          A friend aboard the ship I sailed  low lands of green valleys.
          crime: ‘working’  without  a permit!  shelves of planks and stolen bricks.                  on had suggested a visit to Paros. A    De Gaulle’s gripe  hadn’t been
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