With the Second Wave in full bloom, each Canadian province’s individual response keeps changing week to week, if not day to day. Ontario and Quebec at least have come up with a colour system to spell out the particulars of openings, closures, etc., based on the level of infections at any given time. Ottawa is currently classified as an orange zone, while other parts of Ontario, including Toronto, are red.

With a little detective work on the Internet, I was able to find out what happened to Gaetan, and without having to leave my house. Thanks again to Google, I managed to track down the name of the apartment building where he lived, along with that all-important phone number. I had only been to his place once, about 36 years ago. The thing that stood out in my mind was the unusual colour of the building; pine green. While most other apartment buildings are mainly red brick, sand stone or light grey, to the best of my knowledge, it’s the only green apartment in the whole National Capital Region. LOL Here’s to individuality, as it helped me to narrow down the search.

The building’s name is Le Chateauguay, located on Rue Muchmore in the Hull sector of Gatineau. I called the office number, and being on the Quebec side, although the woman who picked up said she spoke English, I felt confident enough with my broken French to ask her about Gaetan. As it hadn’t been that long (Elizabeth last spoke with him in May on her birthday), the woman easily remembered him, and checking her records, sure enough he had passed away, on September 5th, but in hospital. I guess his lungs finally gave out on him, or had he too succumbed to COVID-19? I immediately broke the bad news to Elizabeth.

After that, still not hearing from the Queensway-Carleton hospital about my operation, I notified my surgeon’s office, who gave me a number to call at the hospital. I go in on Tuesday for preliminary work. Good thing I checked. The actual operation is on Wednesday the 18th, not Thursday. There’s that number again (18), and though I’m not usually superstitious, I’ve made sure my affairs are in order, including a document for Jason, that spells out the details of my finances. Just in case something goes wrong with the operation, and I should become incapacitated or die, or if I should ever be infected by Corona. Better safe than sorry.

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11/14/2020

Posted on 11/14/2020
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti