February 20, 1959
It was a somewhat cloudy, cold Friday. By mid-afternoon, temperatures in Toronto were hovering around -12 C. I remember the quality of light that afternoon, but not the temperature. I remember the confused worry on my mother's face when my father drove up in the family car - a green 1958 Mercury Meteor with foul-smelling vinyl upholstery that gave me headaches on hot summer days - hours before he was normally expected. I remember his downcast expression as he came up the front steps, a load of reference books under his arm.