For a while, the celebrations continued. On our fortieth birthday, my parents threw a small party for us at Helena’s Chinese Restaurant at Laureleaf and Steeles. Helena’s was one of the restaurants my parents used to order take-out from on Saturday evenings for up to fifty people. This time, however, it was only my family and Ellen’s mother, who had flown in from Sault Ste. Marie that morning and was going to look after Vincent and Marcus while Simon and Ellen went to Las Vegas for a grander celebration with six of their friends who had also just turned forty.
Although Helena’s was a Chinese restaurant, as a child I would always order a hamburger and French fries from the “American” section of the menu, and so when the owner of Helena’s, Mr. Loo, brought out the guitar-shaped cake which m
