dAVID tHOMPSON'S bIRTHDAY pARTY*

When I was ten I was invited to David Thompson’s tenth birthday party, where I ate a slice of cake that had a coin wrapped in wax paper in the centre, after which we all went in his father’s sedan to the theatre to see The Planet of the Apes, me with my newfound coin stowed away at the bottom of my trouser pocket, the wax paper crinkly and wet with icing. To this day, some thirty eight years later, I still look for coins wrapped in wax paper when I eat cake, even though they made a remake of the Planet of the Apes and David Thompson’s father has had his driver’s license revoked.