Dream Dream Dream (PART 1 OF 3)
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Safeway Supermarket
on Robson street, Vancouver
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Diane, how come you carry so many beet-roots?
I'm on a beet-diet.
On a beet-diet? Why is that?
...'Cause I'm challenging Jennifer O'Neill.
How do you mean, Diane?
The other day, you mentioned that Jennifer O'Neill had been married nine times to eight husbands.
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Yes, I said that. So what?
I think I'm gonna marry ten times.
No kidding.
Kato, you're gonna be my tenth husband.
Holy cow! Why don't you push me up in your waiting list? Maybe ... to the second position in the list.
I'm sorry. I can't do that. My first husband died of pancreatic cancer. I've been happily married to my second husband, and I can't change my waiting list.
Why not? Diane, listen to me. You're the sunshine of my life. That's why I'll always be around. You are the apple of my eye. So, forever you'll stay in my heart.
Kato, don't repeat somebody else's killing phrase!
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Stevie Wonder uses the above phrase in the song, doesn't he?
Oh ..., you like the song, don't you? Anyway, believe me, Diane. I feel like this is the beginning 'though I've loved you for a million years. And if I thought our love was ending I'd find myself drowning in my own tears.
Cut it out, Kato. They say, "First-come first-served." You showed up late in my life, Kato. You must stay in the tenth position in my list.
But I wonder what this marriage list has got to do with the beet-diet?
Well ... I can't break my marriage vow. Divorce isn't my choice. So I've gotta live long enough to marry my tenth husband.
Are you saying that the beet-diet will make you live long enough to marry ten times?
Yes, of course, that's why I've picked up this many beet-roots here.
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Wow! ... But I've never heard that beet-roots do you any good.
Kato, you've gotta remember that beet-roots contain oxalic acid, which is a competitive inhibitor of the lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) enzyme. As cancer cells preferentially use anaerobic respiration, inhibition of LDH has been shown to inhibit tumor formation and growth, thus is an interesting potential course of cancer treatment.
I see... So beet-roots should be able to strengthen the power of the natural cancer-killer in your body, shouldn't they?
You're telling me, Kato---so that I'll be able to marry you in the future as my tenth husband.
Kato, this is a ridiculous dream, isn't it?
I don't think so... This dream came along naturally.
What do you mean?
Well, as a matter of fact, I read the following passage last night before I went to bed.
London Tasted
London explored, and now that I was comfortably settled in Mrs. Dodd's boarding house for students in Bulstrode Street, it seemed that things were shaped for steady, hard work.
Besides all-day Life Class at the Westminsyer School of Art, I joined night classes---design, anatomy, clay modeling.
Againt London I was not quite so rebellious, though I did not like life in a great city.
。。。
The orthodox sights I found wearing.
The Zoo I never tired of, nor of Kew Gardens, St. Paul's, the Abbey cloisters.
I took endless rides on bus-tops, above the crowd yet watching intently the throngs of humanity.
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。。。
The food at Mrs. Dodds' had no more variety than a calendar.
You knew exactly what the kitchen saucepans were doing without the help even of your nose.
Sunday's supper was the peak of misery.
The maids were out; we helped ourselves to the everlasting monotony---same old cold ham, same salad, same cake, same sliced pineapple.
Why couldn't the salad have been other than beet-root and lettuce?
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Why not another canned fruit than pineapple?
Everyone who could wangle an invite to sup out on Sunday wangled.
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When it came to bed time, one cubicle would brag, "I had roast beef and Yorkshire."
Groans!
"I had duck and green peas," from another cubicle.
More groans.
"Must you gloat over your greed!" from a cubicle who had suppered at home.
Bedclothes dragged over heads, there was savage, "goody-hungry" quiet.
(pictures from Denman Library)
SOURCE: pp.205-209 "Growing Pains"
The Autobiography of Emily Carr
Published in 1946
(To be followed)