At the Governor's House

You have to march into the botanic gardens,
which are one of the more gorgeous things
on earth. Except for the ginger flying
foxes. We meet her excellency and then
later I approach the man who has two
medals on his chest. And he used to have
a girlfriend in Nova Scotia. And he's
been to Harbour Round, near La Scie
in Newfoundland. He went to a funeral
there, he said. Where everyone was very
used to funerals. I held a beer glass
and when it emptied a pitcher appeared
full of froth and a man emptied the pitcher
into my glass, negotiating the froth.
We talk for most of the night under an
oil painting of a woman who looks
like she is waiting for a man to ask
her to shell peanuts.