Winslow knows that it’s not always easy to try new things, but he also knows that the act of trying new things comes with its own rich rewards…

She was Pocahontas in her school play this year. “Because I’m dark,” she told us. Her hair is black and hangs straight down her bony shoulders. Her hands are small and soft as she pulls me through the hall.

Mariella. She’s my blood and two years older so I listen.

———— Gareth McGorman is a scale modeller living in Toronto who commands a small army of 1:35 scale soldiers.

Ben’s doctor is a spider and her nurse is a cat, so I felt like it was only natural that Winslow’s dentist would be a bird. I mean, that’s natural around here, at least.

When your name is Dave Von Hoffenschnitzenberger, you always get asked, “Why don’t you just shorten your name?”

“Shorten it?” I’ll chuckle. “We lengthened it, man. From Hoffman.”