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rules. Addie also came up with the name “Little Shavers Road Protection Club” while Jake thought the words “Traffic Dodgers” should be included. Tretheway put his conservativefoot down by christening the group simply “The Fort York Children’s Safety Club.” It caught on.
    Tretheway spoke to other classes, then to the upper grades of George R. Allan. The club spread to other public schools in the city. It even found a receptive ear in the lower forms of the five high schools. The amount of public support amazed everyone. Short complimentary stories began appearing in the
FY Expositor
. Churches praised the club. The local radio station donated seven minutes of broadcasting time every school morning from 8:03 to 8:10 following the news. Tretheway, Wan Ho quipped, was thrust into show business.
    The show’s format was simple. Its main feature consisted of one basic traffic rule every day usually read by Tretheway in a voice that came out as stagey but believable. He also conducted pertinent interviews with crossing guards, ambulance drivers, firemen, motorcycle policemen and sometimes local celebrities like the FY Taggers football coach or Mayor Phineas “Fireball” Trutt. The program opened and closed with a transcription of Gracie Fields singing “Look to the Left and Look To The Right and You’ll Never Never Get Run Over.”
    So when Freeman Thake offered the use of his West End theatre to the FY Children’s Safety Club at half price (five cents a head) for a special Saturday matinee of
The Wizard of Oz,
Tretheway was not surprised at the turnout. They filled all 420 seats. The few brave mothers and fathers who turned up to supervise were not enough. But the staff pitched in.
    Joshua Pike and Lulu Ashcroft ushered children to the bathrooms as well as their seats. Violet Farrago,after closing her ticket booth, shouted at unrulies running up and down the aisles. Freeman Thake himself did his urbane best, herding squealing groups to their destinations. Others volunteered.
    Mayor Trutt, ever mindful of his political image, arrived with his wife Bertha to aid in the crowd control festivities. The glistening chain of office hung from his neck over his stout midsection. Thin coordinated arms and legs stuck out from his body. A shock of white hair topped his beet-red face and large matching nose. Rumours started by his detractors suggested his flamboyant colouring came from the drink. Kinder, more humourous critics said it was from standing too close to flames for too long. Mayor Trutt had in fact earned his nickname “Fireball” by serving for twenty years with the FY Fire Department before he stumbled into the political system. His relationship with fire still bordered on phobia.
    Mrs. Trutt was the woman behind the man. The mayor had achieved his career success by following her advice. Bertha Trutt understood and enjoyed politics. As tall as her husband, a little plumper and a little heavier, she still radiated a charm envied by svelter ladies. She puffed constantly and unaffectedly on Player’s cork tips through a long ebony cigarette holder. As the first lady of Fort York, her pleasant conversations and anecdotes enriched every important Fort York social function. Bertha and Addie had hit it off from their first meeting.
    Addie had begged off the special matinee to prepare Saturday’s dinner. Jake had brought Bartholemew Gum. Wan Ho had volunteered. And Doc Nooner attended in his professional capacity.
    â€œWhat’s one more group?” Doc had laughed when Tretheway asked him why he bothered.
    Dr Francis Nooner served as MD for the police, the firemen, city council and the FY Taggers’ football club as well as being the city coroner. His round naturally tonsured head sat atop a round overweight upper body with a round rear end below; all a result of his flagrant disregard for the rules of self-indulgence that he preached to others. Short