Bruce Hotchkiss' "Spare Parts"

You'll have to excuse my timelines; they are very general. It was a long time ago; some I remember, others are fuzzy.   I arrived in Canada in July 1969. My first destination was Toronto, but once there I was told that it was easier to immigrate in Ottawa. So I went to Ottawa. In Canada, a newcomer applies for "landed immigrant" status. Before one becomes landed, they are prohibited from working. The process took months.  I met two other Americans in Ottawa, Richard Brownie and Brian Scharkopf, both originally from White Plains, NY. We hooked up with a sympathetic Canadian, David Vivian. David's father, Eric Vivian Sr. owned Lapointe fish market in Ottawa's Byward Market. For a short time, we all stayed at the Vivian house; a few blocks away was the Soviet Embassy.  One thing we could do was volunteer work. David's older brother, Eric Jr., was a social worker in Ottawa, and the three of us volunteered to help with his summer program. It wasn't physically h...