VIDEO LIGHT // An Urban Toronto Tale

VIDEO LIGHT // Chapter One

Sexy bumpa. Pretty face. Long hair. Tall, lean body. In shape. Clear brown skin. Beautiful smile. Every man from Mississauga through to Oshawa knew that Delia Chinn was sheer perfection. Although I didn't really know her, thanks to TeeDotVibes, the hottest website in Toronto, I was able to put together the pieces on my dream girl: she was twenty-nine, of Chinese-Jamaican heritage, had no kids, loved to party, and was my ultimate fantasy.

It was Caribana Sunday night, and me and my boy Mike were attending the Soldier's Ball, up at a banquet hall in North York. We didn't party much, but when we did check out a club, it was usually a reggae dance, and Delia was usually there looking fine as ever.

She was a natural princess of the dancehall, and few women in the city could compare to her beauty, style, and the graceful way she moved her body. Delia wasn't the type to beg for attention by scaling speakers, wining on the dirty floor, or talking loud in the video camera; all she needed to do was choose her space and the attention automatically fell on her. Every month, there would be dozens of new video clips of her online. The camera loved her, and thanks to technology, I had almost become obsessed.

That night she walked in with her crew about twelve-thirty, just a few minutes after we arrived. Mike grabbed a six-pack of beer to hold down for the night. I immediately nudged my bredren, but he was already nodding his head in recognition. He knew I was infatuated with the girl, and could usually spot her even before I did.

The Soldier's Ball was a long-weekend tradition for the Civic Holiday weekend in August. It featured the hottest reggae selecta in the city, a veteran named Capone, and as the years passed and the crowd got bigger, a couple more sounds jumped on board: Roots Warriors and Redemption Sound, both from the west. Mike's cousin Sluggy played with Roots Warriors, so we usually supported their big dances.

I also grew up in the west end of the city, but I usually kept a low profile. So while I knew most of the faces around me, and had followed the DJs closely since back in high school, I was still relatively unknown in the dancehall scene. I was a simple guy, I moved clean, didn't surround myself with too many dudes, and tried to avoid drama at all costs. So when Delia and the girls walked by us without even looking our way I wasn't surprised, because most guys in the club were popping bottles and blinging, and a girl like her would probably much rather linger around guys like that. It was a known fact.

So I didn't look at Delia's long brown legs, fully exposed beneath her miniscule fatigue-print skirt. I didn't admire her straightened hair, pulled back from her face with her bangs hanging over her eyes. I didn't dare look at the sheer black blouse that revealed her perfect stomach and slim waist. Everyone in the club was dressed in army-gear (the mandatory dress code of the Soldier's Ball), but Delia still stood out from the rest.

Mike shook his head at me and laughed as I tried to ignore my dream girl. To my surprise, her crew stopped walking just a few feet to our left and began to dance. Despite the new smoking ban in Toronto clubs, Delia lit up a spliff and began to smoke as she grooved.

"I think this is the last Caribana you'll find me here," Mike said, leaning over slightly so I could hear him. I finished my beer, and reached in the box for another one. I usually didn't drink much, but was giving myself permission to indulge that night: I was single, I was lusting after this girl, and beginning to feel a bit foolish the way my stomach turned and heartbeat accelerated just from watching the beautiful stranger.

"Why?" I asked him simply, trying to distract myself.

"Look around, man! Everyone doing the same shit they've been doing for a decade! It's gotta come to an end sometime."

"But why? We've been doing it, too," I said. "Nothing wrong with going out to hear two tunes."

"Yo, we can't be forty years old, dressing up in our fatigues and coming to this Soldier's Ball," Mike said, laughing. He took a sip of his beer and looked behind him at Delia and her squad. He shrugged. "Besides, I'm a married man now. What can I find in here that I don't already have at home?"