Mi Fa-So is born accidentally, in January, Year of the Horse, in a Laundromat in a strip-mall in Scarborough.

His mother, Marion Verge, insists she did not know she was pregnant and that the baby is not hers. DNA evidence later supports her claim.

Despite her bewilderment, she loves and nurtures the child. "How can I not?" she asks.

Fa-So has been born with strong pre-natal memories of a Sing Dynasty life.

His first words to Marion, as she rocks him in her arms, are in old Mandarin, but she fails to recognize them as such. His comforter is a jade-green fleece with yellow flecks. It comes from Value Village. Its label says, "Made in China."

In pre-school, Fa-So labours with crayons making Chinese characters that tell stories recalled from his former life. These have been duly posted on the fridge, but fail utterly to communicate as he intends.

In dreams, he remembers playing flute while riding a unicycle along the Great Wall at the behest of Emperor Katsu! He awakens to a drywalled ceiling, flowing with the patterns of moving roadway light through bent plastic Venetian blinds.

Fa-So becomes a man. In summer, he busks in Tobermory with his flute and his unicycle. His performances are popular with women who admire his V-shaped torso. He, in turn, is happy to reciprocate their attentions.

He is glad he has somehow popped into this world. Such a good place to be!

In winter, in the warm kitchen of a female friend, he writes poems which no one understands. The house smells of baking bread. His unicycle leans unused under the stairs.

In secret, Fa-So believes he is a banished immortal from another world that is similar but not identical to this one. "Look at the history here," he reflects. "There was no Sing Dynasty."

All of us embrace Beauty. All of us embrace Love. But despite the efforts of our greatest sages, who can say what Truth is?