It sure is nice to have a family that keeps you up to date on all the news from home. Because other than some top-level Hells Angels and the Rizzuto clan, the media never says much about people getting out on parole. Five years later, Fiset Sr.’s five minutes of fame consisted of a single article in the weekly paper of his little hometown, with his old photo — an article I never would have seen if my mom wasn’t on top of it.

What’s the right word for a man like that? A pig? That’s degrading to animals. A barbarian? From the ancient Greek barbaros, the word means “foreigner” or, more precisely, one who speaks an incomprehensible language. Seems a little unfair to foreigners, and inaccurate to boot since I have no trouble parsing the actions of this imbecile. A monster? Is he really “a prodigy; an enormity; a marvelous manifestation of God’s will”? There’s nothing divine in such a disgusting act. So I’ll stick to a neutral term: “target.”

I wonder where he’ll wash up? Think he’ll maybe go running home to mommy?

The “internets” never cease to amaze me. My province doesn’t have a public sex-offender registry, but some good Samaritans have taken it upon themselves to maintain a web page listing people you wouldn’t want to run into in the park. It takes a monastic dedication to comb through all the information published on trials and sentences. All the work of upstanding citizens, the very same people who dutifully clip coupons and join search parties to reunite lost animals with their owners. I join a “Protect our Kids” group. Obviously not with my own personal profile. I use one of my four others.

These neighbourhood watchers have a head start: they’ve already caught sight of my Fiset in a neighbourhood southwest of my own. I was ready to phone his mother to see what he’s up to; now I won’t have to. I immediately start methodically surveying the neighbourhood. I suss out where he might hold his regular meetings with a parole officer. Likely a place that offers therapy for delinquents. If the rapist has to report in frequently, it stands to reason that he’ll either walk or take public transit. Mapping out probable routes isn’t rocket science.