Blazing Reader,

I'm back in Canada, sadly separated from my wife and our life in Europe. Below are two photos: Ina in front of our (ahem) Dutch castle, and me in front of my new apartment in Ontario.

Okay, we didn't actually live in that castle. It would have made the deportation considerably more complicated.

But I am back in Canada with more tears than I care to admit.

The trip back, however, was rather harrowing. My son and I had a run-in with airport security that ended with both of us detained by Dutch paramilitary police:

All right, that photo isn't exactly accurate either. The reality was considerably more heart-thumping: we were held under guard in a glass room with two soldiers carrying assault rifles. (It didn't seem like the right moment to take a selfie.)

No, I'm not making this up. I know I'm paid to spin yarns, but this one isn't fiction.

I'll be telling the whole story tonight on The Fakeologist podcast, a live call-in show broadcasting from Toronto. The host has invited me on to recount the adventure. The irony practically writes itself: the Dutch government rejected my son's residence permit and gave him two weeks to leave the country. When we tried to leave, armed men stopped us.

The Fakeologist starts at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Click here to find out how to listen or call in.

John C.A. Manley

P.S. I also plan to discuss a major breakthrough in the Dutch court case involving Bill Gates and his co-defendants.

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.