Twenty-four hours ago, I was sitting in a rickety wooden chair with a Cuban cigar, a glass full of tequila, and a view that looked like this.

Two hours ago, I was stumbling around downtown in a thin cotton shirt and thin sweater—stunned by the cold air and the stabbing, sideways light—trying to find a taxi and muttering regretfully about having come back.

Two minutes ago, I read my first press release in almost two weeks. And I fell in love with my job, my city, and the art of the press release all over again:

Comedy Benefit for sick boy and his pony

Local comedian Derek Sheen is hosting an all-star comedy benefit show on December 21st at Laughs in Kirkland for a young boy with cerebral palsy who is losing his prized pony.

The town of Caledon may force a three-year-old boy with cerebral palsy to give up his miniature pony after a neighbour complained about the smell.

Sam Spiteri's grandfather gave him the pony, Emily, after he was diagnosed with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy shortly after birth. The boy can't walk or crawl, and Emily is part of his therapy regime.

"When we take him off the pony he cries. Even if he's tired he doesn't want to leave her,''

But at the end of July, the town notified the Spiteris the pony had to be removed due to the complaints. Sam's physical therapist and pediatrician recommended equestrian riding because it triggers the core muscles that Sam needs to strengthen. It's a newer form of therapy, and the closest location that offered reputable therapeutic equestrian riding was about 50 minutes away, Ms. Spiteri said.

Sam has seizures, so long car rides are difficult. When he was younger, Sam also had lung problems that left him prone to infections, she said.

The Spiteris will appear before the Caledon committee of adjustment Dec. 10 to ask for an exception because of Sam's special circumstances. It costs $800 to appear before the committee. Ms. Spiteri said she received an e-mail from town council on Tuesday afternoon about an additional $345 required to circulate their application for an exception to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

"I'm a single mom with two kids and I live at home with my parents. I have a child who is disabled and that takes its financial toll as well ... the big issue for us is money. We will fight it until we run out of funds."

All proceeds from the December 21st comedy show will go towards the Spiteri family legal costs and towards the cost of building a new stable for Emily. For more information on the Spiteri family, go to http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/11/26/caledon-pony.html?ref=rss .

Scheduled to appear along with Sheen are Geoff Brousseau, Emmett Montgomery, Paul Merrill, and Travis Vogt.

For more info and advance tickets, go to http://www.laughscomedy.com/.

Laughs is located at 12099 124th Ave NE in Kirkland. Showtime is 7pm. Tickets are $10 at the door. For more info, call (425) 823-6306 or go to http://www.laughscomedy.com/

It's all there: tragedy (the boy), pastoral (the horse), mystery (how'd these comedians get involved in this cause?), and farce (over $1,000 to appeal to a committee?!?).

For extra-special weirdness, here are the first two paragraphs from the Wikipedia entry about Caledon:

Caledon (2006 Population 57,050) is a town in the Regional Municipality of Peel in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada.

In terms of land use, Caledon is somewhat urban, though it is primarily rural in nature. Many of Toronto's wealthiest citizens own large country estates in the area, among them many members of the Eaton Family, Norman Jewison, Elton John and the inventors of the board game Trivial Pursuit.

This whole story sounds like a question out of Trivial Pursuit.