Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer on her dream job at a pinball arcade

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer is the author of All the Broken Things. Below, she shares the very best day job she's ever had.

I had come back from a tree-planting gig and I still needed to earn a little bit of money. A street performer I knew got me a job at a pinball arcade in Ottawa. There were a number of pinball arcades at the time — it was a thing. But it was the only arcade in Ottawa in which you could not smoke. And so, no one came to the arcade. And that's why it was the very best job. Because basically what I did was read all day. And there was a little boy who fell in love with me — he was probably 10 years old and his family wasn't paying him a lot of attention, and he would come visit me and bring me doughnuts. It was an excellent, excellent job.

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer's comments have been edited and condensed.