The first thing that Canada noticed when he arrived at America's place on the fourth of July, was the enormous flag draped over the front gate for all to see.

He dismissed it as just his brother being egotistical and tried to push his way through the gates, only to find that they wouldn't budge. He took a step back and inhaled deeply before trying a few more times, each time failing to get it open.

Five minutes went by and he gave up. He turned to look at his parked car by the kerb, considering getting in so he could drive off and skip his brother's birthday just this once, only for feelings of guilt to deter him from doing so.

He sighed and trudged back to where the gate was and leaned against the fence beside it, while studying the design of the flag in the corner of his eye. He counted the number of stars in his head and when he had reached the last one, he initially thought he had counted wrong.

A second look proved though that there were in fact fifty stars on his brother's flag. He momentarily found it a little excessive, until he remembered that each star represented one of America's states and the recent news of Hawaii being the latest addition.

"Pretty impressive, huh? I never thought I'd end up with fifty states!"

The unexpected sound of America's voice sent Canada jolting and he bumped his head against one of the metal bars of the gate.

"Where were you?" Canada asked him, turning around and rubbing the spot where it throbbed.

"Where was I? Well, I had to go and make the new design official. Sorry for keeping you waiting."


Canada later watched as America hung up the new flag on one of his living room walls and wondered if there was any end to the latter's patriotism. He also sincerely hoped that America wouldn't find a way to rub his large number of states in the other nations' faces during the next meeting.

"You're not going to have another one in the next few years, are you?"

"Nah, I think fifty is more than enough for me to keep track of."