Songs of the North West
A Series of North American Drabbles
Dark Lady Devinity
Twin Sides
Every July 1st reminds him that life is both sad and joyous, both hard and yet strangely easy. Two sides of a coin. Matthew wakes up particularly early every time his birthday comes around as he wants to be there for the sunrise on the island of Newfoundland. He tries to visit every province and territory on Canada Day.
Matthew meets Sarah at Signal Hill; the old fort looks out over the sea and Matthew is reminded why St. John's harbour is called the Narrows. Sarah is dressed in black and wearing the poppy that John McCrae made famous in his poem "In Flanders Fields." July 1st in Memorial Day in Newfoundland and Labrador. Sarah and Matthew join the members of the public and a few old veterans to remember the fallen heroes of the war. It is a solemn time. Later though, there will be joy. Matthew will be elsewhere, but Sarah will be down at Quidi Vidi that night, watching the fireworks and signing "Oh Canada."
Matthew goes west to visit the peoples of his other provinces and territories. There are not any former nations to meet him so he completely immerses himself in the crowds. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario were the first provinces to join Canada and it was from there that Matthew started to grow and develop his own personality; one separate from Arthur and Francis, England and France. He's laughing and joking in English and French, watching various parades and celebrations. New Brunswick always reminds Matthew that "two sides of a coin" really can describe different things. New Brunswick is the only truly bilingual province in Canada. Matthew feels that New Brunswick's achievement should be pointed out more often when speaking about French-English relations. He loves that he can slip into which ever language and still have the people understand him. He has to stop and visit Prince Edward Island before moving on to Quebec but he always loves to admire the beauty of the tiny province. Eventually, he'll see Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. He'll speak the native languages when he visits Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon.
He'll fly back to Ottawa, exhausted from jet lag. But it was all worth it. There might be many troubles in Canada, but that's how it is with any nation. He loves his people. Even when times are hard, he still thinks that they're good. A learning experience. A two sided coin.
And he'll need to be in Windsor that night to help with the upcoming party. Alfred understands why Matthew isn't in Windsor for the actual date of Canada Day. Alfred won't be in Detroit for the actual date of Independence Day. He also likes to visit all his states and see all his different peoples. Only a couple of days separate the two brothers' birthdays so they like to celebrate together. So Matthew will be in Windsor and Alfred will be in Detroit for a festival of freedom. America and Canada are two nations that have very different notions on a lot of things. Alfred is bright sunshine and energy while Matthew is crisp snow and peace. But they are both free. They're two sides of the same coin and there has never been a more lovely expression in Matthew's opinion.
Notes
-Canada Day is July 1st
-Newfoundland sees sunrise and sunset before the rest of Canada due to the time zones
-Newfoundland and Labrador are in different time zones despite being one province
-July 1st is the anniversary of the WWI battle in Beaumont Hamel (Battle of the Somme, 1916). In this battle, about 90% of the Newfoundland Regiment was wiped out. This battalion would be renamed the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
-St. John's harbour is very, very narrow. Thus, it's an excellent safe haven.
-Quidi Vidi is a community and large lake in St. John's. That's where the St. John's Canada Day celebrations take place.
-Only New Brunswick is bilingual (I think 2/3 is English speaking and 1/3 is French speaking.) There are lots of bilingual people in Montreal but that doesn't mean the majority of people in Quebec speak English. It has small communities like everywhere else.
-July 4th is Independence Day in America.
-Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan are separated by the Detroit Strait. These two cities celebrate Canada Day and Independence Day with the International Freedom Festival. (Got this info from Wikipedia. I don't know the date of the actual festival so I'm pretending that in whatever year this story takes place in, it falls between Canada and America's birthday.)