Disclaimer: All Artemis Fowl characters belong to Eoin Colfer, the Halifax Explosion was a real event, and Canada, despite some belief, Canada is a real country.
"We three kings of Orient are!
Bearing gifts we travel afar!
Moor and mountain, field and fountain!
Following yonder star!
Oh! Star of wonder, star of light!
Star of royal beauty bright!
Westward leading, still proceeding!
Guide us to thy perfect light!"
"Juliet! Would you stop that insufferable racket!" Artemis barked. "And for the love of God, stop singing Christmas carols! You know very well they drive me up the wall!"
"But there's only thirteen days until Christmas!" she smiled, ruffling his hair and making him scowl even deeper. "Besides, I get to go visit my parents for Christmas!"
"What's so great about Maine anyway?" the genius muttered. "Seafood, smog, and rude Americans. Give me the Emerald Isle any day."
"I'm staying in Ireland as well, Juliet," her brother said, his deep rumbling voice announcing his presence in the study. "I'm needed here. Mr. Fowl will probably need help, what with his leg and all."
"You take it easy, too, big bro," she warned, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "You haven't been feeling all that swell lately. What was it, something with your chest?"
"It's nothing," the manservant said, frowning slightly. "Now go and finish packing. Your flight leaves at three o'clock tomorrow, and I'm driving you out before one."
Juliet nodded enthusiastically, and zipped up the stairs.
Artemis gave a long suffering sigh, massaging his temples. "I cannot honestly say that I will not be glad to have some peace and quiet for two weeks."
"It's not two weeks, it's only eleven days," Butler said, a touch of worry in his voice.
"I don't know what you're so anxious about, old friend. She's mastered disciplines most people cannot pronounce, can assemble and use almost every weapon under the sun, and could give the Queen's guards a good run for their money. And yet you still worry."
"You're an only child, Master Artemis," was his only reply. "You wouldn't understand."
"Stupid, stupid, stupid snow," Juliet muttered to herself. A huge snowstorm had hit while her plane was in the air, and it had been forced to land in Boston. It wasn't too bad, she'd still make it to Maine for Christmas. Besides, Boston was the place she had been born. She had lived there for four years, until she went to Ireland to train with her brother.
The snow had let up eventually, but the flight was already delayed until the next day. She had checked into a hotel, and then had went for a walk. As long as she was in Boston, Juliet reasoned, she had to go see the Prudential Plaza Christmas tree.
There it was, thousands upon thousands of twinkling lights all strung on one huge tree. She had been a lot of places in her few years, but she had never seen a tree quite like that. She remembered walking down to the plaza with her parents and Domovoi, remembered looking up in childish awe…
Juliet stepped backwards and bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry!"
The girl, no more than eighteen, smiled. "No problem." She looked up at the tree. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
The blonde nodded, unconsciously checking over the girl. A bit under average height, light brown hair, green eyes, slightly heavy build, light accent that was a somewhat familiar.
"You from Ireland or something?" she asked, obviously noting her own accent.
"I was born here, actually. I grew up mainly in Ireland, though. Are you from Boston?" Juliet inquired.
"Me? Oh no, I'm from Halifax." She said this, obviously expecting her to know immediately where it was.
"Er… Where?"
"Halifax, Nova Scotia!"
"Um…"
"Canada."
"Ah…" So that was the accent. She had trained with a few Canadians, but all from way up north in the territories. Something blinked in her mind, and she faintly remembered Halifax. But for what…
"I got snowed in here, I was going back home for Christmas," the girl smiled. "But I am glad that I got to see the tree here. I've heard about it in school, of course, and I've always been meaning to come down here."
"Why did you hear about it in school?"
"Don't you know?" she asked, a quizzical look on her face. "You don't know why this tree is set up here every year? And you're from Boston?"
Juliet shook her head slowly. "Why?"
"It's a bit of a long story, and it's freezing out here. Want to go somewhere and grab a coffee, and I can give you a little history lesson?"
"I don't even know your name."
"Jenna King. And you are…"
"Juliet Butler. Come on, I saw this little café around the corner that looked nice."
"So, what's behind the tree?" the blonde asked, stirring her caramel latte with a spoon. After months of rice, fish, and energy drinks, it was pure heaven.
"Okay, have you ever heard of the Halifax Explosion?"
"Nope. Couldn't have been too big, then."
"Try the largest manmade explosion to date."
"Whoa."
"My father always said that it'd be as big a deal as the Titanic if any Americans had been involved with it." She paused briefly, before continuing. "Anyway, the date was December sixth, 1917, smack dab in the middle of World War One. Halifax Harbour was a key place for the import and export of supplies, troops, and weapons and such. It's naturally huge, doesn't need dredging, and it's ice-free year round."
"So a lot of people lived around it?"
"Uh huh. The city was built around it. There were a bunch of ships in there that day, but only two are really important. The first was the Mount-Blanc, a French ship loaded with 2,300 tons of wet and dry picric acid, 200 tons of TNT, 10 tons of gun cotton and 35 tons of benzyl: a highly explosive mixture."
Juliet wasn't buying this. "You've got to be exaggerating."
Jenna shook her head. "This is wartime, remember. The second ship, the Norwegian Imo, was packing a full load of gunpowder." She stopped to take a drink of her coffee. "Now, no one can exactly agree on what happened next, but human error's what caused it. There were mixed signals and finger pointing and only so much room in the harbour for two huge ships, and neither knew what the other's cargo was. And…" Jenna made a gesture. "They collided."
The blonde winched. "Oh boy."
She nodded. "You can say that again. But they didn't explode right away, they just caught fire. But most people on the streets didn't know that they were carrying such dangerous cargo, and stopped to watch. There was a wire operator, Vince Coleman, a sailor that knew what they were loaded with told him. He ran into his office and stopped a train with over three hundred people on it from coming any nearer to the town. When they exploded, he was caught in the blast and died. So did a bishop in a nearby church. And no matter how many times they replace the glass, they say you can still see his face in the church windows."
"Really?" she asked, her eyes widening.
The other girl shrugged. "I've never seen him, but a lot of people swear he exists."
"So the ships really exploded?"
"It's called the Halifax Explosion, isn't it?" She gave a sad sigh. "God, it sounds so horrible. Parts of the two ships and other ships in the harbour were blown all over the city. They found a some-odd ton anchor up on Cidital Hill, that's in the middle of the city. Many people were killed and buildings toppled like matchsticks from the sheer force of the blast. People were crushed by flying debris, or injured so badly that they later died. People kilometres away were blinded as glass shattered. They say that people in Prince Edward Island, another province, had their dishes rattle on the shelves. The city was totalled. And to add to it, there was a huge snowstorm the next day. All those people, out in the cold with no where to go."
"Just how bad was it?"
"You want numbers?"
"If you have them."
"We had tests on this stuff. One thousand, six hundred thirty homes were completely destroyed, many by fires that quickly spread following the explosion; twelve thousand houses were damaged; six thousand people were left without shelter, even with the emergency shelters. Hardly a pane of glass in Halifax and Dartmouth was left intact. The death toll rose to over one thousand nine hundred. About two hundred fifty bodies were never identified; many victims were never found. Twenty-five limbs had to be amputated; more than two hundred fifty eyes had to be removed; thirty seven people were left completely blind. Hospitals treated well over four hundred cases, and private doctors hundreds more."
"Oh my god…But how does Boston fit into this?"
"Well, the officials sprang into action. They sent messages asking for help everywhere, and help came. Military officers and supplies came from other places in Canada, and every building still standing the city was used to house the injured and the homeless. Word of the disaster reached Boston the very same morning it happened, and they jumped. That night, a train loaded with medicine, supplies, doctors and nurses, and even carpenters came through to Halifax to help the city. Sure, other places in the states helped out, but Massachusetts continually gave us what we needed to repair Halifax."
"And they didn't forget it, either…"
"Nope!" Jenna grinned proudly. "Every single year since then, Land and Forest officers scout out the biggest tree they can find, and spend whatever money needs to be spent to get it out of there. It's a huge operation, a tree was harvested from my uncle's lot one year. They have to use a crane and a team of over sixty. Then they ship it to Boston to put up in Prudential Plaza, to thank you guys for everything you did. It's our tulip bulbs to you, really."
"Tulip bulbs…"
"Oh, right. You won't know… Holland sends Ottawa tulip bulbs for our help in World War Two."
"Hey, someone saves your ass, sent a plant."
"I guess that's pretty much the case," she laughed. "So, still look at the tree in the same way?"
Juliet looked out the window, able to see the bright lights on the huge pine even from her seat. "No… Definitely not…"
Jenna King just smiled, laying down enough for her part of the bill and tip. "Merry Christmas, Juliet. And a Happy New Year."