It was a blue-skied June evening. Since July was on its way, and that meant Bastille Day would be soon, Joe thought it would be nice to teach Katrina about the culture she came from.

Of course, it would be nice if she knew about her mother's culture as well. Once Katrina was tucked into bed, he searched on FriendFindr to see if Heather had a page on there. She did, and there was a recent post on there; a photo Marlowe had posted of the two plus Lizzie, wearing red maple leaf water tattoos on their faces and holding up sparklers. The caption read "Our last normal Canada Day…miss you girly ❤".

Canada Day. Okay, so Heather was Canadian. Joe did a bit more poking around, and found that Canada Day is July 1st. Wait, that was tomorrow! He quickly researched a few quick fun things to do on that day, and found "wearing red and white", "barbecuing", and "watching fireworks". Okay, that was simple.


The next day, when Katrina woke up, Daddy was urging her to wear her red dress with white polka dots. Being a curious almost-six-year-old, she had to ask why. "Aujourd'hui c'est la fête nationale canadienne, ma belle," he said. (Today is Canada Day, sweetie.)

Katrina cocked her head. "What's that?"

"C'est comme un anniversaire pour Canada," said Daddy. "Ca c'est ou ta mère est née." (It's like a birthday for Canada. That's where your mother was born.)

Now Katrina was curious. She got into her dress, ate some toast with butter, and trailed behind her father into the car.


When the Beauforts arrived at the arena, Pierce was registering a new guy. "Speak of the devil," he said when he saw Joe. "This is Barney, you two have a match this morning."

"Salut," said Joe, shaking Barney's hand. "Je m'appelle Joseph, et ceci c'est ma fille Katrina." (Hi. I'm Joseph, and this is my daughter Katrina.)

"Hey, fellas," said Barney. "Fellow Canucks, eh?"

"Eh, pas vraiment," admitted Joe. "J'étais né à Paris, alors ma fille est un demi française et un demi canadienne." (Eh, not really. I was born in Paris, so my daughter is half-French and half-Canadian.)

After settling Katrina in the children's room, the match was set to begin. "In this corner, we have the WVBA's trooper, our unrelenting jobber, Joseph Beaufort! And in this corner, we have a killer, a Canadian crusher, Bear Hugger! Fight!"

The fight began. The two threw a few simple jabs for a bit, before Bear Hugger went in for his signature Bear Hug. When he pulled Joe in, there was a loud crack. Joe winced, and when Bear Hugger let him out, he fell over. The Bear Hug had thrown his back out.

Pierce and Bear Hugger simply looked at him. "That was fast," said Pierce.

"Lemme help him," said Bear Hugger. He picked Joe up, with his back arched, and snapped him back up. "Better?"

"Oui," mumbled Joe, rubbing his back.


That evening, Joe fired up the barbecue to grill some hot dogs for dinner. He threw on four dogs; two for him and two for Katrina. He also put the buns on the grill to give them that amazing crunch. Look at him; sunglasses, sandals, khakis, and using a barbecue. This was peak Dad.

When the food was ready, the two of them sat on the back deck to eat. "This is fun," said Katrina. "We should do this every Canada Day."

"Attends quelques heures," said Joe, "et on peut regarder le feu d'artifice." (Wait a few hours, and we can watch the fireworks.)

"Ooh," cooed Katrina.


Sure enough, that evening, Joe and Katrina walked down to the park to watch the fireworks. Bear Hugger was there with his boyfriend, as were Lizzie and Marlowe. Katrina went off to play with Janet Bernard, who was there with her family.

At exactly eight o'clock, the fireworks began. Big pink sparkles and green booms lit up the sky. The crowd's eyes shined as they watched.

"Daddy, look!" Katrina shouted at a red firework that exploded into the shape of a heart.

After fifteen minutes, the show was over. Katrina sleepily shuffled back to her father, who picked her up to bring her home. She decided that staying up past bedtime wasn't as fun as she thought it was.


Two weeks later, it was Bastille Day. It was a Beaufort family tradition that on Bastille Day, they would have a dinner of onion soup, baguettes with butter, and madeleines. "Sais-tu pourquoi on mange ça chaque 14 juillet?" (Do you know why we eat this every July 14th?)

When Katrina shook her head, Joe continued. "Aujourd'hui c'est la fête nationale française." (Today is France's national holiday.)

"Ooh," said Katrina. She munched on a madeleine.

"Oui," said Joe, "et ceci c'est la célébration traditionnelle dans notre famille. Ta grand-mère a cuisiné ce repas chaque année quand j'étais un p'tit garçon." (Yes, and this is the traditional celebration in our family. Your grandmother cooked this meal every year when I was a little boy.)


That night, as Katrina was crawling into bed, Joe presented her with a small book. "Tu connais les photos de nous-mêmes de notre première Halloween ensemble?" (You know the pictures of us on our first Halloween together?)

"Uh huh," said Katrina.

"Ceci c'est le livre que nos costumes étaient dériver," said Joe. (This is the book that our costumes were derived from.)

He opened up the book to begin reading. Katrina became attached by the first chapter, because the narrator said he was six years old, which was a very big deal to recently-turned-six-year-old her.

Eventually, she began to get too tired to stay awake, and laid back into her bed. Joe closed the book, tucked her in, and kissed her forehead. "On va finir demain." (We'll finish it tomorrow.)