Who: Heather Hudson NPCs: the masses When: 11.11.10 -- around 11am-ish Where: National War Memorial, Ottawa, Canada What: Heather takes her lunch hour early to observe the official national ceremonies celebrating Remembrance Day. (Naturally, this reminds her of James.) Rating: PG (at most)
Heather hadn't planned to go to the National War Memorial today. Sure, it was Remembrance Day and that was where the official national ceremonies took place but working in Ontario meant she didn't have the day off like most other Canadian government workers. Still, she didn't have any desire to fight the crowds or think too hard about the armed forces and what they'd done to James-- and her marriage by proxy.
But as the morning stretched on, Heather found herself watching the clock incessantly. By ten-thirty, her concentration was shot. At this rate, she wasn't getting any work done today and that didn't suit. So, with a sigh, she clocked out for lunch inordinately early and headed to the memorial. It was within walking distance and she was there by quarter to eleven.
As she'd expected, the crowd was massive. Heather watched the various soldiers standing and marching and tried not to remember how handsome James had looked in his dress uniform. (Easier said than done; she really needed to get out in the world more often. Well, that or get it over with and officially marry her research.) (Mercy but that was pathetic, wasn't it?)
It was interesting as far as spectacles went but the real event began a little more than ten minutes after Heather arrived. The bugle playing had never been to Heather's tastes but it was amazing to see such a crowd quiet so fast. And then there was the two minutes of silence-- it was eerie when so many people were around. She actually kind of liked it, though; the shared respect and appreciation for the sacrifices made for their freedom.
The actual span of silence wasn't long. In fact, it was just long enough for Heather to say silent thanks that James was not among the casualties (even if he had been hurt and changed by the armed forces, he'd still come home again) and to those who had been casualties for her freedom. It wasn't much but somehow it felt like enough, at least in that moment.
The silence was broken by more bugling and Heather took her leave shortly after. She had plenty of work waiting for her and it was probably a good idea to shove something into her mouth, since this was her lunch hour. Still, she couldn't stop her thoughts from drifting to James every so often. She decided not to be too hard on herself for it, though. They called it Remembrance Day for a reason, after all.