Chapter 11
The Canadian flag over the new community hall snapped in the wind as Ryan Zhao, arms filled with an oversized box, hurried past the north fence of the building site to where they’d set up the Bike Rodeo.
The Heart Falls Canada Day celebrations had originally been broken up into a bunch of smaller events at locations, but when the organizing committee realized the parking lot would be paved and ready before July first?
Plans changed.
Between shutting down three blocks of main street and the parking lot, the community had plenty of room to gather in the best way possible, already making memories around the future hall.
The fire hall crew had set up a bike rodeo in the wide-open space of the parking lot. Ryan hurried past the table where Brad and Hanna were doing helmet inspections for the children. “I got them,” he told Madison.
Maddy offered him a sweet smile. “Thanks, love. See, Katie? I told you Mr. Zhao had more of the special bike plates.”
The little girl standing beside Maddy had a couple of tear tracks down her cheeks, but she smiled tentatively at Ryan. “I thought I wasn’t going to get one.”
“Sorry, sweetie. We had two big boxes, but one got left behind for a minute.” He opened the top and lifted out a bike-sized white plastic licence plate printed with HEART FALLS CANADA DAY BIKE RODEO. He eyed her seriously. “You know you need to decorate this, right? That’s what makes it special.”
She nodded eagerly, reaching for it.
Ryan handed it over, and her mom guided her toward the stickers and markers strewn on the table waiting for the kids to use.
He stepped beside his wife, shoulder to shoulder as he looked out over the parking lot and street section he could see. “Good turn out.”
“It is,” Maddy agreed. “A little different set up from the past years, since we decided against doing the community meal and bachelor auction.”
“It’s sad when a tradition is let go, and yet, it’s probably time that one is no more,” Ryan pointed out. “Maybe an update is in the future, like changing it to a volunteer auction. People offer up services and the community can bid on those.”
“It’s been discussed.”
Yvette and Alex moved in to take over, Alex behind the inspection table, Yvette to the decorating.
“You guys need to go,” Yvette prodded them. “The two- to four-year-old course opens in five minutes.”
“Thanks guys.” Ryan caught Maddy by the hand, and they hurried toward the side of the parking lot, Brad and Hanna right behind them.
Their families were waiting for them, the older girls chatting while they effortlessly wrangled their little brothers. Talia was now sixteen, Crissy a year younger, but they both had giving hearts and loved to step in with their siblings.
“Daddy. I want to ride.” Justin barely stopped his bouncing when Ryan guided him onto his little balance bike. “See my license plate, Mama? It makes me go fast.”
Maddy squatted to check their son’s helmet then admired the plate that was now zip tied to Justin’s front handlebars. Barely any white showed, he’d plastered it with so many stickers. “Yes, you did a great job. Now, do you remember the rules for the bike course? Three rules, all very important.”
Justin planted his feet on the ground and lifted his hand. One pudgy finger rose. “Whistle means stop.” He stood up even straighter and held his handlebars firmly. “Like this.”
Brad’s son Ethan rolled into place next to Justin and copied him. “Stop.”
Justin grinned at his friend. “Rule number two, eyes forward and look, look, look.”
Ethan wiggled then giggled as he shook his head, his eyes comically wide. Justin laughed too, the little-boy amusement rising like fairies dancing on the air.
“Rule three,” Talia prompted. “You remember that one?”
The boys were still making faces at each other. The wide eyes having progressed to sticking out their tongues and twisting their expression until they were both breathless with laughter.
Big brother Drew called out from the side where he was waiting with his big boy bike for the older children’s course to open. “Hey. You don’t get to ride if you don’t know the rules.”
Indignant, Ethan frowned. “We know the rules.”
Drew crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s rule number three? I know it. Bet you don’t.”
Not to be outdone by a mere five-year-old, Ethan lifted his chin. “You got to have a grown-up to cheer you on.” He followed this very determined and mature announcement by blowing a raspberry at his brother, who rolled his eyes and took it in stride.
Ryan exchanged an amused glance with Brad, who took a deep breath then sighed softly. “They have energy to burn.”
“Then let’s let them.”
Ryan took Justin, and Brad guided Ethan, and they all made their way to the top of the balance bike course.
A wide chalk line had been drawn in a gently curving path around the edge of the course.
On the left side of the swoop, a bubble machine sent shiny bubbles flying skyward for the kids to ride through.
After that, teeny traffic cones were arranged for the bikers to go between instead of around.
The final section was a straight line down the middle to the finish line where the spectators waited to cheer the cyclists.
The volunteer at the start of the course checked each rider then made sure their parent or guardian was in position at the side of the track.
“Do your best,” she told Ethan and Justin. “Follow the course and get to the end, and you’ll get a big cheer, no matter what.”
Ethan went first, his little boots clattering on the new pavement as he raced forward along the curving path.
“Go Ethan,” Justin shouted at his friend. “You can do it.”
Amusement rose as Ryan knelt to check his son. “You can do it too. Have fun, buddy.”
“I will, Daddy.”
Then he was off, the determined expression on his face as serious as if he was competing in a world caliber event.
As Ryan made his way along the side of the route, a sudden call of voices rose above the usual cheering. He glanced ahead to discover Ethan had somehow gotten turned around in the traffic cone part of the course and stood motionless facing toward a rapidly approaching Justin.
“Justin,” Ethan called, a tremour in his voice. “I got lost.”
Mindless of the adults and teens all calling advice from behind the safety rope and ignoring Brad, who raced forward like a charging bull, the two boys came together without incident until they stood side by side.
“You’re okay,” Justin told his friend, patting him on the shoulder. “We need to go that way. You can ride with me.”
Brad pulled his run to a halt, and both he and Ryan watched without interfering as Justin got Ethan turned in the right direction before the two of them boot-scooted their balance bikes to the top of the straight finish line path.
“This is fun,” Ethan shouted. “Let’s go.”
“Go,” Justin agreed, and they both took off, side by side, down the gentle incline.
When Justin lifted both feet off the ground for two seconds, rolling like on a big bike, he let out an excited wheeeeee that lasted all the way to the finish line.
A volunteer blew his whistle, and the boys both stopped their bikes, standing and turning to the cheering crowd with their hands pumping the air.
Their own cheers ringing loudly, Brad laid a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Nice to see someone’s got my kid’s back.”
“That’s what friends do,” Ryan assured him with a wink. “Come on. You’ve got another boy to cheer through the long obstacle course. We’ll join you.”
“Drew will like that.” Brad nodded happily. “I’d like that.”
They rejoined the family, offering high fives to the boys and accepting hugs. “I rode my bike so good, Daddy. And Ethan did too.”
“You both did great,” Ryan agreed. “Now we’ll cheer for Drew, and then it’s time to get some lunch, okay?”
“Okay. Someday Mikayla will ride a bike, and I’ll help teach her.” Spoken matter of factly, but Ryan knew it was absolutely true.
“She’ll love that.”
A microphone turned on, and a high-pitched squeal rang over the sound of voices. Some kids shrieked, but they got the feedback turned off immediately.
Loud and clear through the air, Edison spoke.
“Hello, Canada Day partiers. Welcome to the Heart Falls celebration. I know a lot of you have been busy enjoying the different activities for a while now, but we have official business to conduct right now. First, anyone who wants to take a tour of the community hall to see how things are progressing, Madison and Brad will be taking groups through at the top of each hour from noon to three p.m. No children allowed—sorry kiddos, but it’s still a grown-up- only space.
But to make it fair, for the afternoon, we’re designating the ice-cream truck a kids-only space—”
Laughter rang out along with a loud, “hey, that’s not fair,” from some local in the crowd.
“Second, all the food trucks are ready to open their doors for business. Thank you to the wide variety of foods we have represented here today. And third, I’d like to announce the winner of the June Tacky Threads Throwdown, and it’s a special one, folks.”
Heads twisted as the sound of the crowd quieted a little when Edison paused.
“The winner is Delanie Slater for her grad outfit and the outfit of her grad date, Len. Delanie made their outfits entirely out of Duct tape and spare parts from the thrift shop’s mechanical section.
Anyone who wants to see the outfits, they’re on display in the front window of the flower shop side of Buns and Roses. ”
Cheers went out along with a round of applause.
Duct tape, Ryan thought. Who would have guessed?
At his side, Talia leaned against him. “That’s a neat idea. I wonder if I could do something like that next year when I graduate?”
His little girl was growing up too fast. He hugged her tight, though, because it was the only thing to do. “You can do anything you put your mind to. I know it.”