Fredericton — Nov. 11, Remembrance Day, serves as a national reminder that the freedoms we enjoy today were brought to us on the backs of our country’s brave veterans. In Fredericton, however, 27-year-old Stephen Cormier says he “forgot all about it.”
“Oh shit, was that yesterday?” he asked, genuinely surprised.
“Damn…I wish I’d known,” he said. “I totally support the troops and shit. I even go down to Gagetown sometimes to drink with some of those guys. Dude, those guys can drink. This one time, we went out to Fairley’s, right? And this waitress, man, you should have seen the size of her…”
Cormier continued in this vein for the next 20 minutes, relating a largely unprintable account of his exploits with the local military — although, it soon became evident that he wasn’t referring to professional recruits, but rather a squadron of high school cadets.
“Heroes,” he said, summing up. “Every one.”
As Cormier is unemployed, he said that he had no idea that the day was supposed to be a holiday, though he was wondering why Cannabis NB was closed. All the more disappointing, he said, is that if he had been aware, he would have been able to attend any of the memorial ceremonies being held in the city.
“Instead, I mostly just sat around, chillin’ or whatever,” he said, with an apathetic shrug. “Watched a little bit Netflix…played some Call of Duty.”
A thought occurred to him.
“Oh shit — do you think that counts as celebrating?”