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Speaker 1: He Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world.

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My Martin and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories,

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a podcast where I normally take listener ideas and turn

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them into bedtime stories. But today is a very special

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day in Canada. It is Canada Day, at least the

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day this is recorded. You might not be listening on

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Canada Day, of course, and for some strange reason, I

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woke up wanting to do a very Canadian story and

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this is what I came up with. It's kind of silly,

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but I hope you I hope you enjoy it. If

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you like the podcast, don't forget to follow us, rate us,

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review us. On whatever platform you're listening on, Hit that

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like button if you're on YouTube. I think if everyone

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who was listening on YouTube regularly hit that like button

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would make a really big difference to other people finding it.

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Maybe we can experiment. Why don't you just hit it now?

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Did you do it? Thank you now. If you're not

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in Canada, you might not know that Canada Day is

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the celebration of the Confederation of Canada, the day we

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became a country, and we like to celebrate, or at

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least my family likes to celebrate by eating Cowortha dairy

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ice cream and watching fireworks. And that's exactly what we're

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going to do today after I finished this episode. Now

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it's time to get as comfy as you can in

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that bed, close your eyes, and just imagine yourself possibly

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taking on the you know, the character of Martin in

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this story. Martin grew up in a small town in Ontario, Canada,

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where people enjoyed hunting fish and four wheelers, wood stoves,

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frozen lakes, and boil in the life blood out of

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trees into a sort of concentrated substance most people know

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as Maple's syrup. To most people, Maple's syrup was a

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breakfast topping, but to Martin, it was tree blood. Could

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you please pass the tree blood? He would say at breakfast.

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His mother would close her eyes for one full second

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and say, Martin, please stop calling. At that, his father

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would usually shrug and say, well, he's not wrong. Martin

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was eleven years old, which meant he was old enough

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to help with real jobs around the property, but still

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young enough to believe, deep in his bones that someday,

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somehow he might be come a superhero. He'd been wishing

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for powers as long as he could remember. Every birthday,

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when the cake came out and the candles were lit,

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Martin made the same sort of wish. I wish I

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could fly, he whispered. One year, I wish I could

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throw big stuff, he whispered. The next, I wish I

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could run so fast that people would only see a

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plaid blur, he whispered another time. By the time he

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was eleven, he had thought about it a lot. He

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didn't want boring powers. He didn't want the ability to

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like slightly warm up soup with his finger or something

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like that. He wanted the classics flight, super strength, super speed,

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maybe even laser eyes, though he was worried that that

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might cut some sort of forest fire where he lived.

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The incident happened during maple syrup season, just after the winter.

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Martin was helping his family gather sap from the maple

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trees behind their house. At eleven, he was actually sort

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of useful. He could carry proper buckets, stack wood, help

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check the taps, and most importantly, complain adamantly about how

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much work he was doing. The maple syrup boiling station

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sat near the sugar shack, and a clearing steam rolled

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out of the evaporator and sweet white clouds. Firewood crackled,

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sap bubbled. The whole place smelled like spring, smoke and sugar.

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Martin loved it. He loved the sound of sap dripping

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into buckets. He loved the mud, He loved the steam.

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He loved that making maple syrup was basically a normal

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Canadian activity where he was. Then the sky changed. At first,

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it was only darker, but then it turned into strange.

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The clouds got a sort of green glow around the edges.

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The buckets on the trees began to rattle. Martin looked

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up at the sky. Is the sky supposed to be

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that color? He asked? Uh, nope, his father responded. His

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mother stepped out of the shack and looked at the treetops.

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Everyone inside quickly, but before they could move, lightning crackled

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across the forest. It wasn't normal lightning though, for some reason,

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and it was green. A jagged bolt tore down from

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the clouds and hit a maple tree. The whole tr

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rung flashed like a giant glowstick. Another bolt slammed into

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the ground near by, spraying mud and steam everywhere. Martin's

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mother grabbed for him. When the biggest bolt struck, it

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smashed directly into the maple surrup boiling station. The evaporator

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exploded with green light. Sap hissed, steam blasted outward, metal screamed,

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and the lightning began to chain. A bright green arc

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snapped from the boiling station and hit Martin right in

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the chest. For one second, the entire clearing disappeared in light.

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His parents screamed his name. Then everything went quiet, except

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for the rain, wind and of course, the soft dripping

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of sap from the trees. Martin was laying on his

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back the mud. His mother ran to him and dropped

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to her knees. Martin, Martin, can you hear me? His

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father slid in beside, checking his arms, his face, his chest,

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his pulse. Hugh, Buddy, talk to us. Martin blinked, then

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he coughed. Then he sat up and looked at the

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absolutely destroyed boiling station. Did the tree blood machine explode?

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He asked. His mother gave him a very very strong hug.

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His father stared at him in disbelief. You're okay, Martin

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touched his face. Why does my forehead feel cold? His

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mother leaned back and her eyes widened. His father just stared.

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What Martin asked? His mother swallowed your eyebrows. Martin reached

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up and felt nothing. His eyebrows were gone. How man.

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That night, his parents checked him over again and again.

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Somehow Martin was fine. No burns, no pain, no injury,

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just a smoky jacket, wild hair, and two missing eyebrows.

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By bedtime, the storm had passed. Everyone agreed it had

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been terrifying. Everyone agreed that Martin was very lucky. No

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one understood that the maple syrup had changed him forever.

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The next morning, Martin came downstairs to find that his

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mother had made pancakes. His father poured home made maple

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syrup into a small glass pitcher and set it on

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the table. Martin eyes lit up tree blood maple syrup.

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His mother corrected, tree blood. Martin whispered lovingly. He poured

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a large man over his pancakes, possibly too much, if

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that was a thing. He took a big bite. The

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moment the syrup touched his tongue, a strange warmth spread

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through his body. He froze, His fork dropped onto the plate,

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his muscles tingled, his arms stretched, his shoulders widened, his

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feet pushed against the floor and his hood he began

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to creak. His mother stared Martin. His father slowly lowered

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his coffee mug. In three seconds, an eleven year old

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Martin had grown into a fully grown man, but not

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just any man, a gigantic, unbelievably muscular future version of himself,

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with a long beard, broad shoulders, and the general appearance

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of someone who could shop firewood by just sort of

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looking at it. His hoodie ripped apart at the seams.

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Martin looked down at himself. Then he opened his mouth

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and said, in the strongest Canadian accent anyone had ever heard, Oh, buddy,

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this ain't right, eh. His mother screamed, his father screamed.

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Martin screamed too, but it came out as sweet maple biscuits.

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What in the name Owayne Gretzky is going on here?

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He ran to the hallway mirror. A huge bearded man

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stared back at him. Martin touched his face. The bearded

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man touched his face. Martin gasped, I got a beard.

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He then his clothes began to shift. The shredded hoodie

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twisted and changed. Red and black plaids spread across his chest.

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Denim formed over his legs, Heavy boots appeared on his feet,

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and a belt snapped into place. Within seconds, Martin was

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dressed like the most powerful lumberjack in Canadian history. His

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mother pointed at him with a shaking hand. Why do

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you look like a lumberjack? And why are you so tall? Oh?

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I don't know, ma, Martin said, horrified. I'm all jacked

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up like a moose in hockey season. Oh why are

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you talking like that? Asked his father. Oh I can't

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stop it, eh, Martin cried. The words are just skating

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right out of my face. He backed away from the mirror,

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stumbled through the kitchen door, and ran outside. I need

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some air there. But the moment he stepped onto the grass,

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his boots lifted off the ground one foot into the air,

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and then three, and then ten. He looked down. His

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mother ran outside and screamed, Oh, no, call the fire department.

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His father stood in the doorways, still holding the syrup pitcher.

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What are they gonna do? I don't know, she shouted.

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Brang a ladder. Martin waved his arms wildly. He spun sideways,

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dipped toward the roof, bounced back up, and nearly crashed

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into a maple tree, but soon something clicked. He leaned forward.

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He moved forward, he leaned backward, he moved backward. He stopped.

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Soon he was flying left, right, up, down, and in

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slow circles over the yard. Oh, I'm getting the hang

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of it now, he called. After a few minutes, Martin

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landed clumsily in the yard. His heart was pounding with excitement.

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This was it, This was the thing he'd wished for

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every birthday. He had powers, actual powers. If I'm a superhero,

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he said, I gotta try lift in something. Ah. He

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bent down and grabbed a rock sticking out of the ground.

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His father had always said it was probably part of

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the Canadian Shield, which is why he hadn't been able

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to move it. Martin pulled, and the rock tore out

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of the earth with a deep cracking sound, and was enormous.

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He held it over his head like it weighed nothing.

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As parents just stared. Martin grinned, well, slap a duke

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on a beaver. That's a big old rock. He threw

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it as hard as he could. The boulders sailed into

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the forest and landed somewhere far away with a crash.

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That well, you could feel in the ground. Then came

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the geese. At first there were only a few. They

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landed in the yard and stared at Martin. But soon

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Moore came and more. Soon the yard was full of

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Canadian geese, waddling, honking, flapping. Now, no one in Canada

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truly liked Canadian geese. People respected them and maybe even

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feared them, but they didn't like them, and no one

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liked having them on their lawn because they left behind.

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Uh well, presence will call them. Martin stared at the

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nearest goose. The goose stared back. Then Martin heard a

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voice in his mind, not words exactly, more like meaning hungry, angry. Ready.

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Martin blinked, you can you can hear me? The goose honked.

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Martin pointed at the geese. All right, then, geese, line up,

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he said, and every goose immediately waddled into a neat line.

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His father dropped the syrup pitcher. Martin tried some more

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orders too. First he had them form into a little

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sort of goose pyramid. Then he had them fly around

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in circles overhead. I come manned the cobra chickens, he

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eventually announced. Martin continued to play around with his powers.

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They lasted for about an hour, then he began to

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sink from the sky. His beard shortened, his muscles deflated,

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his plaid shirt for some reason, just sort of disappeared,

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and in moments he was an eleven year old boy again,

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standing barefoot in the grass. The next morning it happened again. Pancakes,

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homemade syrup, warmth than his body, fully grown, bearded superhero

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with a plaid shirt, flying around, throwing things, and commanding geese.

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That was when Martin understood it was the syrup. The

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green lightning hadn't just hit him, it had given him

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some sort of connection to the syrup itself. From that

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day on, Martin kept a small bottle of syrup tucked

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into his sock, just in case. Over the next few months,

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Martin trained in secret, well mostly in secret. It was

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hard to secretly fly over a field while being followed

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by thirty honking geese, but he did his best. He

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learned to fly faster and turn without crashing into things.

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He practiced lifting heavy stuff too, fallen trees, old tractors,

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and one time, even the back end of his father's truck.

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He learned to move at super speed becoming a red

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plaid blur across the fields of dirt. Most importantly, he

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learned to command the geese. One goose was sort of annoying.

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Ten geese were very convenient, but a hundred geese working

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together or a natural disaster with wings. Martin trained all

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through the spring until summer came July One Canada Day,

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a day when Canadians celebrated Confederation, argued about the problematic

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past of Canada ate ice cream, and watched fireworks. Martin

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was sitting at home when he heard the CBC News

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report authorities in Minden Hills are investigating after bandits reportedly

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broke into the municipal storage facility and stole tonight's Canada

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Day fireworks. Martin froze stole the fireworks on Canada Day, Well,

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the dogs would probably be happy, but this was going

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too far, and he stood up slowly. He reached down

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into his sock and pulled out his emergency syrup flask.

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Martin held up the flask, took a drink, and power

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surged through him. His body grew, his beard appeared, his

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clothes shifted into plaid and denim for some reason, and

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his boots hit the floor. With a heavy thump. He

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stepped outside, looked at the sky and shouted, all right,

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ye majestic hissing sky goblins, come to me, and the

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geese came. They formed a giant v over the town,

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dark against the summer sky. Martin launched into the air

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and flew at the front, spread out. He commanded, searched

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the county, find me those fireworks before some absolute hozer

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ruins Canada day. The geese broke formation and scattered in

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every direction. It didn't take long. A single goose came

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honking back. After a while, Martin understood every hawk prock

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shed bad men. Fireworks. Lead the way, friend, he ordered.

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The goose turned and Martin followed. A few minutes later,

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he landed in front of an old shed where several

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bandits were unloading boxes of fireworks from a cube truck.

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The bandits froze. One of them pointed, who are you

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supposed to be? Martin folded his arms. I'm giving you

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one chance, voice returned the fireworks, apologized to the town,

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and maybe we could all go and get some co

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worth at dairy ice cream. The bandit stared, then they laughed.

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One ran forward and punched Martin in the chest. His

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fist hit Martin like it had struck a steel wall.

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The band had yelped and grabbed his hand. How what

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are you made of maple? Mostly, Martin said. Another bandit charged,

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and Martin shifted into high speed. The world slowed. He

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grabbed a rope from the truck, zipped around the first

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robber twelve times and stopped. The robber blinked, and then

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he fell over, wrapped up in the rope. A third

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band had swung a crowbar. Martin leaned aside, still moving

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too fast to see, and flicked the man gently on

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the forehead, not too hard, just enough. The band and

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its eyes crossed, and he dropped into a pile of weeds.

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Oh sorry, there, But the remaining thieves grabbed fireworks and

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tried to run. Martin raised one hand and silently commanded

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the geese. The sky darkened as the flock descended. At

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first the robbers didn't understand. Then hundreds of geese landed

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around them, on the roofs, on the trucks, on the boxes,

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on the driveway, at the edge of the trees. Every

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goose lowered its head, every goose opened its beak, and

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every goose hissed at the same time. The sound was awful. Now,

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many of you may not know that geese can hiss,

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and boy can they. One of them is sometimes a

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little bit scary. Hundreds of them were an a slute nightmare,

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so much so that the thieves dropped everything. They ran

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straight towards the police cruiser that had arrived on the

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road to check out the commotion, and surrendered, just begging

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for them to keep them safe from the geese. Martin

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loaded the fireworks back into the cube truck with the

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help of the police. Then he grabbed the sides and

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lifted the entire thing into the air. He flew it

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back to the municipal building. The mayor stood outside, looking

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kind of worried. Martin landed gently and set the truck down.

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Oh I hope you don't mind, air, Mayor, but I

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think I found your fireworks. The mayor stared up at him.

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Who are you? Martin looked at the crowd, He looked

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at the geese circling above. He looked at the may

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belief flag waving nearby, and he smiled, you can call

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me the Maple Guardian. That night, fireworks exploded over Minden

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hills in red, gold, green, and blue. High above town,

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Martin floated in the warm summer air with a bowl

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of maple ice cream in one hand. Below him, people cheered.

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Beside him, geese flew in a perfect v. Martin took

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a bite of ice cream and smiled. Happy Canada Day.

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And from that night on, whenever danger came to small town, Ontario,

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people knew to look at the skies, not for like

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a bat signal or a spotlight or anything like that,

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but for a giant flying lumberjack wearing plaid and drinking

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maple syrup, as well as a terrifying number of geese.

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Of course, good night, everyone.

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Speaker 2: On Never name n N N never union name in

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New yor Union No no no no mo M M

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one one man

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Speaker 1: M