"Why Are We Eating Hotdogs Today?" - Danny Story (Episode 4)

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My little girl asked for me to make a book about Danny stories - 
real accounts of young Danny and his many childhood adventures.



"Oh boy!" I shouted with far too much enthusiasm. "It's the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! Do you know what that means?"

My children paused and thought.... "We're going to pray the litany?"

"No! I mean, yes... but it means we're going to eat hotdogs! What a time to be alive!"

"But... why dad?" asked my little girl. 

Thus began yet another Danny story.

* * *

Danny was a good little boy, and always very... hungry.

When Danny was in grade one he went to a nice school called Scotsburn. Now little Danny didn't know if the name was to honour the Scots, or be racist towards them. Regardless, Scotsburn had an honorable tradition built on organically-developed cultural awareness. That is, every Friday they had a hotdog sale. This meant the teacher would take orders, and kids would shell out their loonies and quarters (loonies were cool to carry, having just been introduced to honor the loonies working in Ottawa). By 11:30am every Friday the smell of boiling hotdogs wafted throughout the school. Try focusing on reading Cat and the Mat when parts of animals (maybe even Cat) are boiling nearby!

There was just one problem. Young Danny was (is) a Catholic. This meant that Danny could not eat the hotdogs every Friday. Instead, Danny had to watch his friends eat (one friend would eat three!). Meanwhile, Danny would open his lunchbox and see salmon sandwiches waiting for him. Danny did not like salmon sandwiches!

This went on all year. Then, one Friday, Danny's mom sent little Danny with two loonies. "Go buy two hotdogs today," she proclaimed.

Danny was overjoyed! Though perhaps a little confused. Was he no longer Catholic? 

Quite the opposite. Danny's mom was just recognizing that this was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This Feast occurs every year on a Friday following the octave of Corpus Christi. And Feast it was! My how those two hotdogs tasted good. They were the cat's meow! All thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

* * *

"... And that's why, to this day, we eat hotdogs on the Feast of the Sacred Heart," I finished, blissfully unaware of ketchup floating on my chin.

"Wow," replied my daughter, "it really is a Feast!"



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