“Have you got a flag?”

“We stole countries with the cunning use of flags. Just sail around the world and stick a flag in. "I claim India for Britain!" They're going "You can't claim us, we live here! Five hundred million of us!" "Do you have a flag …? "No..." "Well, if you don't have a flag, then you can't have a country. Those are the rules... that I just made up!”

“How come she never got sad?”She did get sad, Booboo. She got sad in her way instead of yours andmine. She got sad, I’m pretty sure.”Hal?”You remember how the staff lowered the flag to half-mast out front bythe portcullis here after it happened? Do you remember that? And itgoes to half-mast every year at Convocation? Remember the flag, Boo?”Hey Hal?”Don’t cry, Booboo. Remember the flag only halfway up the pole?Booboo, there are two ways to lower a flag to half-mast. Are youlistening? Because no shit I really have to sleep here in a second. Solisten - one way to lower the flag to half mast is just to lower theflag. There’s another way though. You can also just raise the pole.You can raise the pole to like twice its original height. You get me?You understand what I mean, Mario?”Hal?”She’s plenty sad, I bet.”

“This is not my fault! Any ideas?”“You don't have a white flag, do you?”

“Canadians are fond of a good disaster, especially if it has ice, water, or snow in it. You thought the national flag was about a leaf, didn't you? Look harder. It's where someone got axed in the snow.”

“Ears back, tail up! I got to show off the white tip on the end of my tail. It's the flag that all Shelties are proud of.”