Saturday, July 9, 2016

Oh What A Night

Oh what a night




It was a relief to Brick that his Uncle Dewey didn't ask about the 4th.

Nobody seemed to know nor care about his where-abouts on the 4th. At least, he wasn't at his Dad's. That's what everybody worried about. Brick was suppose to think of him as a deadbeat, but Brick would never say it nor hate him.

No, he'd gone to the playground alone to shoot some fireworks he'd found at the house. Possibly, they were Dewey's from years ago. Evidently, Dewey had a girl now and fireworks were the past, like his immaturity.

Brick thought he found a gold mine at the bottom of his Uncle Dewey's closet.

It was Brick's goal to blow every arsenal in that pillow case. It was only a third full. But it wasn't much fun until that girl showed up from the diner. The one who was taller than him. Yet, she had all the makings of being a Prima Donna ballerina.

And she loved putting things on fire.

Instant love.

After the first couple of fire crackers, she was all smiles. Brick was too. And.. no parents around.

Oh, it was going to be a night full of delight. And just as they were set to break the night sky with a Roman candle, these two guys showed up, Rosco and Cho.

The one with the long hair almost broke Brick's thunder with the slim girl and her shiny hair.

Naturally, Rosco was all 20 questions or so, with Rosie. Where was she from? What grade was she in? What school did she attend?

Brick did his best to be as calloused as he could be. This Rosco liked to put fireworks together. It did sound like a 24 hour project that he was talking about with powders, and shells and such.

"Come on, Rosco." His Asian friend called to him. "We don't have time for this. Let's just..go to the park."

Brick kind of wondered if his friend had something else in mind with Rosco. Only, he didn't know what that might be.

"You, want to come?" He even offered Rosie a piggyback ride.

Brick was about to snap. Use both fists, if he had too. How dare that Rosco to be so forward?

"No. No..I can't." She said she lived over there. She pointed to some place close to where Brick lived.

What were the odds? Brick beamed, but hopefully she didn't notice, right away.

So the older boys left Brick and Rosie took to the see-saw.

The night might have been muggy, but it was perfect see-saw weather.

Yes, for about 20 minutes it was the most satisfying moment in Brick's very dull life, which consisted of Legos, and old X-Box and Apple-Cinnamon  Cheerios before bed.

Whatever she said, he laughed. Oh, he couldn't stop, if he tried.

At first she thought it was funny, too. He guessed. He hoped.

Up. Down. Up. There went a firework in the sky.

"Did YOU see it!" He pointed.

"Where?" She looked, but the streak of light lasted all of 10 seconds.

Perhaps it was as fast as their love. That he guessed.. in the end..didn't really matter.

Finally, she tired of the see-saw. They didn't last all that much longer at the swings.

Smoke was thick in the air, like a war zone. It wasn't even fun setting off fireworks, as the dark fog hung on.

"Well, I guess I better go." She said about 11 p.m.

"See ya..Rosie!" He finally managed to say her name, as she walked back from where she came.

There were still plenty of fireworks in the pillow case.

Although, Brick stayed put on the swing. Digging the heels of his cheap sneakers in the dirt with his broad feet. He bet she couldn't even remember his name.

 Still. She smiled. She had smiled.

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