Well, today is July 4th, growing up it was my favourite holiday. As a kid it was a baseball tournament, at one of the neighbouring small towns. Unless it was my towns year to host the tournament.
A hot July day of playing baseball. Between playing games. Watching the others teams to see who we had next, a sandwich or two, to keep us going, with a bag of chips and a cold pop. Heaven on earth it seemed to me.
After a great day of baseball, a huge pot luck was provided by all of the families that had come for the baseball. Food, food and more food. What a day.
As the sun begins to set, we watch the men from the local fire department set up the fireworks, getting ready for the sun to go down. You begin to see and hear a few bottle rockets going off around town. You find yourself running around with some of the guys from the other teams. Seeing can we sneak a few bottle rocket from the firemen. The firemen are cool with us. Sure they are all local boys and remember when it was them trying to sneak a few crackers.
The families begin to settle down in the stands or around their cars in the parking lots. More folks from around town begin to show up. There is a nice buzz.
Finally, it is dark enough. The firemen begin to light off some of the fireworks to get our attention. All of us kids begin to lose interest in the few fireworks that we have. Now the big boys are starting to play.
They begin to light up the sky. Colours and explosion that you feel in your chest. Slowly at first. Giving each firework a chance to dance across the sky on their own. There is music in the back round, but you hardly notice. As you watch the firemen pick up the pace with the display.
Several go off at once. Before they are done more take off. Thunder echos across the field as reds and blues and all colours light up the stands and all of us in them.
Now, fireworks are taking off as fast as the firemen can launch them. The music is drowned out by the roar of all of the display. Finally a huge billboard at the fence of center field begins to light with fire. Row after row of coloured fire begins to burn on the billboard until finally it makes up the image of the American flag burning at the fence. Then finally one giant firework is launched. It screams as it roars into the sky, louder then anything we have yet heard. Higher and higher it climbs until it finally explodes with a thunder that shakes everything, it even sets off a few car alarms.
It is the end. The American flag begins to go out. But as it dies, the sparks fall onto the ground, setting the fence at center field on fire. So one last display as the Firemen grab their truck to put out the fire. What a day.
It seems so long ago, like a dream to me.
The Muslim and The Redneck 