One Fireworks Story

every year, for 30 some odd years, on the first sunday of september webn puts on a fireworks show to signify the end of the summer. its always the most awesome fireworks show. it tops anything else we have all year long. the 'rossi' family are well known for their fireworks worldwide & they swear they start on it immediately afterwards for the following year. they shoot the fireworks from barges parked in the middle of the ohio river & off bridges on either side of that barge & synchronize music to the whole show. not to mention the bands & entertainment tacked on. this year they said the fireworks were actually floating in the river instead of just being shot off the barge. when i was much younger & the fireworks first started we went every year. it became a tradition for all my friends to go as a group. the more the merrier. back in the day you could bring coolers, food, blankets, chairs, dope & the family dog & cops didn't bother you. unless you got too out of control but for the most part it was just one big, cool end of summer party. with crowds numbering in the half millions & all the restrictions i don't indulge so much these days. you're not allowed to bring all that stuff & cops confisgate anything they find now. the jails fill up quickly too as a result of the policing. i'm not knocking our cities finest i'm just saying. things aren't as lax as they used to be. the year my baby sister, lucky, turned 21 i asked if she wanted to go with us when i went by to drop sonny off for the night. my mom said, 'no, my baby isn't going down to that mess! we'll just watch it on tv'. (they always showed it on tv that night & again the following saturday.) we all gathered on the floodwall as we normally did. laying blankets out with coolers on each corner to keep them in place. spraying ourselves down with bug spray to keep the mosquitos away. tossing frisbees & footballs. passing the time & preparing to lay back & watch the fireworks. just a few minutes into the fireworks & someone came running through stepping right in the middle of my comfortable spot as i oohhed & ahhed at the beautiful display going on over my head. i sat up quickly but that person was already 4 layers higher into people. damn brats, why do people bring their kids & then turn them loose? when another brat came running across the blanket. i reached up & grabbed an arm as they swung past me. the kid stopped 'let go! i have to keep up with my' & closed his mouth as he looked down & realized he was yelling at his mother. how she managed it i don't know but lucky had convinced my mother to not only let her come to the fireworks but drag my 11 year old son with her! i sat his ass down beside me & waited for my sister to come back looking for him. finally, here she came backtracking down the hill yelling 'spud! spud where are you'? 'over here', i yelled back & waved my hand in the air. her mouth was hanging open when she recognized who had her nephew & the trouble she was about to be in. 'honest lin, i promised mom we'd stay at aunt cellies & be back in an hour. please don't be mad at us'. i don't know if its my luck or her unluck that the path they chose brought them straight up the middle of my blanket. what were the chances? i was, on the other hand, glad that if sonny was gonna be at the fireworks he would at least be with me! where i could protect him. silly kids. and no, i didn't tell my mother. lucky was indebted to me for life after that one.
later.