4th of July Surprise

This 4th of July wasn’t different from the twenty three other one’s I had experienced up until this point with the exception that this would be the last one where I would be single.  In September I would be getting married to the prettiest gal in all of Baltimore.  She was in Delaware with her mother and sister planning the wedding.  This meant that my family’s annual 4th of July cookout would be like it was back when I was a kid.

We were at my grandfathers house right outside of Baltimore City.  From the backyard, one could see the city-scape of downtown Baltimore off in the distance; about five or six miles away.  I would liken it to seeing the hazy buildings of Manhattan from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.  You can see it, but it is still pretty far away.  This was the perfect day.  Great visibility was rare around here.  The fireworks show would be awesome.  One advantage of my grandfathers backyard was the location.  We had these white hard plastic lawn chairs- one for each person.  We would arrange them next to each other and just watch the sky.  We could see ten or twelve different fireworks shows occurring simultaneously.

My uncle was outside cooking hot dogs and hamburgers which was his usual job.   He would flip a few burgers, close the lid, and knock back a few gulps of Dos Equis.  Seems kind of strange… drinking a Mexican beer on the 4th of July.  It was his favorite kind though, isn’t that what it’s all about- being surrounded by things that you love.

One thing we all loved was being with each other.  It’s crazy when you think about it.  We loved being around each other even though we all annoyed the shit out of each other constantly.  It was all in good fun though.  It was how we showed our love for each other.  Family… can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

My aunt had come up from North Carolina to spend the weekend with us.  It was always fun to have her around.  She used to live up here with us but her husband’s job called for a move, and so they moved.  It was tough to get used to them being so far away, but now that a couple of years had passed we grew accustomed to the change.  We would eagerly await their visits with anxious anticipation and take complete and full advantage of the time we all spent together.

Anyway, before the fireworks show she was outside by her van smoking a cigarette.  I decided to go out and keep her company as she was outside all by herself.  We got to talking about life and whatnot.

She mentioned to me that there are a lot of cop cars driving around tonight.  Just as she said this I realized I had seen a lot of cop cars today also.  I got up in the bed of my truck and looked over the large privacy fence that blocked the view of the city from the driveway.

As soon as I got up there I was struck by the brightness of the city-scape tonight and how clear the sky was.  Two or three helicopters were flying all around the buildings with their spotlights on.  What were they looking for?  I saw another handful of cop cars speed down the street toward the city.  What were they looking for?  It was right about that time that I saw it.

I had never seen anything like this before and I never thought I would ever see one in my life.  It’s hard to mistake a mushroom cloud from anything else.  I immediately knew what it was.  The colors were awe inspiring.  Reds, blues, yellows.  It almost looked beautiful.  It was off in the distance.  Who knew how long it would take to reach us?  Would it reach us?

“We need to go inside right now,” I said.

We both ran inside and were met by our family sitting around the kitchen table.

“Can we go to the basement please,” I asked.

“Why?” my mom said.

“Mushroom cloud over Baltimore,” I said realizing the craziness of it all, “But don’t quote me on that I’ve never seen a real mushroom cloud before.”

My cousin laughed as if I was joking.

“Go look out there for yourself,” I said while running to the basement.

Ten seconds later, everyone was in the basement.  The rumble outside was evident as glasses vibrated to the edge of the bar and toppled over shattering on the floor.  Then… darkness.

An emergency light came on.  My grandfather grabbed for a battery powered radio to see if he could figure out what was going on but was met with nothing but static.  We tried to turn on the TV.  Every station was down.

I was holding my kid sister in  my arms and she pointed at something.

“Look,” she said.

As I turned my head I watched as steam quickly rose to the ceiling from a drain at the bottom of the floor.  This is when I knew we wouldn’t be catching any breaks with this situation.  There would be no running away.  I stood up and began to walk.  Steam started to shoot out of the drain.

I could hear people screaming outside as I ascended the stairs.  I hadn’t forgotten about my family in the least.  I just knew that we would all be together soon.

I exited the house and sat in a lawn chair with my sister in my arms.  We were facing the city from the back porch.  What do people do in this situation?  Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much time to come to terms with the end. There was no point in running or hiding.  There was no point in getting all bent out of shape about this.  What could anyone do? I always liked to think when my time came I would stare death in the face and yell, “FUCK YOU!” but that wasn’t gonna happen with my kid sister here.  I just leaned back and exhaled with a sigh of relief.

I know that sounds weird “a sigh of relief.”  What could anyone in this situation be relieved about?  It’s strange the thoughts that go through your head when the shock wave from a nuclear blast is about to hit you.  Your outlook on life changes the moment you realize that you’re going to die and there’s nothing you can do about it.  It makes you realize what’s important and what’s truly worth fighting for.  I leaned in to my sisters ear.

“Let’s watch the fireworks.” I said tenderly.

I didn’t want to scare her even though she surely knew something was horribly wrong.  The privacy fence began turning the color of burnt logs at the bottom of a fireplace and I noticed that I was sinking.  The white plastic lawn chair had turned to the consistency of silly putty.  I lifted my right arm to hold my sister tighter and thin strands of melted chair clung tightly and formed long stringy strands of melted plastic that elongated in the heat as I moved my arm, but none of this mattered.  She didn’t even cry or get scared.  We just sat there holding each other.  I turned my head and tears started to fall, then quickly evaporate with a sharp stinging sensation as if I was getting shot in the face with a pellet gun.  My eyelashes had surely burnt off by now.

“Hey, you said ‘let’s watch the fireworks’,” she said.  I couldn’t believe this kid’s courage and I couldn’t help but smile at her.  I finally realized how good of a life I had.  It had become harder to hold on as I sank lower and lower in the melting chair but we held each other in our embrace tighter than ever.

“Then let’s watch ‘em.”

So we sat back and watched them, not a care in the world.