The day had turned warm ...Sunshine piercing the darkness of the forest ..under our feet the ground crunched it leaves that had lingered from the fall were dry and brittle beneath our feet . The same crowd had gathered , in fact it looked as if it had grown .. I was compelled to say a few words about the importance of reading and the Joy of Science ...if nothing else this might serve to push some of the kids toward doing their homework .
I placed the device in the carved out crevice . dangling from it was a fuse
about 6 inch's long made by twisting several smaller fuses together , it was
delicate , but should survive a quick ( hopefully not to quick ) burn . It had
come to this , one perfect moment in the bright light of day a defining moment
in my personal History , it was as if by this day , by this act , I , the leader
of this band of brothers , these few these happy few , these lads with
strawberry and peanut butter stained faces looking out at me from around trees
and under brush piles ..I would become a giant in their crusted eyes .
No matches .
I had forgot them ...a momentary panic set in ..no matches meant no fire ,
no fire meant no fizzle to the fuse , no fuse fizzle no Kaboom .
I was forced to share my moment . I asked , nay pleaded , for matches , the
noise was deafening as dozens of kids searched and dug deep into their pockets
..past gum wrappers , jaw breakers old fishing eggs , and finally one book of
matches was produced .. It was glssy white with bright red letters , TIMS Septic
Service ..Cherry 209-4567 , inside ..standing tall and proud one singular match
...the chosen one .
The moment had come ....trembling ,I struck the matched and was encouraged
by the immediate response of the match head to the striking surface it burst
into flame . I had made the fuse long enough to give me ample time to dive
behind Rex ( he was much larger than I was and afforded me a greater degree of
security ) . The fuse sputtered ..I looked at it pleadingly then ..like a deer
at the sound of a car door it bolted it raced along the entire length if the six inch fuse instantly
... consumed in a twinkling of an eye ...but my eyes were not twinkling ,
if anything they were fused wide open as I saw the smoke race toward my oblivion
... It was as if the world suddenly stopped spinning , everything came to a dead
stop , wind , sun , noise even the sparks hung suspended in air ....and in that
moment my entire life hung in the balance .. granted it had been a short life ,
and recalling the memories did not take much time ...but there I was standing
with that "holy moly" look on my face looking at a 6 inch fuse going into a 6 inch
homemade firecracker filled with the propellant from 10 shotgun shells .
Something took over and I snapped myself out of the moment and dove for cover .
My body like that of a well trained Ninja ..catapulted in the direction of Rex
who was busy digging his body deeper into the hardened dirt and leaves ...I
missed my landing point landing on top of Him ...caught a good bounce and landed
within a few feet of where I intended ...at that moment the tree seemed to
explode . The concussion was huge .. Smoke and debri filled the air ...the tree
seemed to groan and creak ...then i realized that was Rex ...The thought did
occur to me that tree might actually fall , and if it fell it was surrounded by
the children of the neighborhood plus visitors and the twins ...it would fall on
someone and tonight there would be an empty place at the dinner table for
someone . The realization that I might be the cause of this ..fused me into
action . at the top of my Lungs I yelled out ...TIMBER!!!!!!!!! folled by a
very wheezy runnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn for your lives cough cough , gasp
gasp .
Scores of kids took heed and the woods came alive ....
Meanwhile down at the school , my brother who had wandered down there to
find me was still wondering where I was , and where everyone else was as well .
Then he heard it ,,,the far off bomb not unlike a sonic boom but somehow closer
to earth , in a sweeping motion He turned his gaze taking him up the hill on
33rd street till it rested on a singular puff of smoke to the left of the road
near where Miles street dead ended into the woods . At that precise moment the
air raid siren started its wail ..I can only imagine what was racing through
Bobs mind ...as He tried to understand what was happening ...almost immediately
he caught a glimpse of neighbourhood cats and dogs racing ahead of a group of
children racing down the Hill ...Away from the smoke now growing more menacing
.
Its kind of strange those who were there do not remember this as I do
...but we all remember the fire trucks ...
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