American River Review 2022 - copy - Flipbook - Page 48
The rest of the afternoon cruised by.
Ben and Ernie ran the wires from the
control booth to themortars, packed
the boxes with sand, and carefully
placed the explosives. They set the
fail-safe switches, and when Ben
started syncing the digital triggers,
Ernie wandered off by himself.
“Sure do,” said Ernie.
He got a hotdog, since it was a Friday, and partook joyously of it. He
watched the orchestra tune-up and
noticed a young couple lying in the
grass near the stage. The young girl
passed the soda pop and spread the
crease of her light blue dress across
the green grass. The boy took a sip
and smiled down at her. She just
smiled back. And again, this young
couple had found its way to
a pleasurable standoff.
“Are you two going to stay for the
fireworks tonight?” Asked Ernie.
“Just lean over and kiss her,” thought
Ernie. “She wants you to.”
He decided he ought to talk to them.
As he shuffled across the field towards them, they noticed and waved.
He smiled and raised a hand in
return.
“How y’all doing today?” He asked
“Oh. Just fine,” the girl said in a way
that meant things could be going
really well but, right now, they were
just going all right.
“Yeah, good,” said the boy. “It’s a
beautiful day.”
“It sure is,” said Ernie in a way that
meant “She sure is, son.” Ernie sat
down by them, and, for the first time
in a long while, he crossed his legs
Indian style, feeling young again.
“I love these early summer days,” he
said. “They make me personable,
and, well, they remind me of my
wife.”
The boy stammered, relatively
shocked, “Oh.”
“We met in a park like this one, back
when I had just started working for
the fireworks company.”
“Wow! You work for a fireworks company?!” Asked the boy.
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“Cool,” said the girl, laying her head
on the boy’s knee.
The three of them just smiled for a
moment while a slight breeze slid
through the oak trees.
“Geez. We didn’t know. I don’t know...
uh, sounds nice.” Said the boy. He
looked down at the girl and stroked
her hair past her ear. “Do you want to
stay?”
“Sure. Well, of course if there’ll be
fireworks.”
“Faaan-tastic,” drawled Ernie. “I think
you two oughta watch from that little
hill over by the, well, I guess those
are soccer fields overthere. You won’t
be able to hear the orchestra as well,
but you’ll get a better view an’ less
distractions.”
“Cool,” said the girl again.
“Yeah, thanks,” said the boy, his eyes
wide with amazement, more so than
he knew.
“No problem,” said Ernie, and again
the silver boxes and white gloves
danced in his mind’s eye. “Thanks for
letting me sit with you. I’ve got to get
back over to the baseball fields and
finish setting up.”
With that, he groaned a bit and
pushed himself to his feet. The scar
still hurt.
“Bye...” said the boy.
“Goodbye,” said Ernie.
“See yah,” said the girl.
It was shaping up to be a beautiful
night as well. A few wispy clouds
sped across the distant horizon, and
it stayed clear and warm.
The orchestra started right on time.
People lined the lawn with blankets
and folding chairs. Dads wore goofy
Hawaiian shirts, sipped beers and
ate hotdogs. Children ran across the
field, playing tag and made-up games
with no rules. Some of them trotted
in line while Sousa marches played
on the loudspeakers.
Mila finished her shift at the water
tent and was glad to be done. She
was also eager to see Ben.It had been
so cute, the way he practically fell
over himself to help her. She walked
briskly across the grass and around
the ball field to the dugout area. She
climbed the three small steps to
the control booth trailer and then
smoothed her dress and fluffed her
hair before knocking on the
hollow tan door.
“Mila!” Said Ben after he slowly
opened the door outward. “Come on
in. Um. Welcome to the
control station!”
He waved an arm across the room,
nearly hitting Ernie. It was surprisingly cramped inside. There was a
desk with two swiveling chairs and
two glowing computer screens. In
front of the desk was a large angled
window that made the small, modified utility trailer feel almost like a
train’s dining car.
“Thanks Ben. Wow, it’s, uh, nice. Hi,
Ernie.”
“Hi there Mila. You’re right on time.
Nice job.”
“Here, Mila,” said Ben. “Let me give
you the ‘tour’.”
He smiled and she laughed a tiny
giggle and covered her mouth.
“Here’s the rotar. It accepts all the
cables and links to the distributor,
which connects to both the
computer and the firing coil.” He
tapped a large box that looked like it
should be in front of a phone company operator. Black plastic wrapped
wires ran from it and out what
looked like a doggy door next to the
entrance. Different colored tape was
stuck on the wires where they
plugged in. From the other side came
a thick black cable that ran over to
the computer.