Christening Fireworks

Upon arrival at the Combs’, OLeif and Collette were just in time to walk down to the old Elementary school playground and field with Carrie-Bri, Lucia, Rose, Frances, and Linnea. It was the exact same path that Uncle Mo and Mom had taken on their way to school every morning back in the day.

Meanwhile, Joe was at home for Eagle preparations and Linus was back inside, likely counting down the hours before he was allowed to go pick up his “love interest” (as Aunt Petunia called her) for the fireworks. And while everyone ate their fried chicken, Uncle Mo popped in his latest Elvis film downstairs for everyone, a documentary on his show in 1970, which also included clips of Carry Grant and Sammy Davis, Jr., in the audience.

Before long, they all took off. This year, Dad went home to watch the fireworks at the Capitol. And everyone else went over to the best fireworks around, at the Florissant Civic Center. They seemed to get better every year.

And as they walked to their location of the evening behind the little rose garden, Aunt Petunia related Lucia’s latest ingenious-ness.

“Well, I called Lucia and Linus the other day while I was out shopping at the grocery store to see if they wanted any fresh fruit while I was out. And Lucia says, ‘Oh! Purple grapes!’ So I pay an arm and a leg for these grapes, $2.99 a pound, which ends up costing me over $7.00. So I bring them home and say to her. ‘You better eat these before they go bad, or you’re going to pay me for them. They’re gold.’ So Lucia agrees. The next day Linus asks me, ‘Whose grapes are those?’ I told him that they were his and the same thing I told Lucia, that he had to eat them before they went bad or he would owe me for them. And he said, ‘But, Mom, they already have.’ I said, ‘What? That’s impossible!’ And he held out his hand and there were two raisins in it. And Lucia says,” Aunt Petunia giggled, “’How’d you do that?’”

“No!” Lucia squealed, once Aunt Petunia finished. “I don’t want to hear that story ever again!”

“Oh, you will. And I’m telling everyone at work tomorrow too,” Aunt Petunia laughed.

“No-oh!” Lucia protested.

But they had found their spot by that time, and Lucia had temporarily forgotten the matter. So for the next two hours, they listened to the rest of the band-concert, waiting for the fireworks to begin. Carrie and Lucia split headphones on Carrie’s iPod and rocked out to their own music.

“Oh, this is my favorite part!” Lucia said, as some sort of moonlight serenade song played behind her.

If no one knew she had on her headphones, they might think she was a little more old school than she appeared.

But there were some pretty peppy tunes coming from the orchestra, and even Uncle Mo “busted a few moves” as OLeif put it, during a Beach Boys medley.

And soon it was that time again, and the skies popped with the crack of two canon shots, enough to blind the eyes, and the spectacle had begun.

They weren’t hard to label either: the Screamers, Rings of Fire, Hollywoods, Weeping Willows, Canon Shots, Conch Shells, etc… There were even hearts and stars and rattlings of earth shakers.

It was an old tradition in the family to go around the circle (or in age-order) and give someone’s name to each firework as it lit up the skies. This time, Frances and Linnea included all the animals: Trooper, Snuggles, Pumpkin, Freddy, and Oreo.

Some were so enormous, that the weeping willows seemed to brush their golden arms right above their heads. Others left such haunting booms that it pounded one’s heart an extra time with a mammoth shake.

“Whoa!” Lucia cried after a particularly giant glitter, “Fall on me!”

There were times that the whole universe seemed to be exploding. The finale was so fantastically earth-shattering and bright that Collette thought it just might catapult them out of their seats. And the applause and whistles at the end could have rivaled the sound of one of the crackers themselves.

Meanwhile, it had been another Friday in Hungary which had been taken up with a morning on the citadel and a walk down the several hundred steps amid glades and paths, back to the river.

The Citadel was the highest point in Budapest. From there, one could see for what seemed hundreds of miles to the curve of the earth – the entire city. Far, far below, they could barely see the Mozi. And it was there that their team and some of the missionaries prayed for the city. Followed that with tea and cakes at one of the missionary houses, and the last day of VBS.

There was no true way to gather in all the moments of the trip into one collection of memories. It did not seem quite possible. There were too many angles to cover, too many perspectives.

And Collette also discovered her favorite drink while in Budapest – Fanta Citrom. Later, she discovered that there was Fanta in the States, but no one seemed to have Citrom, which was by far her favorite.