along with him and they
all sang the National Anthem. For that, people stood and men took off their caps.
On the football field Willa stayed seated on the blanket. It’s too hard to get up
and down, she said. Never mind me. She smiled and looked around at them through her
thick glasses.
They sat down again and the announcer said, Now will somebody shut off these field
lights for us? They waited. Will somebody shut off these lights so we can start? Folks,
we can’t get started till the lights are turned off. After a while someone pulled
the switch and they all sat in the faint light of the evening, the afterglow of sunset
still showing to the west but everything dark now in the east. They waited and then
suddenly the first rocket shot up and it broke overhead.
There was a loud explosion and strings of light spurted out and dripped down and winked
out and white smoke drifted slowly away. Then another rocket exploded. The young boys
in front of them named each one as it went off. Come on, bust, they said, and thenthe rocket burst and they said, Comet. Chandelier. Pixie Dust. Parachute. Silver rain.
Carnation. Chinese Night.
After a while, Lorraine lay back on the blanket. Then Alice did too, and presently
the Johnson women stretched out on the blanket next to them and the fireworks fired
up into the cool summer night and the ghostlike trails of smoke drifted away in the
sky, the pure blue stars far over them, all shining, above the football field on the
high plains. The boys went on with their running account. Alice slid over closer to
Lorraine.
Are you doing all right, honey? Lorraine said.
The girl nodded.
Are you cold?
A little.
Lorraine pulled her closer.
I wish my mother could have seen this, Alice said.
Yes. Raise your head for a second, honey.
Lorraine laid her arm down on the blanket and Alice lay back and Lorraine pulled the
loose end of the blanket up over them both. Alene looked over and watched Alice for
a moment. A rocket went off and she could see the girl’s face in the shimmering light.
Her eyes clear and serious. Her smooth soft girl’s cheeks. Alene’s eyes welled up
with tears, looking at the girl, but immediately she wiped the tears away. Next to
her, her mother went on watching the fireworks.
At the end there was a long chain of explosions with a final cannon boom that echoed
across the town out into the country. Then it was dark, the smoke drifting away above
them, and then the high field lights came on again. Everything seemed brighter than
ever.
The announcer came on again. That’s it for tonight, folks. Take care going home now.
Mind your step now.
On the field they stood up and folded the blankets and people came down out of the
grandstands and they all went out slowly in a crowd, not talking much, tired now and
satisfied, moving out through the gate.
Good night, dear, Alene said, and without prompting Alice wentto her and hugged her and then she hugged Willa. Afterward she walked home with Lorraine,
back on the west side of town along the gravel street under the corner streetlights
past the quiet houses, a few of them with lamps on inside, and once they saw an elderly
woman let a little white dog out and then she called it back in and shut the door.
18
I T WASN ’ T THE IMAGE of her naked beneath the thin raincoat standing in front of him in the back office
of the hardware store that Dad Lewis remembered. It was the look on her face before
she slapped him. And the pitch and the desperation of her voice on the phone three
months later in the spring when she called, screaming that Clayton had killed himself
in Denver.
When he had not stopped thinking about her a year later, he decided he had to find
her. He drove to the town a hundred miles south of Holt where she had moved with Clayton
and the two children to live with her parents. But she was not there now. The parents
did not even live there anymore. A
all sang the National Anthem. For that, people stood and men took off their caps.
On the football field Willa stayed seated on the blanket. It’s too hard to get up
and down, she said. Never mind me. She smiled and looked around at them through her
thick glasses.
They sat down again and the announcer said, Now will somebody shut off these field
lights for us? They waited. Will somebody shut off these lights so we can start? Folks,
we can’t get started till the lights are turned off. After a while someone pulled
the switch and they all sat in the faint light of the evening, the afterglow of sunset
still showing to the west but everything dark now in the east. They waited and then
suddenly the first rocket shot up and it broke overhead.
There was a loud explosion and strings of light spurted out and dripped down and winked
out and white smoke drifted slowly away. Then another rocket exploded. The young boys
in front of them named each one as it went off. Come on, bust, they said, and thenthe rocket burst and they said, Comet. Chandelier. Pixie Dust. Parachute. Silver rain.
Carnation. Chinese Night.
After a while, Lorraine lay back on the blanket. Then Alice did too, and presently
the Johnson women stretched out on the blanket next to them and the fireworks fired
up into the cool summer night and the ghostlike trails of smoke drifted away in the
sky, the pure blue stars far over them, all shining, above the football field on the
high plains. The boys went on with their running account. Alice slid over closer to
Lorraine.
Are you doing all right, honey? Lorraine said.
The girl nodded.
Are you cold?
A little.
Lorraine pulled her closer.
I wish my mother could have seen this, Alice said.
Yes. Raise your head for a second, honey.
Lorraine laid her arm down on the blanket and Alice lay back and Lorraine pulled the
loose end of the blanket up over them both. Alene looked over and watched Alice for
a moment. A rocket went off and she could see the girl’s face in the shimmering light.
Her eyes clear and serious. Her smooth soft girl’s cheeks. Alene’s eyes welled up
with tears, looking at the girl, but immediately she wiped the tears away. Next to
her, her mother went on watching the fireworks.
At the end there was a long chain of explosions with a final cannon boom that echoed
across the town out into the country. Then it was dark, the smoke drifting away above
them, and then the high field lights came on again. Everything seemed brighter than
ever.
The announcer came on again. That’s it for tonight, folks. Take care going home now.
Mind your step now.
On the field they stood up and folded the blankets and people came down out of the
grandstands and they all went out slowly in a crowd, not talking much, tired now and
satisfied, moving out through the gate.
Good night, dear, Alene said, and without prompting Alice wentto her and hugged her and then she hugged Willa. Afterward she walked home with Lorraine,
back on the west side of town along the gravel street under the corner streetlights
past the quiet houses, a few of them with lamps on inside, and once they saw an elderly
woman let a little white dog out and then she called it back in and shut the door.
18
I T WASN ’ T THE IMAGE of her naked beneath the thin raincoat standing in front of him in the back office
of the hardware store that Dad Lewis remembered. It was the look on her face before
she slapped him. And the pitch and the desperation of her voice on the phone three
months later in the spring when she called, screaming that Clayton had killed himself
in Denver.
When he had not stopped thinking about her a year later, he decided he had to find
her. He drove to the town a hundred miles south of Holt where she had moved with Clayton
and the two children to live with her parents. But she was not there now. The parents
did not even live there anymore. A
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