Prologue - Dax
Independence Day is my third favorite holiday.
First is Christmas. One reason. Presents.
Second is Halloween. Two really good parts. Scary movies and candy.
Fourth of July, there’s three cool things. Hotdogs, fried chicken and fireworks.
Oh, and school’s been out for ages.
That’s four reasons.
My Mom spends the day before the holiday preparing all the dishes because we have a big cook out with all our neighbors.
Mainly I hang around with Tannen and his brother Elden because Tannen’s the same age as me and Elden’s thirteen.
The Bells family right next door are a bunch of girls, apart from Alfie.
He’s younger than me but he’s pretty cool.
But his Dad always makes his twin sisters Taylor and Alexis play with us so they don’t get left out and girls are annoying most of the time.
You can tell them apart because Alexis has a freckle on her right cheek.
Taylor is boring because she just wants to be inside cooking with her Mom and hates it when we rough house.
Alexis is a fast runner, a better baseball player than a lot of the boys and she doesn’t cry if you accidentally bump into her or something. So she’s okay. But she’s still a girl.
It’s like it’s a law in Snowflake Falls that it always has to be sunny on Independence Day.
Although my Grandma says there was a huge storm one year in the 1800s that took out all the electrics or something, with lightning that caused a tree to fall on that weird old house up on Sleekton Drive and no one's lived there since. Grandma is really old. But as far back as I can remember it’s sunshine all day, which is good since we spend most of it outside and it would super suck to be rained on and the hot dogs to get soggy.
My Dad always used to wash the flag the week before so it was sparkling clean and looked its best on the holiday, but since he got sick that job falls to me and my brother.
The flag’s one he inherited from his Dad and it’s a little fragile so we have to be careful when we clean it.
He’d be sad if it shrunk or fell apart or something.
My Grandma always cries a bit when Bette Bells from next door sings the Star Spangled Banner but my Mom rolls her eyes at all the trills Bette does.
Bette is a pain in the ass because she always wants you to take a photo of her doing something and gets mad if you accidentally splash water on her or crease her outfit.
“Daaaaaaax!” There’s a banging on the screen door that lets me know my friend Ty Caputo has arrived.
I say friend but he’s been getting me into so much trouble at school I don’t know if he’s my friend or my enemy.
Sometimes it feels like he wants to squash me like a bug, but I’d like to see him try that.
My big brother Zac says “keep your enemies close” so I guess that’s what I’m doing in case Ty is one.
And also I don’t know what happens after you keep your enemies close.
Maybe they turn into your friends? Or leave you alone?
I run outside and Ty grabs my arm and hisses: “T.S.” That means Top Secret and is his code to get somewhere where prying eyes can’t see us. We run over to where the woods start at the back of my house.
Ty flips his backpack from his shoulder onto the floor. “Check this out…” He unzips it slowly, trying to be as dramatic as possible, and I catch a glimpse of a big rocket. We’re not meant to let off fireworks on our own. Baby fireworks like sparklers are fine but this is a gigantic one.
“Where the hell did you get that Ty?” I can’t resist pulling the zipper down further so I can get a look at the cardboard box, which is covered in warnings saying DANGER and only to be used by adults.
“Stole it.” Ty looks pleased with himself.
“There’s a big delivery being unloaded outside the Town Hall for their party and I biked past at just the right moment.
Grabbed it from the sidewalk while the stupid delivery guy was having a smoke.
There were five of these, he’s never gonna notice it’s gone. ”
“Shit, are you sure?” Ty’s brains aren’t as fully developed as his sense of adventure. There’s some talk of him repeating a grade although I don’t know if that’s just gossip. I think my Mom would be pleased if we weren’t in the same class; she doesn’t think he’s a good influence on me.
“Stop being a douche Dax. The real question is what are we going to do with it? Remember, you owe me a dare.”
My stomach clenches. Ty invented this game where you trade dares. They get more and more dangerous until the one who chickens out has to pay the other one fifty bucks. I don’t have that kind of cash. It’s no big deal to Ty, whose family have plenty of money.
We got in big trouble setting Mr. Cooper’s chickens free - another reason my Mom thinks Ty isn’t a good influence - and I was hoping he’d just let the whole thing go. By the smug look on his face, he hasn’t. And the firework lurking in his backpack means it’s my turn.
“Here’s your dare, Dax. Wait until they’ve let off all the shitty fireworks, then you let off this one so the evening goes with a real bang. We’ll be legends.”
I shake my head at him. Not in front of my family. It’s too dangerous.
Ty is loving this. “Your choice, loser. Of course, that’ll be fifty big ones. Pay up tonight.” I don’t think his smile can stretch any further. With his white blond hair and all those teeth he looks like a ghostly shark.
“Look Ty, let’s just have fun and eat some hot dogs, okay?
I don’t want to spend the whole evening thinking about some stupid rocket that’s going to get us both in big trouble.
” I start walking away but he grabs my wrist. He’s shorter and lighter than me, so if I don’t stop he’s going to get dragged along behind.
“You’re such a douchebag. I go to all this trouble to have some fun and you just walk away? Fine, pay the money and I’ll get out of here.” He stares at me. “Or is the problem that you can’t? Because your Dad doesn’t have a job?”
He’s gone too far but I try to keep my cool. I shake his hand off my wrist and walk back to the picnic tables. I’m so mad my heart is beating fast as I sit down next to Grandma.
“Honey, you look hot. Have some lemonade.” She pours me a glass and I gulp it down.
Tannen and Elden are playing baseball with the Bells and Zac.
Alexis comes up to the plate and, with an effortless swing of her bat, hits a home run.
As she rounds the bases she points at me and smiles.
I smile back through a mouthful of hot dog.
Ty has disappeared and I’m relieved I don’t have to think about that stupid dare thing.
As dusk falls, Mr. Bells sets up the fireworks display while Mrs. Bells puts all their animals inside so they don’t get scared.
My Mom is supervising the younger kids with their sparklers.
Bette writes “SUPERSTAR” in the air with hers and Tannen writes “STUPID” in response, which makes her mad.
I’m feeling sleepy, probably from so many hot dogs and the hot weather, so I get up to have a better view of the fireworks.
I’m standing on the closely mowed field we use as a baseball pitch next to Alexis, who is idly swinging her baseball bat back and forth now the game has finished.
The fireworks begin to explode in bursts of sparkling color, first blue and gold, then red and pink and yellow.
Some of them don’t go off, but most of them do, and I have the feeling I get every year, like I’m safe and happy as long as we do this every year and nothing changes.
After a while the biggest rocket explodes and there’s an “Oooh...” as the trails of red, white and blue stars slowly fall from the sky.
Everyone starts walking back towards the picnic table as Mr. Bells waves his arms and says “That’s all folks!
” in a Bugs Bunny impression, which makes Alexis giggle.
She starts walking slightly in front of me when suddenly there’s a huge whooshing sound from the woods.
Time seems to slow down and it’s like everything’s happening in slow motion. All the people in front of me duck as a rocket heads directly for my chest. I don’t have time to react apart from shutting my eyes and waiting for it to hit me.
Instead I hear the sound of a bat connecting with something and as I open them there’s Ty’s rocket heading on a new course straight up into the sky.
Alexis is looking down at her baseball bat, which has scorch marks on it.
Her brother Alfie is jumping up and down shouting “You hit it Alex!” as my Mom starts running towards me with her eyes wide and scared.
There’s a massive boom as the rocket explodes and spells out “U.S.A.” in huge red, white and blue letters. Everyone looks confused. Alexis starts laughing, partly in shock, I think.
“Hey, thanks. That would have hit me.” I reach out and touch her shoulder. For a girl, she rocks.
“No big deal. Happy Independence Day Dax.” She looks back over her shoulder and her blue eyes have the lights of the fireworks reflected in them.
July 4th, 2001.
This is one holiday to remember.