Rocket's Red Glare

I LOVE loud noises. I love to be under large fireworks when they blow up and fill the sky. Thunder and lightning all around me with frequent flashes and the continuous rumble filling the air! Cannons and large caliber weapons where you can actually feel the concussion.

It was not always like that. When I was a little boy (probably 5) we use to go to the county fair to see the animals, the food and the fireworks. They would light the fireworks on the side of a hill that raised up from a large area near many of the buildings. This was back in the day when the guys would walk over, light the fuse and run to an area of safety.

We walked up the hill and stood next to the small wire fence separating us from the fireworks. We were easily less than 100 feet from some of the mortars where the fireworks launched. As a young child I remember watching a dark silhouette walk across the open slope and then quickly jog away from a sparkling light left behind. Moments later a heavy "THUMP" filled the air as a glowing mass shot into the air. I began to walk slowly backwards away from the fence as my father gripped tighter on my hand. Then, with my anxiety already heightened, a huge fireball erupted in the sky directly over my head. The loud thunderous boom filled the air and my mind.

Looking very much like a cat trying to get away from a bathtub, I twisted and turned and yanked myself from my fathers hold and bolted as fast as I could to the calf barn. With each following crash, I moved from one barn, to one further away, not caring that I was alone.

My family found me, and multiple years of similar events would cause them to find me again and again. Eventually I was able to withstand the urge to run and eventually learned to love and appreciate what once caused me terror. I am sorry that some of my brothers had to miss much of the fireworks as they ran through the barns looking for me.