DISTURBING THE PEACE

When I was a kid people had to go somewhere to see the fireworks...like to a local park, or as we got older, to downtown Pittsburgh....and that was once a year...and the fireworks were really special. Now it seems like they're an all year display, and they're all over the place. Woof hates fireworks, as do a whole lot of other dogs. Watching her pant and shake while the local community celebrates for 30 minutes or so is one thing, but when the neighbors are shooting them off almost every night in the summer, it gets real old real fast.

Sipping an ice cold Limoncello on the deck while watching the full moon rise above the lake just looses some of the magic when the cherry bombs start to rattle the cottage and the sky starts to look like Bagdad during Bush's "Shock and Awe" attack. Woof runs for cover, my mother starts looking for the local police phone number, and another neighbor storms out in his pajamas ready to strangle someone because he has to get up for work at six...and it's only July 1st. Since it hasn't rained for weeks, and bonfires are banned all over the township, watching loose rockets of fire land in the trees is a bit disconcerting to peace loving dogs and people.

Somehow I don't remember the supermarkets selling fireworks until recently, nor do I remember having much more that "sparklers" and "snakes" until a few years ago. Woof et al. suggested we pack up and go back to the city last evening...to avoid what promised to be firecracker bedlam on the beach, so we spent the prime explosion hours on the highway...munching on dog biscuits and chocolate chip cookies, arriving just as the crowds were leaving our local park after the fireworks. We were still getting out of the car when the ground began shaking from all over the neighborhood. The sky was orange and red and blue...Woof's ears went back, and I used the name of God in vain.

By midnight the last of the skyrockets had detonated, we all breathed a sigh of relief and climbed into our beds just as the sky began to flash all over again and the thunder made the house shake once again. There's no way I could have been punished that quickly for just saying two words...but then again I've always bet that He/She has quite a sense of humor.