THESE TIMES

Four Fingered Jacks: The best name I’ve seen for a fireworks stand.

One Fourth when all four kids were under one roof, our father announced we would have a safe Fourth of July. He got some of us into the backyard, had us sit in lawn chairs on the concrete patio, and then perched a road flare about 50 feet away atop a wall separating one level of the backyard from the next. He popped the cap on the flare. I can’t recall whether I said or thought this when the flare burned out: “Is that it?” Then he said, “I’ve got another one,” and he lit a second road flare. Thus was our Fourth of July safe.

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