reality is simply too 'real'

My friend Jim’s house is unremarkable in every way. It has only three rooms, the ceilings are all sagging, and the basement is constantly in varied states of dampness. In truth, the term ‘unremarkable’ is simply a nice way of saying ‘barely livable’. But for one night each year, Jim’s place becomes the spot where everyone wants to convene…because its location provides an exceptional view of the city’s fireworks each Fourth of July.

Granted, these are not downtown fireworks…majestic, booming displays of pyrotechnic genius…but rather suburban fireworks set off from the mall parking lot. But Jim’s fabulous view of the mall parking lot, which isn’t nearly as scenic during other times of the year, make his place the standard Fourth of July get-together spot. Plus, there’s not nearly as much traffic as there would be if heading downtown.

We spilled onto the street along with Jim’s neighbors, setting out lawn chairs and blankets, in preparation of the festivities. Kids ran from yard to yard, chasing each other with sparklers and trying to catch fireflies as we pulled out a few beers from a cooler and passed around a bag of pretzels.

As the sky grew darker, the first firework exploded in the evening air to the standard chorus of ‘oohs’ and a smattering of applause. Within minutes, however, a band of smoke had formed in the sky. You could see the flare shoot up, hear the boom, but could only witness the bottom portion of the resulting firework…leaving your imagination to fill in what the obscured top half looked like.

It was a humid night and I sat there wondering if this had something to do with the smog-like band that had settled directly over where the firework display was taking place. Nearby, I heard a young kid sum up this meteorological oddity, however, by saying, “Mom, this stinks! Fireworks look way cooler on computer games than they do out here!”

And as I sat watching the remainder of the show…the bottom portion of all the fireworks...I had to admit that the kid had a point.

Reality would be much better if it was created by computer programmers.