Fireworks, Except It's Not Fourth of July

The woman rushed into the building—where the party was.          

But no one paid her heed.

“So sorry!” She rushed, waving arms about, but no one paid attention.

She went over to a window—black from the inky night—and looked out the window. It had already started.

“Fireworks!” She breathed, fogging up the mirror. She bit her lip. “But I wanted to see the white flowers—”

Someone shushed her.

She apologized mentally, and then re-watched.

A red bowtie, a white shoe and then a blue Weeping Willow.

A blue Weeping Willow. But the woman started wanting more.

“When will—”

“Stop talking!”

The woman looked over. She was watching the fireworks. The woman looked at her sparkly cobalt dress. She brought out her phone.

Hey—want to meet me at the hotel?

Sure.

The woman walked away. “Bye.” She didn’t care about the other person’s irritated attitude. She was who she was. She didn’t need constant backlash.

She met her husband at the hotel. They both snuck off, as foxes, to a local diner in another world. A gazelle served them.

“Hon.” The dog fox told his vixen that work wasn’t working.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve been laid off. Demoted. I’ve—”

“Wait—what? You’ve told me everything’s going well. Every time we get together, we rejoice and say, ‘Thank you’ to each other for each other’s work—yours at the office, and mine at home.”

“Well,” the dog fox stirred his coffee slowly, “I’ve been lying to you—”

The vixen balled her paws into fists and screamed at the dog fox. After throwing his coffee in his face, she stormed out of the café. Everyone stared at him.

“I’m sorry!”

“What’s wrong?” The gazelle asked.

The dog fox walked away, letting everyone stare. At home, he told his wife—back in reality—that he was sorry.

“Sorry would cut it if you don’t lie to me. Apologize!”

He surrendered.

“Tell the truth.”

“I’ve been laid off.”

“Now what are you going to do?”

“I—”

“Could work at that factory downtown?”

She went outside, the screen door slamming behind her. She was crying.

“Hey…” He said softly. “Hey, hey, hey!”

“Get away from me.”

She fled back to the café. The gazelle asked whether she was alright.

“Just get me a coffee. Black.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Sipping her coffee, the vixen wiped her face. She had always known he was a hardworking man. Now she’d have to research, apply and interview for a job, all three of which she didn’t want to do. It’s not like they could just win the lottery. It wasn’t like they had millions or even thousands of dollars off which to live. Like they could live off the land.

She stayed until the wee hours.

“Excuse me. We close in an hour.”

The vixen nodded curtly, and the stallion walked off with his broom and dustpan.

In half an hour, she departed.

I see another smile from him, and I’m going to throw up.   

The vixen took a walk down to the local park. She let the cool night breeze play with her tuft of hair between her ears. Then she told it to stop.

”Everyone’s been telling me to stop. That woman at the fireworks display.”

“She’s basically the only one.”

The vixen swung around. Her husband was standing behind her. She kept her distance.

“No—people in the neighborhood. You don’t understand.”

“No—I do. I think you’re lazy. You don’t really care.”

“Care? I—”

“I’ve looked in my bank account. Not much is there.”

“Bank account?”

“You’ve been stealing my money. How much did you take?”

“I—”

“How much did you take?”

“I—I took a lot.” Her trembling voice broke, and she admitted everything. Her husband walked up to her and said, “Do not meet me anywhere.”

“Hon!”

“Stay away from me.”

“But—”

“You heard me.”

He ran off, her cries falling on deaf ears. Standing there, she shivered. She turned back. She looked up at the moon. Its brightness made her take a deep breath.

“I don’t want to be lonely.”

“I don’t want to be lonely, either.”

She spun. A dog fox beckoned her over to him. “Come on, hon. Please?”

“Only if you come over here—”

She ran away, calling her husband over. They stood there, but the fireworks had already happened. She looked around. They were the same people. Was this an alternate reality?

“How is this possible?” The woman mouthed to her husband.

“I don’t know.” He mouthed back.

They went throughout the whole place, but the people were still there. The woman checked her watch. “It’s only…the time after the fireworks start shooting. We’re always late.”

“Hm.” The man checked his watch. “When do they start?”

“They start…at 8:00pm. It’s…I get there at 8:10.”

“Is that so bad?”

The couple whipped around. The woman went to her man, and he grabbed her into a hug, protecting her. The other couple’s eyes were interesting—dull green and grey. They also had strange laughs. Their hands were dirty, like they’d been digging in the dirt. Gardening?

The woman suddenly lunged at the first woman, pinning her down. Her claws were inches from her jugular. Her teeth were pearly whites, and her ears stood up straight on top of her head.

“A wolf!”

The woman kicked at the snapping, clawing monster, and rounded on her as a vixen. Threatening to eat her, the wolf lunged. But then got grabbed by the scruff and thrown down the stairs. The same thing happened between the two men.

The first couple got up. They returned as people. “You okay?” The husband asked his wife.

“Yes. You?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go enjoy the fireworks.”

“Okay.”

They were watching the fireworks. But the next time they saw them, they weren’t late. They were always there, unable to leave.

They became one of the people trapped into the building, forever watching the fireworks.

Forever entranced by the red, white and blue Weeping Willow.

They didn’t mind. They were together.

Together forever.

Watching sadness displayed before them.

Eternal sadness.

Until the woman woke up.

“Honey, I had a nightmare.”

“Give me back my money!”

“Stop lying to me.”

In unison, they said, “Or we’re trapped there forever.”

They did as each other had said.

And the woman was always late, but never cared.

They were together. 

They realized that if they gave up what they had been doing wrong, they’d be alright. So everyone there started listening to the woman and man who said that they were here because of something or somethings they had done wrong. “Whoever’s been caught doing wrong will suffer eternity without enjoyment. They won’t derive pleasure from this place. Nothing of this place will come as enjoyable to this place. So when you’re all upset or angry or mean, just remember how you’re miserable because you’re not giving up what you’re doing wrong.”

The people listened to their words. They all started doing what was right, and stopped doing what was wrong. Everyone looked to these people to guide them. They did, and the man looked at the woman, and she still looked at the fireworks. He went over to her and put an arm around her. “Hey,” he said, and she looked at him. “Do you want to go to a restaurant tonight? Meal’s on me.”

“Uh…”

“Hm?” He turned her towards him. “Look at me. Do you want to?”

“Um…okay.”

They were back at the diner. The woman apologized for the whole fiasco the other night, and the gazelle smiled. “Great! We’re right on track. What do you want to drink?”

“Oh, I’ll have a cup of coffee.”

“Black or…”

“Just a cup of coffee with some sugar. Just your usual.”

“Okay!”

The gazelle walked happily away, and the woman turned back to the man. “Hon, I’m glad we’re able to talk to those people. They seemed really distressed!”

“Yeah.”

The man scratched his head. “I don’t know…were they just listening to us because we were there? I mean, we could’ve been rambling, and they would nod and smile!”

“Um…” The woman thought. “Maybe. But I felt a genuine sense of concern for doing right. It was practically written all over their faces. Couldn’t you see it?”

“No.”

“Oh, well I did.”

The coffee came, was drunk and was taken to the sink in the kitchen in the back room. The man paid for the coffee, both said goodbye and left. The woman immediately threw up once outside. “Horrible coffee!”

“Hon!” The man carried her to his bed, lay her down and got a rag with ice in it. “Here—put this to your head.”

“Bad—bad coffee.”

It was some time before the man and woman looked at each other. “I don’t think that gazelle was real. I think that gazelle was the wolf. We need to arrest her!”

The man and woman grabbed some weapons and stormed the café, and everyone started panicking. Chairs went flying, tables were shoved away and salt and pepper shakers were used like pepper spray, burning people’s eyes. The man and woman, having pinned the terrified gazelle down, held the pepper shaker over her head.

“P-please! Not me!”

“Prove it. Besides, right after I drank the coffee, I threw up. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give you such bad coffee. I’m really sorry. I’ve only been a waitress for a little while. I don’t have any other experience. Please—this is my first job out of college. I’ve never worked like this before. I only had odd jobs—the bank, the garage, the babysitting and lifeguarding. I don’t do much, anyway. Mostly, I just clean. And sometimes, I walk dogs. But I don’t know anything. I’m innocent!” And she started crying. “Please—I didn’t do it!”

“Prove it!” The woman insisted. They changed into their animal forms.

The dog fox kicked at the poor gazelle, and she scrambled up, leading with a shaking hoof to the kitchen. Raiding the kitchen, the couple dumped coffee, sniffed for poison but were unable to locate anything that might say poison or have the skull and cross bones on it. Once they scoured the place, the gazelle saw them mutter their goodbyes, and they both headed out. The gazelle followed them, they soon saw, and swung around.

“Go clean up the mess. And buy me more coffee!”

They did. But they left, never returning.

“Dear, we need to relocate somewhere where we won’t be suspicious. Let’s go!”

“Yes, dear.”

The couple, returning as people, hunted down for the couple that had turned into wolves. They had found them, but they were buried. Lying in graves, the couple had headstones above them. “Hope they’re turning in their graves at all this goodness!” The husband spat at the graves, and told his wife to follow him. She did, looking sadly at them.

“What’s with the doe eyes? Don’t you want them to be in the grave?”

“I’m sad because they never allowed themselves to have a chance at life.” She sniffed. “I wish they could relive life so they could have a good idea of what it’s like to be a couple. Maybe like us.”

“We’re different, hon. Let’s go!”

“Okay.”

Clasping hands, the couple exited the graveyard. They didn’t return to it, although the wife was pretty upset about the fact that the couple who had attacked them as wolves never thought twice about what they were doing. The husband didn’t care. He assured her he wasn’t interested, and so she shouldn’t be, either. A few years later, she dropped it. Forgot about them completely.

“Hon!”

The husband rushed into the room. “Yes, what is it?” Panic was in his voice.

“I just remembered—those people in that building. They’re all alone there. We must help them.”

“Hon, they don’t exist for us. Okay? Stop worrying about everyone. You’re tying yourself up in knots—”

“I’m caring about others. You know? We don’t just live in a world full of ourselves. We’re not the only ones living in a world not our own. Literally. There’s more to life than just us. Please? Could we just go and help others?”

The husband sighed. “You do that.”

“Okay.”

When the wife returned to their house, the husband wasn’t there. She searched the house, but he wasn’t there. When she went to the beach, he was standing there, but then he transformed into a fox. When he saw her, he told her he didn’t want to shapeshift anymore. It wasn’t something for him. He wanted to be someone rather than just go back and forth between mouse eater and salad eater.

“Hon—” He began to say, but she interrupted him.

“Come on! I just told everyone they could go about their lives, doing a lot of good. Isn’t that great? Gives you something to live for, huh?”

The husband nodded his head, but he hung it and sighed. He went into the water as a fox, letting the waves wash over his paws. The wife joined him. “So…how’s the sunset? Pretty?”

“Yeah.”

That night, the husband admitted he wanted to give be alone for a few weeks. The wife consented, and the husband walked away from his house. As a fox, he lived in the wilderness for a few weeks. Eating berries (knowing which ones were poisonous, as he just was that smart), he thrived. When he returned to his wife, he felt better. “I’m looking forward to getting under those sheets of ours. And being with my lovely bride.”

The wife grinned. “And I’m looking forward to being with my lovely husband.” But then her face fell. “Everything alright?”

“Yes. Just…I’m not satisfied. I want more—”

“What did we talk about?”

The husband blinked, admitting he didn’t want to live in this life. “I guess…this world is just too small for me…” The wife saw that he was going into space. “Bye.” She said, waving to him as he boarded the spaceship. He waved. But she saw sadness flicker in those eyes. Did this world not comfort him like she did? She wrapped her arms around him, and he turned towards her, all smiles the next morning. It wasn’t like he was trapped somewhere. A mouse running to and fro, trying to get out from under the claws of the cat.

Or was he?

The wife thought of ways she could make him happy. When she visited him in space, he welcomed her with open arms, but that heart of sadness was still there. Longing to be together filled her heart. “Please come home!” She begged, but he decried he needed some time alone again. She nodded her head, her heart heavy. She departed, and hugged their wedding picture. She went back to the building, but it was too much to watch the fireworks. She didn’t want to be late, but she didn’t care anymore. It wasn’t the same without her husband.

She said she admitted she wanted to just run away together. Somewhere in a wild field, maybe in a field of ducks. They went duck hunting that summer, but they didn’t get many ducks. They went fly fishing, jet skiing, flew in a jet and even went to get a new car months after their old one broke down. One day, when they were driving to the beach, the husband pulled over, saying he just wanted to open up the waves and let them swallow him. Not literally, as in drowning or anything. But the husband wanted to go explore other things—fantastical things. Maybe he could be a marine biologist after college?

The wife suggested this great idea, but the husband didn’t want to go back to college. He said he didn’t like biology. The wife suggested he take up an instrument. No, the husband said. Frustrated, the wife approached her husband one day, sitting outside a café. The server was a different gazelle. He was very kind and patient towards them. The dog fox ordered a coffee, and the gazelle nodded respectfully, and went to go get it.

The dog fox sighed. “I guess…”

The wife blinked. “You know what. Let’s relocate. Let’s go to a beachy area.”

The husband smiled as he had his head down. “Yeah—I like to feel the sand between my toes!”

The wife grinned. “I think you’re…”

“What?”

A year later, the husband and wife held hands. Not as foxes, but as people, as they walked the beach together. They soon had beautiful dogs running and jumping, barking and wagging their tails. The husband trained these dogs, and the wife took care of them. They were extremely obedient. The two dogs then were put down a few years later. The husband and wife decided to have a couple of children. Two boys were born on the same day. They both were very energetic, dashing up and down the boardwalk after school and in the summer, and kicked soccer balls, threw basketballs into hoops and smacked volleyballs with their hands, but no land sport entertained them. One boy took up lifeguarding, while the other became a surfer. They both relocated to Hawaii.

The husband and wife held hands.

“It’s good to be together.”

“It’s good to have raised two dogs and now two sons.”

“To have raised them is good.”

Yeah, the wife said. The husband agreed. They were both standing before those graves in the graveyard. “It’s good to be parents of strong men. I wish they could’ve had battled the waves better. They were so strong!”

“Not strong enough!” Tears were held back. They cried, but not enough, at the funeral.

The husband and wife turned away, back to the fireworks. “I guess being together is the only way we’ll cope.”

“We’ll die—”

“Together—”

“Soon.”

They held hands until they were in the graveyard.   

Together forever.