By the River
Light travels faster than sound. More than half a million people (most of them on their feet) could attest to it now. First, the violent burst of white flame in the black, humid sky and then the concussion that swooped the air out of your lungs, leaving you breathless, wanting more. The roar of the huge crowd, gathered from miles around, followed and the show began.
I love fireworks. I love the Fourth of the July. In fact, I'd dragged my wife and our two girls to the riverfront early that morning to get a good spot to watch. The girls had screamed, delighted, but my wife had grumbled about the silliness of it all. Anna didn't like crowds, despised democratic displays like fireworks where the masses would groan their "oohs" and "ahhs" in robotic unison, and the strong, unfamiliar smell of hamburgers and hot dogs mixed chaotically with the stench of cigarette smoke, cheap perfume, and sweat. I thought she might have felt differently this year-this year of all years-might have welcomed the patriotic display, but she'd made it obvious throughout the day that she was here under protest, hadn't said a word to me in hours. Anna would have rather been back at the house working on the next chapter of her book on Jane Austen's latent lesbian love themes. I knew her well enough to know she wasn't enjoying this and I would admit to her the next morning that the size of the crowd had been a bit surprising. In our prime location we were packed in, almost touching each other.
Still, all my hard work was paying off now beautifully as the red, blue, white, pink and green colors showered above us one after the other and the shattering sounds of the bombs became linked in one continual, thundering roll. It was a perfect night, warm and muggy, and I turned to Anna for approval, wanting her to acknowledge it had been worth it, the camping out since the early a.m., the sitting in the sun all day trying to keep hydrated, but her face was turned to the sky, like the throng among us, but unlike them, expressionless, except for a slight smirk, as if she couldn't believe she was there. She held the girls tightly by her sides, hoping to limit their exposure to the good, clean fun. And she wasn't looking at me. At times, I could barely distinguish her features against the mass of humanity surrounding us, and then only against the dramatic lights pounding in the sky. The lights would radiate steadily upon her face with glowing beauty, red and white and blue, but she wouldn't look at me, even though she had to have known I was staring at her. I gave up on her and returned to the sky above, feeling my body jerk and jump with each explosion.
Suddenly, a body pressed against my shoulder and, with a slight turn of my head, I saw an old woman, smiling, shrugging apologetically. She seemed to be alone and even though I could barely make out her features in the darkness, at once I knew I liked her. She was tall, almost as tall as me. She hadn't been among the crowd earlier in the day (by now, having spent most of the day with them, I was somewhat familiar with the immediate crowd around me) so she must have snaked her way through the crowd, relying on her age as a passport. Sneaky fox. Her gray hair was in a tight bob, not curled in a miserable fluff perm, very classy, and she seemed mildly excited. I pushed a little to my left, against a rather large middle-aged guy, who had been out with his plump family early, like me, to get close to the river and I motioned for the old woman to step forward between Anna and me. The old woman smiled and was soon at my side and I joined her in watching the delightful lights. Just over her shoulder I could see Anna and tried to smile at her, once again, but she continued to ignore me, perhaps not even noticing that someone was between us now.
I relaxed, trying to get back in rhythm with the show, but couldn't help but feel annoyed. If Anna didn't enjoy this, I thought, then tough. I'd gone to plenty of her dry, miserable conferences without complaint and fair was fair. Still, it would have been nice to have had her snuggled in closely, tight in my arms, right now. The power and beauty of an extravagant fireworks show always excited me. It must have had something to do with the fact I'd never been in the army, never had a chance to hear violent explosions. The fireworks made me feel strong, powerful, and I could imagine her in my arms, closed my eyes and could almost feel her soft ass spreading against my cock. I could feel my cock pulsing with my heartbeat in my loose khakis. I sighed. It would have been perfect. You couldn't have everything.
And the booms and flashes of light never stopped, continued, gathering momentum, some of the bursts seemed to cover the entire sky overhead, bringing me to my toes, and if you looked around you could make out the silhouettes of thousands against the lit river doing the same, except Anna, of course. I guessed we were perhaps ten, fifteen yards from the river itself, just in front of me a few boulders and big rocks marked the beginning of its edges. Maybe I could throw Anna in the water and wake her up.
As I debated what Anna's reaction would be to being tossed in the river, unannounced, I was pushed back by a crowd of people in front of me, unable to help but crush against someone behind me. What was this?
"Sorry," I called, unsure whether I'd been heard, to the person behind me, hoping I hadn't stepped on a foot or something.
"Okay," a woman's soft voice called back, but she was tightly pressed against me and was making no effort to back away and I realized after a second or so that two round, heavy tits were softly squashed against my back. I felt bad for her. It must have been embarrassing, but I was sure there was little she could do about it.
"What's happening in front?" I heard her ask, my neck shivering against her warm breath.
"Don't know," I called back.
"Find out," the voice laughed nervously.
I nodded. Of course. I leaned forward a bit and stopped immediately as I felt the undeniable shape and feel of a warm, soft ass against my crotch. Christ, we were packed. This was ridiculous. The woman in front of me looked young, at least her long, dark, curly hair suggested so, but I couldn't see her face. She was probably one of the half dozen or so kids I'd noticed earlier in their twenties getting drunk throughout the day. Of course, they were perfectly harmless, young couples who thought the world was still good.
"Excuse me," I began, trying to avoid making the contact between us any more direct than it already was. "What's going on? We're a bit tight here."
"My husband passed out," a girlish voice said matter-of-factly.
Husband. Wow. She probably wasn't more than twenty-five or so. And she was married? Jesus. Wait a minute. . . . Passed out!
"Is he alright? Is he . . ." I started.
"Drunk," the girl laughed. "Don't worry about it. He's comfortable. At my feet. Asleep."
I could only imagine. The poor sap was lucky not to be sprawled face first in the river keeping the fish company. I turned to the old woman standing next to me, nervously shrugging, hoping she was taking no notice of my delicate position. She grinned, glancing down to where my crotch was just barely making contact with the girl in front and looked back up to the sky, her face lighting up with a huge burst of red.
"Someone passed out in front of us," I called to the poor lady behind me. She pushed harder against my back, tits now plastered against me. I could feel a just starting sweat developing at the joining of our bodies. The heat, humidity of the night was becoming almost oppressive now.
"What?" she said.
"Someone got drunk and is passed out in front of us. That's why they're squashing against us like this," I said, trying to recall everyone from the day, trying to guess whose tits my back was fondling. She was probably the pleasant lady with the two gorgeous preschoolers whom my girls had doted over all day, the lady with the slightly nervous husband, extremely thin and pale guy. Likely an accountant. I grinned. The poor guy seemed not too happy to be sitting out in the sun all day. He was likely seated somewhere holding his head, trying to suffocate the explosions above.
"Passed out?" she asked, incredulously.
"Yeah, he's okay. It's just that-"
"Throw the corpse in the fucking river," she hissed back suddenly, and I could have sworn her body seemed to grow rigid against me, as if she was getting aroused.
I laughed. Very good. At least there was one other person who was fantasizing about throwing rude people into the river.
"It's her husband," I continued. "Drunk."
"Oh brother," the voice groaned. "Idiot."
"Sorry," I tried.
"Yeah, whatever," she sighed, and then I felt her press more tightly against me. "Some guy's pinned against me back here. The asshole's got his hard-on half way up my shorts right now."
I laughed again, thinking she was joking.
"It's not funny."
"Sorry," I gulped, embarrassed and then I smiled, trying not to laugh.
It was funny. People were perverts. I loved it, but stopped grinning when I realized the contact between the girl's ass in front of me and my crotch was becoming more pronounced. Either she or I was straining just a bit harder into the other. I was sure it couldn't have been me, but it might have been. Everyone was so crunched up that the slightest movement rippled, magnified everything. I could actually feel the woman behind me breathing against my back. Simply ridiculous. The woman in front moved a little forward and our pronounced contact ended, replaced by a light and fleeting presence. Though grateful, I couldn't help but feel disappointment. If she was the one I remembered, she was a real cutie, very different, olive-skinned, Italian or Greek, with a brilliant smile and a tight body. And also very young. Probably twenty year younger than me. Still, I was consoled; I had my poor friend behind me, getting mauled by her anonymous pervert. The thought excited me. It seemed wild that some guy was actually groping a strange woman. What if someone saw? Her husband. Goodness, I thought, looking around, but I realized no one could see anything in these cramped conditions. Everyone's focus was on the display above us. They'd be okay. The pervert behind her was lucky she was such a good sport. If it had been Anna. . . .
"Tell him to stop it," I said over my shoulder, trying to get ice-queen Anna out of my mind, but then I realized that if I stepped forward, away from her to give her a bit more space, I'd be pressing myself against the chick in front, once more. I was too embarrassed to do that. I waited for a reply from my pal in back, but heard nothing.
"Tell him. . . ." I said again.
"Shhh," she whispered back into my ear, gently. "Kind of like it."
I chuckled inside and she must have felt me.
"I do," she moaned and I could actually feel her using my body as leverage to push back against her daring groper, could sense the hardening of her nipples. I could hear her stifle a groan. And, without warning, I felt one of her hands quickly dart its way into one of my large, floppy, front pockets.
"Hey!" I protested in shock.
"Shhh," she whispered harshly, but didn't stop at all as she roughly reached deeper into my pockets, down and grabbed my cock. "I'm sorry, but I've got to hold something. Christ. This guy's driving me fucking nuts. Fuck. I wish I didn't wear these shorts. Fuck. Ummm," she moaned and squeezed harder.
It had been too fast. I tried to take a deep breath to calm down. One moment I'm chuckling with some person I don't know about another person she doesn't know assaulting her and the next moment she's gripping my cock with all of her strength.
"Do you like that?" she said, her lips almost at the base of neck, sending even more shivers though me.
"My wife--" I started, unable to stop myself from straining against her warm hand. God. I wanted her touching me bare. I wanted to pull down my shorts and . . . .
"Don't worry," she laughed softly, breathing hard, and I could feel her hips being pushed rhythmically now, more urgently against me, literally rotating against my ass. "Someone's . . . probably got his hand up her skirt. . . This place is turning into a regular . . . orgy."
I laughed, imagining the slap to some poor schmuck who would dare try to touch my wife in public. Christ. She still slapped me sometimes and we were. . . .
"Who's in front of you?" the crazy woman behind me asked, but I couldn't concentrate on her question. The hand buried in my pocket continued its caress. I wanted to stand still but couldn't help thrusting against the tight grip.
"Who's-"
"What?"
"Who's in front of you?"
"The woman . . ."
"What?"
"The women whose husband passed out," I breathed, feeling my cock thicken even more.
"Oh. That bitch . . . deserves a little something for getting us in . . . this mess. I know what to do . . . with her," she grunted, wagging my dick in her hand. "She . . . Fuck," my poor friend suddenly groaned and I could feel her body jerking impossibly against my now drenched back. "Fuck. Oh . . .my God. The sonofabitch's . . . the sonofabitch's coming . . . coming . . . on my shorts. Jesus Christ."
My head spun. What the fuck was going on here?
"Oh Christ," she moaned, gasping. "I hope . . . my husband doesn't notice."
"Where's your husband?" I asked, my cock now completely rigid, in a death grip in her small hand.
"A couple of feet away, watching the kids," she slowly laughed, softly said, her voice now more relaxed, more normal, and I could feel her body slowly losing its tension, her tits gently peeling away from my back. "We got a little separated, which could be like miles in this sardine can."
"Did that guy really, um, you know, um, do that, you know, orgasm on you?" I swallowed as her grip lightened on my cock.
"You wanna feel?" she laughed.
"No."
"Well, then, shut up."
A series of huge explosion reverberated the night sky, signaling the show was half through, and the nut-case behind me nearly tore out my dick in response.
"Ouch," I squeaked.
"Bullshit," she laughed. "Give me your hand," she breathed.
"I don't. . . ."
"Shut up and give me your hand."
I let her take my hand and held my breath waiting to feel another man's goo. I don't know why I did it, but, at the moment, nothing was making sense. What if she wants me to taste it, I thought? Would I taste. . . . And then I groaned as my hand quickly was shoved inside her open shorts into a soaking, silk softness. I eagerly pushed down, heard her laugh and then moan as my fingers quickly made their way underneath the silkiness to touch bare curly wet hair and skin and then lower I felt her thick fleshy cunt-lips dripping with heat and sticky liquid.
"Thank you," she sighed, as I started rubbing what I'm pretty certain was her clit. "God I need this."
Another huge explosion lit the night sky and my fingers dug even more deeply into her thick, furry lips. I so much wanted to get a closer look at her, who she was, this woman whose cunt I was fondling. Maybe if I turned around . . . but that would be insane. If I remembered, she was perfectly normal, very much the housewife type, but now. . . . God bless me, she was hot, eager, swallowing up one and then two of my fingers inside her, as her own hand feverishly jerked and squeezed my erection. I grit my teeth. I couldn't stop, knew I'd soon blow an enormous wad of spunk in my shorts when I felt her pull her hand away quickly and then push me forward.
"Don--" I started and then froze in a panic when my obvious erection came roughly into contact with the girl in front. I felt her body react, stiffen, shiver, and then I could feel her stand perfectly still in front of me. No doubt, she was in shock.
"She deserves it," the fiend behind me giggled. "If it wasn't for her idiot husband your hand wouldn't be stuffed up my pussy and my ass wouldn't be soaking wet."
"But--" I tried.
"But, my ass," she laughed harshly and I could feel her thighs opening wider, the space for my hand more relaxed. I pushed harder into her. My hand was burning, soaked. "Oh. Oh," she panted. "Whisper in her ear. Ask. . . . No, tell her . . . tell her you're going to fuck her."
"What?"
"Tell her you're going to fuck her," she groaned.
The mother behind me, I couldn't understand it. She seemed so normal and now this? She wanted me to fuck a complete stranger. I doubted highly she was some sicko or anything like that, but things had gotten wildly out of control so quickly in the little universe that existed among the four bodies pressed against each other. Some guy, who the hell knows what deceases he had, had spewed on the mother behind me, my hand was in her panties stroking her, and until five seconds ago she was giving my cock the death grip of the century. But still, this was. . . . Good grief. But, then, it really made sense after a while. Something like this would never happen again. That's what was going on. The woman behind me was seizing the moment and was inviting me to do the same. When would I ever get a chance to fuck some stranger again in public? Would the stranger want me?
I had to find out.
And I, husband, father of two, rising executive, took my free hand and tightly gripped the girl's hips, pulling her ass more firmly, unmistakably, into me. I heard her gasp, struggle fiercely to free herself, but when she sensed I wasn't going to release her, she held herself still, trying to assess what was going to happen next. I leaned forward, my cock length now firmly imbedded in the crevice between her flimsily clothed narrow ass, and whispered in her ear in a voice that seemed so strange, unlike any I'd ever heard before, calm, direct, but so, so unforgiving.
"I'm going to fuck you."
Her body seemed to give and fall against me, but then she composed herself, taking a deep breath.
"W . . . w . . . what," she quivered and was about to say something else, but I nudged her thick curly hair to the side with my face, and I licked her long , salty neck and she was still once more, except for the tiniest hint of a shiver along her spine.
I heard my comrade behind me chuckling and then to my amazement I felt her hand straining around my arm, the one reaching back into her cunt, and it started digging its way between the tight clasp of the girl's ass and my cock. She was barely making it, her body shaking against me, but I heard the girl gasp and then groan. I could feel the fiend's hand jerking and gripping between the girl's thighs. I wanted to look down, see what was happening, but could make out nothing. The girl squirmed and even though it sounded absolutely insane, only one explanation seemed possible. My lady was fondling the girl's cunt. My hypothesis was confirmed.
"She's so wet," the fiend laughed in my ear. "Your dick is going to love her. She's so tight, so fucking wet."
I couldn't believe my ears. How the hell she'd gotten underneath the girl's skirt, I wasn't sure, until I remembered from earlier in the day the girl'd been wearing a fluffy little sun dress, and then I felt the smooth silky skin of the back of her thighs pressing against mine. She was leaning back, trying to steady herself as several severe explosions rocketed off each other and I heard her moan loudly.
This was impossible. I tried to imagine what this might have looked like to anyone interested. I was terrified any second Anna would be screaming in my face, serving me with divorce papers and kicking me in the balls, but my rational mind told me she would simply see me hunched forward standing behind a woman who was staring up intently into the sky. It would have been one thing if my hands were grasping in front of the little doll, grabbing her tits, but from the waist down you would need a microscope in this mass to see anything. Still, things were getting unbelievably bizarre and I promised myself I would. . . .
Good God. The fiend was unzipping my shorts. This was real. I struggled, finally coming to my senses, trying to twist away from her, but all I heard was her soft laughter in my ear.
"Are you crazy?" she hissed, inching her hand into my shorts.
"I can't do this," I groaned, as I felt her bare hand digging into the flap of my boxers and then grabbing my straining cock.
"Ummm," she moaned. "Lucky, lucky, girl. Very, very nice. She's going to love it."
She? Oh Christ! I could feel my knees trembling, my heart pounding, and I tried to breathe deeply to calm myself. The explosions and blasts of light didn't help. I felt like I was suffocating, that a thousand people were sitting on my chest. I looked up, away and caught Anna's expressionless face staring at me. Did she know? Was she about cry? For long, awful seconds, we looked at each other and I thought the world was ending, until Anna turned away, rolling her eyes and once more ignored me.
I was relieved and disappointed. Relieved, of course, that my wife had no clue what was going on a few feet away from her. But I was also disappointed. Christ. This was my wife. Shouldn't she be trying to protect me from these sorts of perversions, shouldn't she be interested why her husband seemed to be looking at her with panic in his eyes? What if I was having a heart-attack? What if someone had stabbed me or drugged me or . . .
It was only when I felt the coolness of the air and soft fabric of a summer dress against the by now dripping swollen head of my cock that I realized I would have to either go through with it or struggle free. I could feel the two ladies I was sandwiched between breathing deeply, the one in front being frigged waiting for me, like a sacrifice from the malevolent gods dropped on my lap, the one in back rubbing my dick up and down against the soft-covered rolling ass of the girl, all the while being fingered by me.
But in the end, of course, I knew I couldn't do it. It was too ridiculous. My daughters were a few feet away. I'd had enough. I started struggling against the fiend behind me and was about to slip free of her terrible grip when an impossible hand touched my shoulder. I looked down and I thought my heart would stop.
The old woman was excitedly smiling at me. I looked at her confused, for just a second, and then I realized she'd seen everything, knew all.
"Go ahead," she whispered almost giggling. "I'll block your wife's view. Go ahead. You can't stop now. This is too good."
'You can't stop now? This is too good?' What was happening? This grandmother was urging me to fuck another woman a few feet away from my wife? She continued smiling and nudged a bit closer to me, blocking any possibility that Anna would be able to see anything now.
The explosions and dazzling lights in the sky started in earnest rolling steadily one after the other. The grand finale was beginning. Maybe two, three minutes. I quit struggling against the mother behind me and without a pause I felt my cock being guided underneath the hiked up skirt of the girl in front.
The pounding in the sky intensified. The earth seemed to be shaking at our feet. I could see nothing, but flashes of amazingly bright colors, but oh, dear, the feeling. The feeling first of the lovely soft cheeks of the girl's ass brushing and trembling against me, what had to be some dainty thong scrunched up and tightly digging into her ass, and then the extremely thick, hairy bush was pressed tightly against the spongy drooling mushroom head of my cock. I could feel the girl adjusting, lifting herself on her toes and I wanted to cry out when my cock head found its lodging between her furry cunt-lips. I couldn't stand still. I lunged forward so that I wouldn't collapse on the ground, bringing all three of them down with me.
We both screamed as the explosions seemed non-ending above us, the lights blazing in brilliant red, white and green. I could feel her cunt lips tightening, and then giving and I was shoved, slipped into her almost completely, as completely as I could be with both of us standing. I could sense her cunt now adjusting, actually feel her cunt lips slowly slipping back, slowly descending back along my length after the initial penetration. She was quivering and twitching, trying to stay on her feet and after we got our breathing back to something like normal I began fucking into the darling with quick, urgent thrusts.
For those two, three minutes, under the burning sky, the girl and I lunged viciously against each other, trying to ignore everything and everyone around us. I could hear her panting, could feel the luscious wetness of her tight, tight cunt slicking up and down all around and over and over on my erection. She and I were now rutting like two wild animals, and yet I could feel the old woman pressed tightly on my side, obstructing my wife's view, and, in between gasps, I caught a glimpse of her grinning wildly at me. Behind me, the fiend was rubbing and massaging my hips, waist and ass. And then when I thought I couldn't continue, as the sweat poured off my forehead, I felt her hand snaking its way between my thighs, not stopping until it was gripping my slimy cock, once more, but this time my cock wasn't standing free-it was pounding up into the girl. Her slick little hand started rubbing me, rubbing the girl, pinching our joining, and the soft whimpers of the girl started turning into an insane deep-throated moan.
"Come," the old woman hissed next to me, gripping my arm tightly. "Quick," she laughed. "It's almost over."
I strained, once, and then again, pounding into the gorgeous creature in front of me, harder, literally lifting the girl off her feet, realizing the old fox was right. I held myself as tightly as I could manage, as deeply as I could go, lodged against her soft back wall deep inside her, distended, twisted like a snake uncoiling trying to strike for its prey, and let the younger babe work herself onto me, the fiend's hand never leaving us. I leaned forward and wanted to yell in the girl's ear, but whispered insanely.
"I'm going to come," I groaned.
"Yes!" she hissed, and I dropped my face onto her shoulder and bit her on the sweating drenched skin of her shoulder just as it joined her long, lovely neck to suppress the scream coming out of my lungs as I felt my body lock inside her and then, without warning, the pounding and bursts in the sky now suspended, I started releasing everything, everything in burning intensity over and over, into the kid. I didn't care anymore who saw, what would happen. All I wanted, the only thing on my mind was coming in her, draining myself into her. And for what seemed like long minutes, but which were, no doubt, only fifteen or so seconds, I held myself into her, against her and could feel her body shaking, and clamping, pushing back against me, her fingernails digging into my gripping hand on her hip, as my cock lurched and spit again and again, flooding her forever.
When it was over, impossibly, everything was silent, I could feel nothing but the small quivers and burning tremors coming from inside the girl. I gently lowered myself off her shoulder, but I didn't want to take another step. I didn't want to leave her, remove myself from her body, my cock felt like it was burning in the softest pool of honey anyone could know, but a gentle nudge from the old woman brought me back to my senses.
I looked up and around, dazed. Suddenly, my senses seemed to open, and I was flooded with noise and sights, everything was rushing back to me. The crowd was yelling, cheering and clapping the end of the show. I pulled back quickly from her, feeling myself dripping out, and with shaking hands shoved my slimy dick back into my shorts. I zipped up, trembling, and I could feel her struggling in front of me, trying to straighten herself up, her hand snapping behind her to drop her rolled to the side thong back to some position of normalcy.
The cheers were ending and the mass of the crowd was slowly unwinding, backing away from its closeness. And then everything was a whirl of movement and sounds and I completely lost my bearings. Everyone seemed to be moving, talking, lifting chairs. I looked around, wanting to see my comrade in sin, but all I saw were the backs of people walking away. I looked forward and everyone was moving to their left. I thought I could make out a young guy stumbling, being dragged away by a couple of friends, with a cute little girl following behind, her face just for a second looking back, looking for someone, too, but I wasn't sure.
It was ending so quickly. Had it happened? Where was the old woman? She was gone. Nothing, no one. People brushed by me, unseeing, unknown faces. They were murmuring, walking away and I wanted to scream at them to stop, tell them I'd just had the most incredible experience of my life, I'd just had an experience none of them could ever hope to match. Most of all, I wanted them to know what had happened if only to confirm that it, in fact, had happened, that it wasn't a dream.
It wasn't a dream. My shorts felt sticky and slimy, my cock still half-erect and burning from its release. My hand hurt and when I looked at it, even in the dull darkness, I could make out the long marks of red scratches. It had happened. It must have. But where had they gone? I wanted to talk to them, to the three crazy women, find out what made them tick, why they'd done what they did. It wasn't too much to ask. More than anything I wanted to get the name and number of the fiend behind me. She and I had unfinished business. Stop! Where are you all going? Where is everyone?
I felt a tug at my shorts and looked down. One of my daughters was smiling up at me, smiling brightly in a cute little blond ponytail. I looked past her and saw my wife holding our younger daughter in one arm, the day basket and blankent with the other. I stared at them. My wife slowly grinned.
"That wasn't so bad, I guess," she said, walking to me, handing me the basket and blankets and taking my free hand.
I kept looking around, trying to find the other women.
"Are you okay?" I heard her ask. "You seem a little out of breath."
"Fine. Fine," I said, looking down at her and tried to smile, feeling the perspiration on my forehead. "Great show. That's all. Great show."
"Yes. It was nice."
I felt her tugging my hand away so that we could get back to the parking structure nearby.
"Hey," she laughed. "Come on. You trying to stake out for next year already? I don't think so. Next year, I decide what we do on the Fourth."
I carefully nodded and started walking with my family, my wife gently caressing the unseen scratches on my hand.
