Chapter 29July 4th
The sky was the color of gutter water through the parted beige curtains of our living room. I was sitting in front of the big window, resting my chin in the crook of my arm, which hung limply over the hard back of the couch. My fingers had long ago gone numb from the awkward position.
Thunder rumbled far off in the distance; the sky threatened rain. I flinched every time a firework went off, streaking the gutter-water sky with bright colors for a moment before they faded away, lingering in my vision like the rainbows in an oil slick on the road.
A splash of sparklers burst across the sky, mimicking the sound of a reloading shotgun: chinch, chuh-chinch. A crackle followed it—I imagined gunpowder burning. Then, finally, another of the loud ones went off. There was a whi
