A bit late for Fourth of July.

I feel like my whole life, I've been staring at this one firework. You know the kind you light and then run away from? The ones that shoot up into the sky with a whirring noise and crackle away until they fade? Yeah, those. And my older cousin's standing over my shoulder, saying "waiiit for it, waaaait for it..."

So I do. I stand and watch the fuse burn down as the warm, sticky air of a Texas night lays on my skin. I watch the sparks fly as the fuse grows shorter and shorter and then! And then, it reaches the bottom.

Nothing. The unexpected silence is almost more startling than the crackling and whirring of the firecracker shooting into the sky. So much so, I worry it may wake the neighbors.

KABAM. It's a dud.

So when will I see my fireworks?