If You Told Me To

“Happy Fourth of July!” Antonia exclaimed enthusiastically as she opened the door to greet Sarah and Jake. The woman was completely decked out in a red and white striped dress with a sparkly blue fedora on her head, and the wide smile on her face lit up all of her features just like the Christmas-light fireworks that graced her knee-high socks. “Come on in!”

Jake and Sarah shared a short, exasperated look before the young girl giggled. Antonia was always a tad too enthusiastic about Independence Day for Sarah’s taste, but the teenager couldn’t help but admire the fact that she had absolutely no shame when it came to her love for the United States of America.

A sentiment, it seemed, Harry couldn’t bear to share. He was out on the porch in the backyard, leaning against his fist with a look of pure annoyance on his face. Sarah hoped that sitting next to him would put him out of his misery, but his expression didn’t shift in the least.

“Sarah, dear,” Antonia questioned, ignoring her grumpy nephew, “would you like a glass of sweet tea? I’d be glad to get you some.”

Sarah’s eyebrows shot up in delight. One of the best things about Antonia, other than her kind and giving nature, was her sweet tea. It was always just perfect, the way Sarah’s father was forever trying to master. “Yes, please. That would be lovely.”

The two adults went inside, chatting about something having to do with the economy, leaving the two kids alone.

“What’s wrong?” Sarah questioned, nudging him with her knee. “This is supposed to be a holiday. Cheer up.”

“Did you see her?” Harry turned to his new friend and rolled his eyes dramatically. “She looks ridiculous. I have no idea how someone could be as crazy about the Fourth of July as she is.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Sarah mused, looking in the kitchen window to see the older woman rushing around the kitchen to prepare four sweet teas. “Can’t you just be a pleasant boy for one afternoon?”

That was enough to make him crack a grin. “Easy for you to say. You just showed up. Wait until she starts preaching the history of our country to you.”

“She does it every year. And I still think it’s sweet as apple pie. So just grin and bear it, and maybe we can go to the lake later on to see the fireworks they’re setting off in town.”

“I thought town was almost ten miles away,” Harry argued. “There’s no way we can see that in the woods.”

She almost thought about addressing the fact that Harry had no right to try to teach her the ways of where she had lived since she was a toddler, but she quickly decided to ignore it, given his bad mood. “The lake is closer to town, and because of the clearing, we can see the fireworks that get shot up the furthest. They’re pretty small, and you can’t hear them, but it’s sure better than nothing.”

“If you say so,” Harry responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Hello, kids,” Antonia greeted with a huge grin on her face as she put down a cup of sweet tea in front of each of them. Harry shifted his gaze for a second over to the sweating cup of Diet Coke to his right, and to Sarah’s surprise, he quickly hid it away so the old woman wouldn’t feel awkward about making him something when he already had pop to drink. “Talking about anything interesting?”

“I was just trying to convince Harry that it’s possible to see the fireworks from the lake in the woods, but he doesn’t believe me,” Sarah answered easily, shooting a teasing, lighthearted look his way.

“Oh, Harry, everyone around here knows that,” Antonia joked as she sat down next to her nephew.

“And what is ‘around here’ exactly? There are these two houses, and then there’s nothing for about a hundred miles.”

“Two,” Antonia corrected, although Harry’s distorted face showed that two miles was just as bad as a hundred to him. “And plenty of people take their trucks on the large trails to get to the lake. Some take the long drive into town to catch the show. But for us, it’s much easier to hike through the woods a little bit and get a decent show.”

Harry grimaced, like he thought the whole thing was just completely ridiculous. Sarah could imagine why he felt that way, since she’d seen pictures of New York, and all the houses were right up against each other like people crammed into a crowded subway. She couldn’t imagine living like that. She liked the distance, the quiet, the privacy.

She snapped back to reality when Antonia started telling the story about the signing of the Declaration of Independence with so much detail that anyone would believe she was there personally. Sarah settled in, a subtle smile on her face, completely relaxed as she listened to the tales she heard every year. There was a part of her that adored listening to the same thing time and time again, just like a tradition. Her family didn’t have many of those, and she clung to everything that even remotely resembled one.

Soon enough, the sun started to disappear below the horizon, and Antonia stopped mid-sentence and nodded toward the woods. “Why don’t you two head down to the fireworks? They’re going to start soon.”

Sarah nodded obediently and started toward the stairs on the edge of the porch, but Harry, in his typical fashion, wouldn’t listen until he asked questions first. “What, you guys aren’t coming?”

“Walk through that deathtrap?” Antonia laughed and shook her head, as if the idea had been the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. “Absolutely not. I’m not about to break an ankle, even for fireworks.”

“You guys go on ahead,” Jake encouraged. Although he hadn’t given Harry a real, tangible answer, his daughter already knew that he hated fireworks. They reminded him of war and destruction and chaos, since he’d been in the armed forces before she was born. He rarely talked about it, which made Sarah believe that the time hadn’t been a good one for him, and she wasn’t the kind of person to push people to talk about uncomfortable things.

Harry finally got out of his chair and joined Sarah, walking a few steps behind her as she led the way through the woods using the trail she knew by heart. The older boy was quiet behind her, only the sound of his footsteps cracking through twigs and leaves alerting her that he was still there.

After about ten minutes, the darkness thickened, and the two broke into the clearing where the lake was located. There were a few other families around the outskirts, their vehicles parked in another clearing about a quarter mile from the lake site. They had smaller children, who were having a blast splashing in the water and looking for snapping turtles.

“There are other people around here,” Harry joked, nudging Sarah and making her blush. “I thought you and Aunt Tony were pulling my leg.”

Sarah laughed and shook her head. “Nope. You’re just stubborn and won’t believe anything unless you see it for yourself.”

Harry shrugged, but he couldn’t outright deny the accusation, as he sat himself down in the sand and extended his arms behind his back to hold himself up. “So how much longer do we have?”

Sarah settled down next to him, crossing her legs, before looking up at the sky. “I don’t know, but it can’t be much longer now. It’s nearly dark.”

“HEY, LOOK,” a small voice yelled before giggling hysterically. “GIRL AND BOY SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Sarah flushed a deep scarlet as she watched the young boy get pulled away by his mother, shooting the two teenagers an embarrassed, apologetic look. But Harry didn’t even seem fazed, laughing a little and putting his hand on top of hers.

The girl immediately started, shocked by the display of affection, no matter how minor it was, and it was only then that Harry hesitated. “Is this okay?” he asked, nodding down at their intertwined hands. “I don’t want to-”

“It’s perfect,” Sarah rushed without thinking. She realized after that she probably should have played it cooler, but when Harry grinned at her, she realized that her eagerness had pleased him just fine.

Just then, the fireworks started overhead, mirroring what Sarah felt inside her stomach and chest. The two young teenagers sat, watching the colorful explosions overhead without the sound Sarah knew were supposed to accompany them like a television on mute. And Harry’s hand never moved from hers.