Fireworks

Fireworks

She started in the bathroom. She put the shaving brush, the disposable
razor, the toothbrush and the dental floss in a large black bin bag.
Then she moved to the bedroom. She picked up the laundry basket and
deposited its entire contents into the bag. She opened a drawer and
cleared out the underwear. By now her movements were becoming more
frantic. She went to the wardrobe and filled another three bags with
suits, shirts, ties, jeans, jogging pants, sweaters and shoes. She
pulled out the boxes from under the bed and removed the junk that had
collected there. Downstairs, she rifled through the CD's, and after
that the books; the graphic novels, thrillers, travel companions,
computer guides and poetry anthologies. Then, without coming up for
air, she moved on to the photo albums and the letters and the framed
pictures and the small porcelain gifts. All of it she bagged and
binned, ready for tomorrow's collection. Finally, she went out to the
shed. There she found the toolbox and assorted DIY equipment, and
trashed the lot. She searched the shelves and drawers for any other
items to dispose of, and in the bottom of a cupboard, beneath the
gardening gloves, she discovered them.

It was her 40th birthday, and he had bought her fireworks to celebrate.
It was one of his annual dinner party jokes that they should put her on
a bonfire instead of Guy Fawkes. But she never set them off because he
had been called away to a conference in Swindon and she was left to
party on her own. So now, five months later, they had resurfaced. She
looked at them for a minute, feeling some kind of sadness. Then she
threw them in the dustbin along with the power tools. Back in the
house, she poured herself a brandy and sank down exhausted on the
sofa.

It was starting to get dark. After she had polished off another glass,
she started thinking about the fireworks again. She went outside and
retrieved the box from the bin. She returned to the kitchen to examine
the contents more carefully. There was all the usual stuff, a catherine
wheel, a couple of fountains, a jack- in- the- box and two or three
rockets. As she lifted them out, a note fell to the floor. On it, he
had written,
To my love rocket
You fill my sky with light
Love, R
She put the fireworks back in the box and went out into the
garden.

She set up the catherine wheel on the back gatepost. She twisted his
note into a long thin strip and put a match to it. It burned slowly,
just like a real taper. She lit the fuse and within seconds the
catherine wheel started to spin. Sparks flew off into the darkness.
Soon, a child appeared at the fence.
'What are you doing? she asked.
'Celebrating.'
Then she lit the jack- in- the- box and it bounced and fizzed across
the lawn. The little girl got scared and moved back. After a while, she
was joined by more inquisitive visitors, as some of the neighbours
gathered at the fence.
'Where did you get fireworks at this time of year?'
'What's all this in aid of?'
But she ignored them and continued to empty the box.
Eventually, she was down to the last rocket. She had saved the biggest
till last and this was her grand finale. She stuck the tail in the
ground and lit the touch paper with the remnants of his screwed up
inscription. She stood well back and waited. The fuse paper glowed,
fizzled and then went out. The neighbours sighed. She tried again.
Nothing. She went into the kitchen and found a box of household
matches. She returned and put a match to the fuse. Nothing still. She
tore off a strip of card from the fireworks box and used that as a
taper. The cardboard produced a healthy flame and this time the fuse
sparked back into life. The rocket screamed and shot straight up into
the air. The neighbours gasped and applauded and the little girl ran
into her house. Then, with one almighty bang, a spectacular display of
light filled the sky. Multicoloured balls of fire scattered in all
directions and then exploded as they dropped back to earth. Wave after
wave of incandescent fury danced across the garden. Then, with one last
whimper, it was all over and darkness returned again.

The neighbours wandered back to their evening rituals. She bundled up
the empty firework cases and laid them out with all the rest of his
stuff. It was cold now and a frost was beginning to settle on the lawn.
She buttoned up her coat and went back inside. There was one last thing
she still had to do.