By Tiber
You may recall that last year on Independence Day, Dad said we couldn’t have real firecrackers because he was “concerned about our safety.”
We knew right then, of course, that his “concern about our safety with firecrackers” just meant that he didn’t want to pay for them.
Now, this year, he’s not going to pay for them again.
His reason?
Well, since last year we were forced to pretend to have fireworks…now that’s traditional! We can’t win.
Unfortunately, this time, Dad also invited some friends to watch.
Once again, Dad coerced family members and staff to “be the fireworks” by banging on pans and running really quickly in and out of the woods waving flashlights covered in colored cling wrap.
As I said before, we’re not so much “going low-tech” as actually collapsing into “subterranean.”
Then, this year, to cap it, Dad actually allowed his grandchildren, the triplets, to write their own words to some John Phillip Sousa music.
Really, Dad? Come on! You know these people!
So, not surprisingly, after the “fireworks display,“ our friends were treated to patriotic tunes like, “Da-Da-Dee-Dum-Dum, It’s Time To Smell Your Feet.”
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the audience, even though it was comprised of people who know us and seem to like us, didn’t look so much entertained as… perplexed.
I guess Dad saw it too.
So he went for our number one 4th of July crowd pleaser!
He had our butler, Brunty, dress up once again as the Statue of Liberty!
Oh, who am I kidding? Brunty could have dressed up as Genghis Khan. The point was, he was pushing a well-stocked liquor cart.
Some traditions just work better than others.