FIREWORKS ON THE FOURTH

“BOOM”…..”Oooh….Ahhhh”,

Cherie Johnson could hear the crowd as they began  their usual tribal chant during the annual fireworks show at the local park.  She knew exactly what she was going to do tonight as she made her way silently through the tree line at the west end of the ball field.

“If only he hadn’t cheated on me”, she thought as she felt for the gun in her purse for the sixth time. She wasn’t worried.  Her alibi was set.  She had told her husband she had to work at the fair and would meet him after the fireworks.  Staying just long enough to establish her presence at the arcade, she made her excuses and went off in search of her husband and his latest fling.

“There they are!  Just where I expected them to be hiding.  So appropriate!  Behind the kissing booth.” 

Just as the finale began, she brought the gun up and, pointing it at her husband’s chest, shouted, “Sam, why?”

As the police and EMT workers removed the body, everyone stood around stunned. “ What a freaky accident,” the officer stated.  “Who would have thought one of the fireworks would misfire and suddenly strike down an innocent bystander.”

Sam Johnson stood in stunned silence.  He still couldn’t believe his wife was dead.  And, what was it she had yelled to him just before being struck?  The sound of the fireworks had made it impossible for him to hear her.