Entry #44

“Last Call”
by Bofire


I looked up at the post with the electrical wires menacing above me like a crucifix suspended in the sky. The clouds, black and blue, like a swollen eye.

The bolt of lightning hit the post like a jackhammer ramming its way through a slab of concrete, and bounced off into my body like a spirit trying to find a home.

My Mother is holding me in her arms and they are dripping water on my forehead.

My father is holding my hand while we are walking through the woods.

My brother is laughing while holding my head under the water at the swimming pool.

My sister is pouring me a glass of lemonade for 10 cents.

I am standing, with my best friend at my side, my graduation cap in my hand ready to throw it into the air.

I am holding her hand, looking into her eyes, and whispering, "I do."

I am cradling a little bundle of blue and watching as the water is dripping off his forehead.

I watch as Nicki, my dog and best friend, wags his tail until I am out of sight.

I am carrying a little child from the fire and the KCFD reflects in the sun off my helmet.

I look down into the earth and I see the shiny silver casket lying in the ground.

I will miss my best friend, Nicki, who knocked me over and took the charge in his little black and brown body.

[Bofire is a fireman from KC, MO.]