A shout in the street (Independence Day)

Last night as I lay in bed, I listened to the shrieks and giggles of several children in the street. Their voices mingled and rose as one into the summer sky. Like many of the children in my neighborhood, they spoke Spanish and hushed only when one of the adults with them lit off another round from their cache of fireworks.

I did not get up to watch the scene, but kept listening and smiled each time the light from one of their sidewalk-crawling fireworks lit up my ceiling, as it undoubtedly lit up the street.