For my Brother, and My Cousins. ❤️

The mixed scent of sweat and metal on my hands from the swings.
The sound of the witches hat clanging in the wind. Left alone.
Pieces of white styrofoam drifting onto the beach after having supported kids for hours. H2Odeo.
Waves that still hit the beach piling up bigger and bigger only now in a pleading lonely way.
Lukewarm baths taken in heavily iron laden water.
The hard wet cold bathroom floor.
Someone yelling "wear shoes!" As you burst through the door headed a couple cabins away.
Chinese checkers, broomstick microphones and "Leader of the Pack" as loud as we can.
Shasta. The Groundplay. Watermelon and pepper.
Ghost in the graveyard and someone always running into a tree.
Fireflies in our hands, bats in our hair.
Bonfires, s'mores, hot chocolate.
Hot and humid and deathly silent.
Quiet milling parents, staticky radio channels, ONE TV channel.
Enough to know.
Kids and dogs and blankets and neighbors and calm but stern parents down to the garage.
The smell of gasoline.
Excitement that vibrates.
Quiet.
An angry train bring black space with it.
Small flying debris.
Large flying debris.
Fiberglass garage doors.
Moving to the back of the garage past the old cars and popped floaties. Scoria under foot.
Wind howls more quietly. Then stops.
Garage doors open slowly.
Storm is over. The air is purple and orange and blue. The water is calm.
The kids are asleep.
This perfect day happily, gratefully enjoyed for years.