“Yeah, I’ll meet my family at the fairground after it’s all over,” she said as she took a small bite. “Thanks, um, Vinnie.”
“Maybe you should stick to Mister Fourth of July,” I chuckled, and then I watched a bubble float to the ceiling. “I’m less likely to cut myself. Although, I mean, it’s nice to hear anything from you. You have a pleasant voice.”
~Alicia~
I almost spit out my watermelon when he said that, and my cheeks burned from the inside out. The odd bubble coming from his mouth was strange too. I didn’t know whether to laugh, be confused, or blush. “Thanks.” I left the kitchen and went back over to Candace. “He cut himself because I surprised him,” I confessed to her.
“Really?” Candace seemed surprised. “He was a baby over a cut? He was not.” She looked over at me again. “Oh gee, Alicia, could you be blushing brighter?”
“Shut up,” I warned her. “It’s nothing, it’s hot outside. That’s all.”
“Oh, my gaw, you are into him.” Candace chuckled. “I know, he’s got some physique, huh? Do you think you’ll take him for a spin for some new fireworks?”
I held up my finger to shoosh her as Vinnie came out with the watermelon.
“Done.” He placed them on the table.
“All right, good work.” Candace gestured toward me. “Why don’t you head out with Alicia and pop off some fireworks?”
“Sounds great.” Vinnie nodded at me and headed outside.
“Candace,” I said. “Don’t start trying to get us together.”
“He’s only here once a year. If you like him, then you know, enjoy it while you can? Go.” She gave me a few fireworks with one hand and then swished me out with her other. “There’s plenty of time before we eat.”
I headed out after him. I held the fireworks in my hand, and he had some in his. “So, what do you want to start with Mister Fourth of July?”
Vinnie stopped and looked back at me. He smiled and held a fountain in his finger. “I like smoke bombs but Candace is too cheap to buy the colorful ones. So. How about something else colorful?”
For the first fountain, I lit the match and it took off a fair distance. Vinnie laughed at me.
“It’s not going to bite; you have plenty of time to get back. You don’t even need to go back that far,” he said. “Come on, Alicia. Up closer.”
“I don’t want to get too close,” I said as the fountain went off. Shades of purple and green spurted from the fountain. He walked over to me and reached out his hand with another ‘come on’. “I don’t like getting close.”
“There’s nothing to fear. Trust me. You can’t let fear consume you. It’s no way to live.” Vinnie held out his hand again. I took it this time, sheer embarrassment of being scared of fireworks instigating my courage. “See?”
We weren’t really close, and there wasn’t any danger, but I hadn’t liked getting too close for some time.
“Sparkler still bothers you from the burn when you were younger?” Vinnie asked. Yeah, of course he knew. “No problem.” Vinnie winked at me. “Don’t worry, Alicia, I used to be scared too.”
I couldn’t help a scoff. I thought he was teasing, but his eyebrows perked up in annoyance. “You’re telling the truth?”
“Yeah.” His eyes when he said that. He was serious. “I’m still getting over it. Until then, I’m doing small things. I didn’t even want sparklers.”
“Oh.” I scratched my shoulder. “Sorry, I assumed you were making fun of me.”
“I wouldn’t make fun of you,” Vinnie said. “I’m not that kind of guy.”
Candace always shared so much about me, including my fear of sparklers. Yet I barely knew anything about Mister Fourth of July except his first name now.
“You’re her best friend, you are all she talks about half the time.” He grabbed the next fountain but held her still. “You aren’t close. Stay here, and I’ll light it.”
I watched him closely this time, and noticed he was shaky with lighting too. He did still fear it, but he didn’t want to show it. He ran right back to me, and we watched the fountain light up in different hues of yellow and orange. I covered my ears though when it started to whistle.
I looked over at Vinnie and saw him doing the same thing. After the whistling was over, we uncovered our ears.
“Okay, I admit, I may have acted a little braver than I am when I told Candace I’d help you out.” Vinnie clicked his tongue. “Could you not tell anyone though?”
“If you don’t tell anyone about me,” I agreed. We shook hands on it. “It’s really not that bad, most times of the year I’m absolutely fine.”
“Yeah, but it’s different for me,” Vinnie said. “Guys aren’t supposed to cover their ears when they hear fireworks. Guys are supposed to be the daring ones who get firecrackers stringed together and throw them as they light them. I mean not all guys, but my friends where I’m from. I’d be called a, well, I’ll just say wussy.” He stuck out his chest. “I’m not scared of much; I’ll take care of anything else. Any kind of enemies, whether shape . . . I play sports, and I’m normal. I just can’t handle some things.” He gave me a quirky smile, like he almost let something slip. “I guess that’s one reason I liked Mister Fourth of July. It made me feel better ‘cause I’m not much fun around this time of year. We aren’t going much further than fountains though, unless you want to?”
“This year, fountains are fine,” I agreed. “I’ll be in college next year, but I’ll be coming home. If you come here again, then I will help you?” I could handle a wide variety of the little spark makers. “We’ll get over it together?” Wait. Did I just assume he would be there? It’s the first year he was there, and he was a grown man too, probably going to college and – “I mean, if you’ll be here? I didn’t mean to assume you would be.”
“The big things will have to wait until maybe the next year after next year,” Vinnie objected. “I could try spinners though next year?” He looked over at me again. “Seriously, don’t tell anyone. My family might overhear, and not everyone knows. I don’t need anyone else knowing. Not as many are as trusting as Candace.”
“Real trusting,” I disagreed. “She didn’t tell me that she told anyone about my problem.”
“Just me, and that’s because she knew about mine,” Vinnie said. “It made me feel better. I like helping people and not many eighteen-year olds fear fireworks you know?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “You’re eighteen too?”
“Yeah,” Vinnie said.
“Oh.” I couldn’t help myself. He knew so much about me, and I barely knew his first name. “So where are you from?”
“Far,” he said. “I’ve gone from large places in cities, to tiny towns where the whole place could fit in a classroom.”
I didn’t know what that was like, and I wasn’t even going to pretend. My family stayed where they were, and I had never moved in my life. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Vinnie said. “Fourth of July at Candace’s is great. Beautiful countryside with fresh air. Just, it’d be nice to one day leave the area too, you know. Have you ever thought about leaving Earth?”
Leaving Earth? “Oh.” Strange. “Is that allowed?”
“Certain cases. I know that Earth is a pure planet of humans, and most don’t leave. I think it’d be neat to leave someday though. More than fireworks in the air is waiting out there.”
I didn’t know how to answer him. There were plenty of others out there in different colonies and such, but it was generally frowned upon for us to leave. Aliens could visit, but even they couldn’t stay long. It was something about not losing the human race. It was the reason we still celebrated some ancient holidays. Ate our ancestor’s food. Some was imported, but mainly we ate off the land. Fished from our seas. We were native people to Earth, and we were supposed to stay that way. “To leave.” I still didn’t know how to answer. Imagine. Leaving a planet and moving into the stars. What would a colony be like? What would another plan
et be like? They were supposed to be so different, with many enemies with different powers. They even had to have heroes to survive out there. Earth had no need for that. We were a simpler folk. But imagine? Imagine, what a hero must be like?
We continued to pop off fountains, snap some snappers, and did some white smoke bombs until it got late. When more people came out, neither of us were ashamed to go inside. We visited with Candace, and she ushered us to our spots at the table. I laughed as I saw the name tags she assigned us. Vinnie’s chair had Mister Fourth of July, and mine had Mrs. Fourth of July. We were seated across from each other.
As more family members came in, we hid our name tags before anyone asked about the funny names. The meal itself was lovely. Roasted corn on the cob, chili sauced babyback ribs, and watermelon. I don’t know why Candace insisted I needed a slice right away, there were still two uncarved melons by the time we were all done.
“We’re going to the fairgrounds,” Candace shouldered me. “Come on. You can have your spot next to Mister Fourth of July,” she teased. “Hey, you think next year that you could spend all day down here? We actually start off the day in the pool outside, but we had problems this year with it.”
“Fourth of July pool party?” I couldn’t help myself and told her that I’d ask. A whole year of warning, with the right influence, I bet I could get my parents to agree to it. “I will so be there.”
“Great,” she said. “Come on, let’s get going.”
“Is it just me, or are the fireworks not going up as high?” I asked Vinnie on the hood of the car.
“I don’t think they are,” Vinnie said. “Maybe they stopped putting so much oomph into it, or the companies are getting cheaper.”
“Oh no, they wouldn’t,” I swore. “This is the most important holiday in all of the Earth. Every year has to be better than the next.”
He looked over at me. “Are you coming over earlier next year?”
“I’m going to try,” I said as I looked back up at the air. “It sure was a blast, but Vinnie?” I had to ask. “How are you related to Candace? I don’t know where you fit in?”
Vinnie didn’t answer instead pointing to the sky when a firework came. I took it as a sign that I crossed some line, so I shutted up. It wasn’t any of my business, I shouldn’t have asked it. I hope he doesn’t think I’m nosey now. I went back to silently watching the fireworks until the family in the car got out for the finale. Once they were out of the car, the situation changed.
“I didn’t want to talk about it where anyone could hear,” Vinnie answered. “She’s a distant cousin but she’s also part of a sort of host family, Alicia. I’m not from here.” He gestured to the sky again. “You could call me the Alien Mister Fourth of July.”
“Oh!” I couldn’t believe he told me that. I was Candace’s best friend, but I never knew that. “Oh. Short term visiting. Sorry, I shouldn’t have pried.”
“Candace would have told you eventually,” Vinnie said. He scanned me up and down. “It’s getting a little chillier. Do you need to be warmed up?”
I didn’t know what to say when he wrapped his arm around me and brought me closer. “Are you just born on a different . . .” wait, could I even ask that? Was that wrong?
“I was born on a colony. I’m not all human, but I come back to appreciate my roots. A lot of others do too. Is that okay?” he asked. “Does that scare you?”
“No.” No, because I knew him. Even if he wasn’t fully human, I liked him. Feeling braver, I laid my head next to his chest. It was July, and even if I was getting goosebumps, I could feel his warm and slightly sweaty stomach beneath me.
It was unbelievable how fast the fireworks had gone over. My mother was right by the side of the hood, smirking at me as she saw us curled up. I waved to Vinnie, but paused, wanting to do more. Candace wasn’t around now, but I’d see her tomorrow. With Vinnie, I wouldn’t see him until next year.
“There’s something else I’d like you to know,” he said. “I’m a Champion Adventurer.”
Oh. I knew that word. It was the word for a hero. Vinnie was a genuine hero. “Champion Adventurer Vinnie?” He laughed. Did I do something wrong?
“Sorry. I use Vinnie on Earth. My real name is hard to pronounce, and Earth holds a solid tradition not to speak in any language not born on Earth. So, I went with Vinnie. That’s why, it doesn’t really matter what you call me.”
Wow. A hero. I had been in the arms of a hero. If I was twenty-four years old right now, there’s no telling what I would do. One night. He would never be permitted to stay on Earth for too long. “I wish you could stay longer.”
“Even if I could, Alicia, I get really busy,” he admitted. “A lot of people out there need saving. But. It’d be . . .” He was delaying. “If you ever decided to leave Earth, I could help you do that. The sister of Candace’s grandmother once left. It’s completely possible.” He smirked.
Yeah, but it wouldn’t be easy.
Chapter Three: Nineteen
The trip to nineteen moved slow. While everyone was anxious about Halloween parties, Christmas presents, and Thanksgiving dinners, I was waiting for the Fourth of July. It was odd, and I tried to resist it, but I liked Vinnie. Even though I’d only seen him once a year, he made the Fourth of July my favorite holiday. Valentine day had come and gone, and then Saint Patrick’s Day made its way through. The last four months without any holiday to count down to seemed to be the hardest. Meanwhile, I was trying to convince my dad to let me stay the full day on the fourth over at Candace’s. He wasn’t pleased about the lack of time seeing me last year, and he didn’t even want me to go over to the party.
The week before it was time, my mother convinced him to give it a shot. What she did, I’d rather not know. Moms had a way of influencing dads, and now that I was turning nineteen, I wasn’t an innocent minded kid. All I knew was that my dad was eager to see me go.
For the pool party, my mom insisted on going shopping with me. I thought she was there to keep me from getting anything too sexy since it was a family event, but she was picking skimpier outfits than even I wanted. I settled on a tie dyed blue and green swimsuit.
I was more than ready for the Fourth of July, but it wasn’t ready for us. The drought had become severe, like it did when I was younger, and all celebrations were canceled. I tried hard not to cry. After all, Vinnie was only someone I could see once a year. I couldn’t have such deep feelings. I called Candace to see how she was doing, but I learned an important fact.
Fourth of July was a celebration, but they got together for a family reunion. Even during droughts they still got together whether there were fireworks or not. It was the only time both Earthling and the other parts of her family could see each other. I could barely contain myself as I ran down the stairs and told my parents she was still having a party. My dad seemed to get excited as he came over and gave my mom one of those passionate kisses. Yeah, they wanted me out of here too.
Colony: A111111: First!
~Mister Fourth of July~
It isn’t a long commute down to Earth, so to get my mind off Alicia, I helped out with the hero pool party this year.
“Hey, where do you want this set up at?” Dexx, one of the usuals at my party asked for the entertainment.
“You can set the entertainment up on the left,” I addressed him. Yeah, there was always a huge difference in the atmospheres between parties. Between an Earth party and the pool party? There was always a huge difference. Although we all had to follow the Age of Independence being 24, most heroes got permission to do what they wished almost immediately. We used our Adventurer Exception for many obstacles when we were younger. After all, how can you tell someone that just saved a colony that they were too young to drive? My mom actually got tired of the whole thing and signed off on one big contract when I was sixteen. She believed in my judgments and my decisions. If you weren’t responsible enough to handle life’s own duties, then you weren’t any kind of hero anyway.
; “Hey, she’s cute. Is she yours?” Dexx asked as he pointed out a new girl at the party.
“Nope, no girlfriend this year,” I admitted. “It was too awkward.”
“Why?” Dexx sat next to the pool while his younger brother ran around.
“I kept calling them an Earthling’s name,” I admitted. Dexx just laughed at me. I knew why. One day a year.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get juvenile, but that’s one day a year,” Dexx said politely. “I don’t date period, I’ve got too many responsibilities, but if I did? It wouldn’t be to one girl on Earth. How are the parties anyway?”
“Lame.” I was honest. “Primitive. It’s more like a scene at a fourteen year old area. You know? The parents on Earth are so strict. Last year they almost carried a motion to change the Age of Independence to thirty exclusively for Earth.” Unsound. The Age of Independence had its reason for being, but it wasn’t right to abuse it. New technology and advances had moved the average age of death into 100 through 120. For a mere 24 of those years people coming out into different planets and colonies should be more cautious and listen to their parents and guardians. Children with new species, the powers that showed up, planetary statuses and the advancement of schoolings to handle the knowledge of many new tech industries made it essential to have more rule.
“I hate the Age of Independence,” Dexx admitted as he sipped on a beer. “It lasts for too long on age, it doesn’t take special considerations into hand, and if something even outside a person’s situation messed it up with no help? Bye bye freedoms, hello Gutter. It’s too aggressive and it’s wrong. I can’t believe there is a planet wanting it enforced to an even higher age.”
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