I loved my friend

I stepped outside. The miserable heat was slowly losing its grip on the day as the sun inched downward toward the horizon. I watched the boys on the trampoline for a moment; laughing heartily, and all dripping wet from having just soaked one another with the hose. This was the late summer ritual. The evenings would cool just enough to make extended outdoor play tolerable, but the trampoline surface would be too hot for bare feet. The boys would spray the surface to cool it down, and each other just because.  I continued on. I crumpled up the newspaper pages as I headed to the edge of the patio. Activity on the trampoline slowed a little, and the laughter began to die down. I lifted the lid off the Weber and removed the top grate. The boys fell silent. The stress of a few springs bringing the trampoline to rest was the only sound. I stuffed the newspaper in the bottom of the chimney and set it in the bowl. I turned to see them standing still with broad smiles as they watched me pour the coals into the cylinder . I reached into my pocket to retrieve the lighter, and as the smoke rose from the fire igniting the paper, one of the boys yelled out, “Barbecue!!” READ MORE »