The Parade

Yesterday evening our town had an Independence Day parade. If I were an arsonist, last night would have been my Christmas. I think every firetruck from 50 miles around was in the lineup. First there were the veterans groups, then the firetrucks, a homecoming royalty float in which the guy had an actual tinfoil hat (thought that was a cliche that never really happens), and it was finally getting interesting when the tornado alarm went off. People stayed at the curb as the sirens sounded and probably would have taken their chances except someone cancelled the parade. When the storm hit, the winds were not that great but the rain came down in a torrent.

I do actually have a personal parade story. When I was in college I volunteered to drive this neat old convertible with a 60 year old former homecoming queen in the parade. I was so busy waving (with the back of my hand like the queen does) at my friends that I ran into the car ahead of me. Of course we were only traveling at 5 miles an hour so nothing was hurt. It was my 15 minutes of fame as many people said, "Who is that idiot anyway?"