It was, as usual, a hot and sunny 4--Independence Day. Eight-year-old Jeffrey was excited about the parade. He wanted to see everything, and he to see it now. But the parade wouldn’t until 10 o’clock. His mom Julia tried to Jeffrey in check. She made him clean his and take the dog for a walk. When finished these chores, she walked with him to parade route, which extended about two miles along Street.

The parade, as usual, was wonderful. It with the high school band and a marching band. Then followed about a dozen government dignitaries convertibles, smiling and waving at the people they usually lying to. After that, there were clowns, , exotic cars, racing cars, and classic cars. Interwoven the cars were Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, students various elementary schools, the local mountain rescue squad, local realtors throwing out free candy with their cards attached.

Three bands played music from their truck beds. The parade contained more than 500 and lasted two hours. Flags, balloons, and trash were everywhere. The sidewalks were full of spectators. to their owners, about 200 dogs also attended parade, most of them sniffing, barking at, and with each other.

The final part of the was the fire trucks, blowing their horns and all the kids who ran out into the yelling and laughing. Jeffrey ran out with about other kids and got totally wet. His shirt to his body. Water was squishing out of shoes when he finally came back to the . A huge smile was on his face.

“That great, mom!” he exclaimed. “Did you see that? I grow up, I’m going to be a .”