Zeke stepped out of the house and called me out of the garden, holding the phone towards me. I stood up and asked “Does Beau need to go to the Emergency Room?“ I was joking... but Zeke paused and said ”…maybe.”

Working the Fireworks tent is like hosting a 3 week party. Beau and Zeke both worked it this year. Zeke stayed nights and days the first few days after the fireworks were delivered since both Beau and Ex were at church camp that week.

Beau was hired for days this summer. His friend, Ex, had the night gig but his mom put the big NIX on that. She didn’t want him staying there alone all night. I'd had similar concerns last year when Beau had the night shift but had let him do it. (Turned out he was seldom there alone anyway.) So Beau ended up staying, too, and they split the cash.

When there were no customers there was plenty of video games, movies, and the wireless internet from Carol’s house reached the tent so they could do that, too. Friends stopped by at all hours, often bringing them pizza or cookies. It became the local hang out. The kids are allowed to shoot off fireworks to see what they look like so they can tell the customers and if a customer asks about something they don’t know, they can just walk out back and give one a try for the customer to witness! A boy’s dream job… friends, games, food and explosives.

Fireworks are lucrative, as well. Carol’s only job is running the tent on the corner of their property and she makes enough for spending money for the whole year! There were no storms this year but in year’s past the tent’s blown down and all the fireworks got wet. The truck comes the next day, hauls off all fireworks and delivers dry stuff. They still make an incredible profit. Carol also gives the kids lots of free fireworks so they put on a lovely display here at our house every year.

They have a dirt bike, too. When there are no customers the kids take turns with it. Beau watched Hayden give it a go then took his turn. He had never been on a dirt bike before but, hey, looked like a blast. He rode off on the same route as his friend had but thought he was headed into the neighbor’s property so changed direction... but there was a tree ahead so he for sure did not want to hit that so veered to go between the tree and the privacy fence that separated their yard from the rest of the property. Only he didn’t quite make the turn. Somehow he slid right through the wooden fence! Luckily he wasn’t seriously injured and he had worn a helmet. He had a huge strawberry on his shoulder, a bruise on his thigh, but his pinkie finger was bleeding like crazy.

There were no adults around at the time so it was teen decision making time. They got the bleeding to stop but then did it need stitches? Hmmm? He called a friend’s mom who is studying to be a nurse (an LPN) but she wasn’t home. He called his friend, Brook, who kinda might want to be a doctor some day and she said, sure, come on over and I’ll look at it. He drove over there, she looked at it but didn’t know so they called the ER doctor that lives next to her. He looked at it and said , “Sheesh, YES, it needs stitches!” (a cellphone photo I saw later confirmed it.) He put in 6 and let Brook put in the last one. Seven stitches and they were oh-so-proud!

I got the phone call between Doc telling them he’d need stitches and then putting them in. As a mother of sons I’m always prepared for that phone call that may come saying he did something really stupid and the fear is always a bit deeper in July when fireworks abound in this rural community. Things get blown up… deer carcasses, sparkler bombs, stuffed animals, snapper bombs, bicycles, tomatoes, watermelons, etc.

So. A few non-fireworks stitches in a pinkie finger seemed pretty tame. Saturday, I gathered the alcohol, nail scissors and tweezers. I snipped the thread and Beau pulled out the stitch, one by one. It was gross a lot more difficult than I am making it sound but we both survived.

PS~ I wish I had a photo of their fence. Angus and I drove over one evening to assess the damage and it reminded me of a cartoon where someone has just run through and left a perfect bodyshaped hole in a very lovely fence.