“And drink the water down there.” I pointed at Lake Michigan, and Tonya wrinkled her nose. “We could fish, when we run out of sandwiches.” She gave an audible sound of disgust after that, and we both laughed as we hiked back up the hill to where Mama had set up camp.

“I wish we ain’t have to ever go back to the buildings,” Tonya said, looking out toward the water. I enjoyed going to Grant Park too, but the serious look on her face reminded me about her life back at home, that her mama was probably doing drugs. I reached over and rubbed her back, and the motion seemed to bring tears to her eyes.

We were quiet for a second, then I heard Stacia yelling, “I beat her, Fe Fe! I finally won!”

It got dark, then reds and golds started exploding in the sky. Tonya’s mouth and eyes opened as wide as they could, as if she intended to catch all the colors, and Stacia looked so little and sweet for once, her face smooth, eyes soft and relaxed like they were preparing for tears to fall. Precious had the biggest smile on her face, and even though it was dark, and I couldn’t prove it, I knew that red had spread all over her cheeks and forehead, because it happened every time she had a burst of joyful emotion.

Mama made some of the same oohs and wows right along with us. I enjoyed the fireworks, but I was irritated, even back then, by the patriotic music. It was too busy and loud and stiff. We had no context for that music, or why it always accompanied fireworks. We knew that it was for the Fourth of July, but when I was a kid, all that I knew was that no one had to work, and it seemed like the entire city of Chicago went downtown on July 3rd to watch the fireworks burst over the lake.

When only smoke covered the sky, we knew it was over. On the trip back across the bridge, we skipped together, swinging our arms and kicking rocks until we reached the fountain. The water shot straight up into the air as high as the second floor of our building, but also sprayed a misty sheet of water that floated across the area, like the open fire hydrant we saw hours before. This was much better; no one was coming to turn it off.

On the bus ride home, all my friends fell asleep, but Precious woke up, and like she’d just had a prophetic dream she said, “Come to church with me.”