Family Story

Even when I was a young boy at the tender age of 14, I was already getting into trouble. Big trouble. The kind you wouldn't think a 14 year old boy and his 18 year old brother would get into. Well maybe you would expect something like this from a bunch of high school graduates and their brothers, but thats beside the point. It was a day like any other, except for the fact that it was a once in a lifetime day. My brother and his friends were all graduating soon, and a lot of them would be going off to college in separate parts of the world. We decided to celebrate the successful hourney through their high school lives without getting arrested or seriously injured. Ironically our celebration plan risked both unfavorable elements. It was nearing the glorious American holiday celebrated on the 4th day of July, and fireworks were on all of our youthful minds. Young, ambitous, and full of hormones making us all ten times dumber than the average person, we set our plan in motion. Aquiring a healthy stock of bottle rockets and other fun fireworks, we made our way to a park that is often empty. Being that it was July 1st, it was a little early for the people of Honolulu to hear the graceful shriek of an airial being shot off 100 feet from their home, and our celebration was cut short by the infamous sound of sirens in the distance. Our happy moment of shooting bottle rockets and anything that caught our fancy was short lived indeed, and the running began in every direction. We split up, heading towards every possible escape point possible. As a group we moved slow, but as a bunch of adrenaline pumped teens running from the cops, we would have given the national sprinting team a run for their money. We ran through small back alleys between houses and away from the park in general. Once we deemed we were a safe distance from the park, we slowed to a walk and contacted the rest of the group via cellphone. No one had gotten caught or arrested, I was surprised to say the least. Unfortunately, one of us had forgetten their backpack at the park and we needed to go back for it. The joy of heading back towards the park in our friend's car and seeing a pair of policemen going through the bag was indescribeable. It was as if Santa had just shown you the toy you had wanted since forever, and then showed you your name on the naughty list. We were in for one hell of a day.