The Sun was hot and the sweet tea was cool. ‘What a glorious 4th said Neva J. ‘I don’t think that it is as hot as last year,’ said Aunt Guelda. ‘Well it is never too hot that a cigarette does not taste mighty fine,’ Aunt Vema remarked. ‘You know that you would not cough so much if you quit those Salems…don’t you,’ Aunt Wanda asked Vema? ‘I can’t quit the Cigs kid…I have tried but I always go back…they calm my nerves,’ Vema answered. ‘If you had a television you would have seen Jackie give a tour of the White House.’ Neva J. remarked. ‘Hellavison is not for us,’ said Grandma A. ‘Is everyone ready for Fetch to start the ice cream,’ Wanda asked?

‘How are your photography classes going Neva J.,’ asked Vema? ‘Oh, I love them…I worked in the Darkroom yesterday and the prints came out good,’ she said. ‘I have a Photography book that I brought you…it has photos of female nudes posing,’ said Vema. ‘Nude women…you say,’ Uncle Gene remarked with a crooked grin. ‘What time do we eat,’ Junior asked? ‘Is it time to put the hamburgers on the grill,’ Uncle Bill asked? ‘Here it is…ground beef from the Food Center and Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs,’ Cousin Brenda said with a laugh.

‘I miss Dutch on the 4th,’ Grandma A. said with a tear in her eye. ‘I lost many friends in WW II,’ Junior said. ‘My best friend Jack was killed next to me in a foxhole in Germany,’ Uncle Bill said as he ran his tongue between the gap in his lower teeth. ‘I heard a knock at the front door,’ Neva J. said.

As Neva J. opened the door she saw a shadow of a man underneath the oak tree in the front yard…and on the porch was a package addressed to Grandma A. The package contained Dutch’s wallet and dog tags and a little pen knife that his mom, Grandma A., had given him when he was a boy, and a note that said I miss you Mom and I will see you soon…’