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July 4, 2021

Socially distanced, masked, and tucked away in a far corner of the Crescent Commons shopping center in order to stay safe while watching the Independence Day fireworks during the COVID outbreak, Connie Lehn turned her head, closed her eyes and emitted a sigh of pain in response to her daughter Samantha’s utterance that she and her husband Darrius, like the characters Ross Malloy and Sarah Kennedy from Rob Harrell’s semi-autobiographical, marketed to tweens novel, Wink, had split.

Though the pain and uncertainty of having split with her husband was tearing at her, it was pride, combined with the presence of her neighbor Dan Inks, that made her turn her head. Her split with Darrius, having occurred just two weeks prior, was a constant pain that could cause her stomach to flip at the slightest provocation, and though her relationship with her 13-years-her-junior neighbor Dan was good, he wasn’t family, and she’d been brought up in a family who felt private matters should remain as private as circumstances allowed.

Many of the cars in the parking lot had two, three, or more spectators inside; their engines idling and air conditioners blowing. Connie’s group of four, having brought camping-chairs, sat out in the open as the fireworks mostly blazed and burst. The bursts were easily seen, but the booms were muted due to the mile that separated Crescent Commons from Koka Booth where the fireworks were rocketing skyward to their spectacular, solitary, death-blow explosions. Sighing, she opened the cooler, removed a can of unsweetened tea from within and waved to her father and Dan to get their attention then pointed to the cooler. “Help yourselves. There’s no hard-stuff though, so don’t get your hopes up,” she said with a grin.

“Thanks,” Dan replied with a nod, looking into the cooler, and pulling out a lemonade while Cal took a water, and Samantha a Mountain Dew. “You’re right,” he added, “this is a good place to see the fireworks.”

“Glad you approve,” Connie said with a smile.

“You said your folks are on the Maryland side of the D.C. Beltway?” Cal asked Dan.

“Yeah. Silver Spring? Layhill, if you know the area.”

“So it’s not Layhill if I don’t know the area?” Cal teased.

“Ow. Didactic and pedantic much?”

“I’ve been called worse. Both parents are still alive I take it?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dan said nodding his head. “Mom and Dad are good, but, uh, we lost one of my sisters, so now I’m one of three rather than one of four,” he added somberly.

“I’m so sorry to hear that. May I ask how and how old?”

“Cancer. Karen died of pancreatic cancer. She was just shy of thirty.”

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. My wife died from cancer as well, not that it’s the same thing. Conchessa had just turned seventy, which is young, but certainly not the same as your sister. How are your parents doing?”

Dan, sighing deeply, wiggled his left hand back and forth while shrugging. “I know it’s very hard for them, but fortunately my two siblings- Nate and Angela? -still live close by and have provided them with three grandchildren which I know helps them a lot. Especially Mom.”

“Good,” Cal said, shaking his head. “Listen, I’m really sorry about going down this path; it wasn’t my intention. You ride your bike a lot, don’t you?”

“I do,” Dan said with a grin, adding, “that’s one heck of a change in conversation.”

“Well,” Cal said, laughing, “just because I stepped in it, that doesn’t mean I can’t scrape it off my shoe. Is there a good place for an old man like me to ride his bike that’s close by? You obviously feel comfortable riding from your house.”

“Yeah, yeah there is. Remind me later and we can pull up Google on a computer and I can give you the low down. I don’t think the phone screen would be very useful.”

“Excellent,” Cal replied, “thank you so much. I’ve borrowed Darrius’s bike to ride around the neighborhood with Sam, but I haven’t ventured out into the real world with it. Oh! And what about for Sam? Are there good places for her to ride?”

“From the house? Just one would be my guess. Right behind Connie’s house is a creek, and on the other side of the creek is the Wimbledon Neighborhood,” Dan said, assuming a false upper class British accent for Wimbledon Neighborhood. “If Sam can keep to the right and stay behind you, I’d take her there.”

“Excellent. That’s great. Yeah, could you show me later?”

“Absolutely. And in both senses. We can look on the computer, and then I’d be happy to ride with you over there to show you around sometime. It’s the first right off Kildaire: Laver Drive.”

“That would be just fantastic. Thanks!”

“You bet,” Dan said, nodding his head for emphasis.