Her feet dangled off the ledge where she sat listening to the fireworks . She watched as they fell like Queen Ann's lace until fading into the smoky stars. A spectacle so beautiful yet fleeting, leaving only barking dogs and polluted skies in their wake. She could hear the couple behind her getting it on between the bang bangs and the baby in front crying because to her, this was the world ending. She watched the mom try to explain that these were celebration explosions, the kind that end romantic comedies, not lives. She wished the family next to her would stop trying to take pictures (that will never turn out) and just sit and dangle and watch the
polluted stars.