realreally

It was a dry cleaning bag. Actually it was 3 dry cleaning bags stolen from dad’s shirts. Carefully pilfered so I wouldn’t rip them. They were each tied on all four corners to an X-shaped set of McDonald’s straws. The straws were shoved end to end and tied in the middle with mom’s sewing thread, also stolen. We’d taken more thread and tied off the bags to the corners of the straw-X and then cut slits in the straws periodically along their spines. Then we’d inserted a series of birthday candles (mom always saved them after a celebration) into the slits. The trick is to get them to stand upright so the slits need to be just the right size. We’d spent the afternoon working on the homemade dirigibles and now they were ready. We waited until dark and we walked the first one outside carefully holding it daintily by the top trying desperately not to jostle the candles. We begin lighting the candles one by one until they are all going. The candles flicker as they fill the bag with heated air and it begins to poof up like a jiffy pop bag on the stove. I can’t hold it any more and it lifts gently into the sky. We stare at what we’ve done. Candle lights getting smaller and not one of us says a thing. Mesmerized we watch as the home made aircraft begins to stall. It stops rising and the top of the bag bursts into flame. It sinks slowly on fire and falls to a melty landing.