November Bonfire

We watched the fire blaze up, our faces growing hot, making us back up a bit. The burning pile crackling and popping, while the chestnuts started giving off a delicious aroma, making me hungry.

It was supposed to be a perfect early November evening for the big bonfire, my friends and I were planning. I was anxiously watching the clock move at a snail's pace. It was 3:04 pm and the school didn't get out until 3:15 pm.

“Miss Denver, can you answer that?”

I looked up, my face turning red.

“Uh...could you repeat that, Mr. Burns?”

“Make sure you pay better attention next time, Miss Denver. Do you know Mr. Blue?”

Mr. Burns' voice droned on until finally, the bell rang. Grabbing my books, I rushed to my locker where Cathy was stuffing her books into her book bag.

“I thought the bell was never going to ring!”

Cathy laughed.

“ 'Miss Denver, can you answer that?' I thought Mr. Blue was going to blow a gasket!”

“Who cares it's Friday! Bet I can beat you home!” I yelled, grabbing my jacket, dashing out the door.

After changing our clothes, Cathy, Tom, Candy, Jeff, Bobbie and I gathered in the alley out back, rakes in hand. We started raking the colorful leaves into a big pile, raking up a few twigs, and green walnuts as well.

“You know what? I'm going to run down to the corner and collect a few of those chestnuts to throw in the fire, too. They smell so good!”

“ Don't get your finger's poked on those spiny husks,” Jeff warned.

I ran down the street, collected the chestnuts, then raced back to see the pile had grown immensely.

“Cannonball,” yelled Tom,

Jumping into the pile, he was soon followed by Jeff.

“How are we supposed to burn the leaves like that? You boys have them all spread out again!” Cathy proclaimed, hands on hips.

“Let's make a bird's nest,” I giggled, jumping in.

Bobbie and Candy cartwheeled their way into the pile. Cathy finally gave in and joined us.

“I'm going to make a house,” I said, raking the leaves into rooms. “This is the living room, the kitchen is over here, this is my bedroom, and this,” I said indicating a small pile, “Is my bed.”

The walnuts and chestnuts became food for my kitchen. Jeff and Tom picked up a few of the walnuts and started tossing them at each other. Before long we were all playing war! We played in this manner for about an hour, before raking all the leaves back into one big pile.

“Well, the bonfire is ready. Let's go eat supper, then come back for the bonfire.”

Off we all rushed to our perspective homes.

The street lights were just coming on, bats flitting to and fro when I met the others back in the alleyway. Tom's dad was just lighting the pile.

“Thought you were going to miss it, Sandy,” Bobbie said.

“Mom made we wash the dishes before I could come back out.” I pouted.

We watched the fire blaze up, our faces growing hot, making us back up a bit. The burning pile crackling and popping, while the chestnuts started giving off a delicious aroma, making me hungry.

“Who wants a marshmallow?” Candy's mom called out.

Scrambling for sticks, we each took two marshmallows, then threaded them on the sticks. I held my marshmallows over the coals, cooking it to a perfect golden brown. The outside was slightly hard, but the inside, gooey when I bit into it. The boys stuck their marshmallows right into the fire, only extinguishing the flame after the marshmallows had been burnt to a crisp. We were all soon a sticky, ooey, gooey mess.

“Let's tell ghost stories!” Tom cried.

“I've got a good one,” Jeff offered.