White-hot Flames

My dad walked in the door. I turned off the tube and grabbed myself a light snack. It was past 11'oclock, and I was ready to hit the sack. I sat down, he turned to me , "Guess what I'm doing tomorrow!"

"Waa?" My mouth was full.

"I'm going parachuting!"

I spewed toast all over the kitchen table: I never thought that my dad was the type of guy who would jump out of a perfectly good plane.

Today we all hurried over to the park. He had informed us that he was dropping at around three. About 2:45 we showed up. Two hours later, two parachutes dropped from the heavens. We rushed over to them as soon as they landed.

Neither of them was my dad. He had gotten onto the next drop (whether by his choice or theirs I'll never know). We waited two more hours.

Finally dual specks shot down from the heavens like white-hot flames. The first one was the camera man (his landing was graceful), The second was my dad (His landing was anything but).