Launching

The five of us were in Miss Riley's car, her driving us up to Cape Coalwood to see our launching. But once we got to the top of the hill, we saw half the town there, many cars parked around the area. "Great." Homer sighed.

"How'd they find out about it?" O'Dell questioned.

Homer and I look at each other and say at the same time, "Jim."

We all get out and start to unload the car with our rocket stuff. Roy Lee grabs a box from the trunk and starts talking. "You know, we poop out this time, the whole county's gonna be laughing at us."

"Who cares what any of them think?" Quentin says.

"Easy for you to say, Quentin. You're used to people making fun of you." Roy Lee snaps.

"Alright, now." Miss Riley interrupts. "Quentin's right y'all."

We all walk off and head to the launch pad. As we pass Jim, I hear Homer call out, "Hey, couldn't you guys find anything better to do?"

"Hey, listen." Jim calls back. "There's no practice on Sundays. You little sisters are the only entertainment in town. We were gonna drive over to War but then we thought, hey why not watch Homer blow himself up?"

We got everything set up and got ready behind the shack. Homer quickly ran off to the crowd to tell them they might wanna back up. We got the string ready and Homer said, "It won't fly unless somebody pulls the string."

We thought it should be him to launch it so he agrees and pulls it, lighting the fuse. We started counting down, praying that it would work this time.

After the last two seconds, the rocket flew high up in the air. It went high, leaving a small trail of smoke behind it. We had to run out of the shack to actually see it better. We heard the whole crowd cheering as we all watched it fly in the air. I felt something grab my hand and when I looked down I saw a hand wrapped around mine. I looked to see whose hand it was and saw it was Roy Lee's hand holding mine, smiling at me.

I smiled back, wrapping my own hand around his. We both turned back to the rocket, watching it fall in the sky, landing on the ground. The next day, I was over at Homer's house again but this time, we were celebrating his birthday. Our Aunt Joanne sent him a sweater that she knitted and Homer had to wear it but I didn't see him in it yet.

They were eating breakfast when I came downstairs and the second I walked in the kitchen, I saw Homer dressed up in the sweater. I quickly turn around, covering my mouth from laughing. "Cora." Aunt Elsie scolds me.

I stay turned around, not wanting them to see my red face. "No, no, I wasn't laughing at Homer. I just….thought…of something funny."

"Oh, really? What did you think of?" Homer accuses.

"…How you look like a sausage!" I bust out laughing, Homer rolling his eyes as he kept eating, Jim joining my little laughing fest, and Aunt Elsie scolding us.

That moment, Uncle John walks in, getting some coffee. Aunt Elsie says his name, trying to remind him of Homer. "Oh, uh, happy birthday, Homer."

"And I got this in the mail. Must be a present for grandma." Aunt Elsie gives Homer a package.

It turned out he got an autographed picture of Dr. von Braun. I quickly ran upstairs to grab Homer's present I got him but when I came down, I saw Homer getting up to leave. I didn't question him, knowing he got mad about something with Uncle John. I follow him out the door and race after him. I knew he wanted to be alone but I wanted to give him his present.

I call out his name and he quickly turns around, looking ready to snap. "What do you want?!" I didn't say anything other than give him his present, which was a book about rocket history. I shoved it in his hands and walked away, heading towards a place where I haven't been in a while.

I take my time and make my way to the park. I sit on one of the swings, just sitting there, swinging back and forth a bit. I stared at the ground, lost in my thoughts. "Mind if we join you?"

I jump from fright at the sound of someone's voice. I quickly turn around and see Roy Lee, O'Dell, and Quentin. I give them all a small smile and nod my head, wanting some kind of company.

Roy Lee sits on one swing on my left side; O'Dell sits on my right side, and Quentin sits on the bottom of the slide, not far from us. "So, what have you guys been up to today?"

"Not much. Getting ready for the launching tomorrow." O'Dell answers.

"What about you?" Quentin asks.

I shrug my shoulders, looking down again. "Same. Homer and Uncle John got into another fight. Don't know what it was but I got an idea it was about rockets again….when do you think it'll be over?"

"What will be over?" Roy Lee questions.

"The fighting. The beating. The mining. The pain. Just everything."

Nobody answered my question and to be honest, they didn't have to. We all knew that it would never end and everything would just keep going, never stopping. All of a sudden, when I was looking around the park, a memory came to me. I tried to hide my smile but I ended up just laughing a bit.

They boys turned to me, looking confused. I explain, "Remember when we were kids? We used to come here all the time. You guys would always toss a football around and wouldn't let me play with you until I shoved one of you in the dirt."

"Yeah, I remember that." O'Dell says. "And I also remember that it was usually me who got shoved in the dirt."

Roy Lee and I laugh, both of us nodding our heads. "Yeah, but that was because you were the weakest out of the three of you." I defend myself, trying not to laugh.

"No, that wasn't the reason. The reason was because you just liked picking on me and shoving me in the dirt, just for fun."

"…That might be part of the reason."

"See?! The truth comes out!" O'Dell shouts, standing up. He starts turning around, pretending to shout to people, when nobody was near us. "Cora Hickam admits it! She was a bully when we were kids!"

I jump up from my seat and tackle him, sitting on his back, not letting him up. All four of us were laughing and O'Dell kept trying to get up but just as he was about to push me, Roy Lee came and sat down next to me, on O'Dell's back. He tried to get up again but this time, Quentin joined us.

He kept complaining to be let up but we were all still laughing, even him. The rest of the day, we kept tackling each other, chasing one another, and even cussing each other out for fun. The only thing missing was Homer but Quentin joined us so it was still four of us friends but it just wasn't quite the same without Homer.

The next day, we were all up at Cape Coalwood, getting ready to launch another rocket. Unfortunately, cheerleaders came this time and started cheering "Go Rocket Boys!" which pissed me off to no end but I didn't say anything but I did glare at them a lot.

We launched and this time, the whole crowd was counting down. Today for the launching, Aunt Elsie came too, which made it even better. So did one of my friends, Valentine Carmina. She was nice and she didn't judge. She told me once that she had a huge crush on Homer for the longest of time so I thought I might help her out a little. She was my first friend that was a girl because I always hung out with boys when I was a kid.

The rocket was launched and it seemed to go even higher than the last one. O'Dell got some binoculars to watch where it fell to the ground. He found it falling and got the spot where it landed and he, Roy Lee, and I all ran towards it. We were racing each other to see who would get there first. It still pained me to know that Roy Lee and I weren't together anymore but I kept thinking 'why not make the best out of being friends'.

I pushed O'Dell to the ground, making him trip and fall on Roy Lee, making them both fall. I laugh and sprint faster, thinking I was gonna win. All of a sudden, someone grabs my waist and throws me back into someone else. I saw I smashed into O'Dell and made him fall to the ground again, making him groan.

I looked up and saw Roy Lee laughing up a head of us and almost to the point where the rocket fell. We both get up and run after him. It was real funny because we didn't even plan it but we kept running and tackled Roy Lee at the same time, all three of us falling down.

A few days later, we were all walking to school listening to Homer read the newspaper. "'The silvery cylinder burst forth in a fiery column of smoke and flame, racing the very wind as it soared into the sky, a messenger of these Rocket Boys of Big Creek, these boys and young girl who use their brains, not brawn, who play not football, but with Apollo's fire.'"

"Rocket Boys?" I question. "Don't they know that there is a girl in the group too?!"

All of a sudden, the girl Homer really likes comes up to us. "Hi, Homer."

"Hey, Dorothy." Homer smiles, happy to be recognized.

"Would you please sign my newspaper?" I just know you're gonna be really famous someday."

"Sure."

Homer grabs the newspaper but stares at Dorothy, not moving at all. I try not to laugh but I let out a chuckle when I heard Roy Lee. "H-O-M-E-R."

Realization hits my cousin as he starts to write his name on the newspaper. Next thing I know, a bunch of policemen come out of the school and puts us in handcuffs, dragging us down to the office. I was scared and didn't know what to do. Thankfully, Homer knew what I was feeling and quickly but quietly grabbed my hand, letting me know he was there for me.

We all got thrown into chairs, and started being questioned by our principle and the officers. The door swings open and we look up to see Miss Riley. "What in the world is going on here?" she looks down to us and sees our position. "You have these children in handcuffs. You have these children in handcuffs in a high school, Mr. Turner!"

The police officer cuts her off. "You probably heard about the forest fire last week over by Welch. A lot of timber went up in smoke."

"Mr. Turner, you take these handcuffs off these children." Miss. Riley says, ignoring him.

"They found a rocket on the side of the road." Our principle clears.

The officer now continues. "We knew it started the fire, ma'am. What we didn't know is where it came from, till this morning. Mr. Hickam, can you account for all your rockets?"

"No, sir. I can't."

We get dragged once more but this time, we get dragged into a cop car. All I know is that we were put in jail for a few hours until our parents got us out. Well, for me, my uncle got me out. Let me tell you, he was not happy. "If you two weren't minors, you'd both be in the state penitentiary."

"I know, dad—" Homer starts but gets cut off by Uncle John again.

"Homer, I've been confused by you, I've been mad as hell at you. But, boy, it's the first time in your life I've been ashamed of you. And that goes for you too, Cora."

We got to the car and before I could say anything, I heard yelling. I quickly turn around to find Roy Lee getting smacked around by his step-dad. I didn't even think about it before I went running over there, with Uncle John and Homer calling my name. I jump in between the two and end up grabbing his step-dad's arm, making him stop hitting Roy Lee for a moment.

But instead of hitting Roy Lee, he punched me in the face, making me lose my balance and fall to the ground. Uncle John pins the drunken man to the wall, pissed as all hell. I heard Roy Lee's step-dad say, "We ain't at the mine now, Hickam. This ain't your business!"

"Get in the car with Homer, son." Uncle John orders Roy Lee as he helps me up to my feet, gently and carefully.

Roy Lee and I get to the car and wait for Uncle John to be done. I see Roy Lee wanting to cry but he tries to stay strong so I put a hand on his arm and lean my head on his shoulder, giving him some kind of comfort. I knew it was hard for him, I knew what it felt like to get beat.

Roy Lee slowly pulled his arm away from my grasp and when I thought he didn't want me to comfort him and I was about to move away from him; he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his body, holding me tightly but gentle at the same time.

Even in the car, I could hear Uncle John threatening his step-dad. "You listen here, you drunken son of a bitch! If that boy's father was alive, he'd kick your ass. So I'm gonna have to do it for him. If I see him with a bruise, you get a scar. If I see him with a limp, you get CRUTCHES! And if you ever lay another hand on my little girl again, you'll find yourself digging your way out of the mine. You hear me? Do you hear me?!"

Uncle John starts walking back to the car, almost looking calm. I heard Roy Lee's step-dad yell, "You know, I'm reporting you to the union!"

"Screw you and your damn union." He says calmly. He gets in the car and slightly turns around to say to Roy Lee, "Your father was one of the best men I ever had working for me. I was lucky to know him."

When I looked up, I saw my best friend had a tear slowly falling down his cheek. I never thought about any of the stuff I was doing at the moment but I raised my hand and gently wiped away the tear, wrapping my arms around his waist and give him a small squeeze, letting him know I was there for him.

His grip around my body tightened but only slightly. He put one of his hands on my cheek, brushing the hair out of my face, not looking at me. We stay in that position, all the way home, nobody talking in the car, but the two of us giving each other comfort.

It hits me then that Uncle John called me his 'little girl'. I always knew my Aunt and Uncle thought of me as their daughter but it's different when you hear it coming from them. Even thought we were already family, I felt even closer to them and felt like I was one of their daughter and sister instead of their cousin and niece.