Fourth of July

The Fourth of July was always my cousin’s favorite holiday. I never understood why, but I think it had to do with the fact she was obsessed with fire. And it was the only time of year she was allowed to play with anything relating to fire. Amelia was not allowed to light smelly candles, bonfires, birthday candles, nothing. But for whatever odd reason, my aunt and uncle let her light fireworks. Fireworks which would then explode. 

I always wondered why Amelia was so interested in fire, but since no one else in the family would touch a match, I had always been a bit confused. My mom would temporarily become deaf whenever I questioned her about Amelia’s fondness for fire and pyrotechnics and the more she ignored me, the more interested I became. If my mom wasn’t going to tell me what prompted Amelia’s love of all fire, I knew no one else in the family would.  

I started in the most obvious place I could think of – the public library. I knew all the librarians well after spending so many summers participating in the summer reading challenges and I knew they could direct me to the newspaper archives where I could find anything and everything I wanted. But as soon as I found out the reason behind Amelia’s obsession, I wish I had never gone looking. Amelia wasn’t my biological cousin. She had been adopted after she set her foster family’s house on fire and killed everyone inside.