00:00My mother saw the bruises before my father even reached the bathroom.
00:03She didn't scream.
00:04She just stared at the black boot print on his chest and turned white.
00:07When he told her what happened, she did something nobody expected.
00:09She limped all the way to the factory and demanded to know who had laid hands on her husband.
00:13Her whole body shook when she stood there but she went anyway.
00:16She did not get names, the plant owner came out, smoothed everything over,
00:19paid compensation, and everyone called the matter settled.
00:22In our town men like him didn't apologize, they issued conclusions.
00:25I kept talking because once I started, the whole place came back piece by piece.
00:29The town ran on fireworks.
00:31Money, pride, danger.
00:33Everything came from that factory.
00:34But my family never bought any.
00:36Even with the employee discount, my father called fireworks,
00:39a luxury poor people could not afford.
00:41Better to buy groceries.
00:42Better to buy medicine.
00:43Better to buy anything that lasted.
00:45I loved them anyway.
00:46If the neighbors set them off, I hovered at the edge of their yard and watched.
00:50One boy blocked my view once and smirked at me.
00:52Your family always leeches off other people's fun because you're too poor to buy your own.
00:56I told him I didn't care and walked away.
00:58But I did care.
00:59I looked down at my hands.
01:00For a second, the room was quiet except for the office noise outside the glass.
01:04Then, I lifted my eyes back to Daniel.
01:06I didn't know then that heaven was about to take even that.
