Marcella gave her best parade wave to the crowd as she and her friends perched themselves on the Saint Patrick’s Day float. She had been so clever when she borrowed her ex-boyfriend’s trailer so she and her friends could build the perfect float. Of course, he didn’t know she had borrowed it yet, but he would be proud when he sees her and her friends in their matching green ensembles with their fabulous hats.
The resident artist, Lola, painted a bulging pot of gold with a colorful rainbow, cut from plywood and strapped it to the trailer. The girls sat on hay bales and waved to the cheering crowd.
Juliet sat proudly on the back on a hay bale, “They love us. We’ll probably win the prize for the best float this year.”
Suddenly, Juliet screeched as the crowd began to laugh. “Do you think they’re laughing at our hats?”
A leprechaun in the crowd yelled out, “There’s a rainbow penis on that float.”
Marcella snapped her head and looked again at Lola’s creation. Lola grinned sheepishly.
Crap! Marcella thought to herself, What if he sees us on a float with a rainbow penis?
Before panic could overcome her she was distracted by the smell of smoke.
Juliet’s eyes peered out from under her brig brimmed hat. “I think the brakes caught fire.”
With one wisp of wind, the hay bale Juliet was sitting on caught fire, climbing up and over the hay.
Juliet screamed, “We have to bail.” By then all the others had leaped off into the crowd.
The fire whipped up and grabbed onto the plywood sculpture.
A voice in the crowed yelled out, “The rainbow penis is on fire.”
Juliet took a flying leap off the borrowed trailer and was caught by the shocked crowd.
Marcella made her decision, she had to jump. As she looked up at the terrorized faces, there he was.
“Your stupid trailer caught fire,” she spit at him.
He held out his arms, imploring her to jump. Marcella threw off her big green hat with the pink roses and in slow motion squatted to launch herself.
She could hear the clicks of cameras and a sound of humans sucking air in the crowd.
Marcella described her landing later to her friends at the local bar. Sporting the tiara she sipped her green beer.
“I must have hit him hard, because I took out about 10 people in the crowd. They went down like dominos. I landed face down on the street, but my fall was broken by his lap. There I was my nose in his crotch. I was parade road kill.”
Lola looked at Marcella and rolled her eyes. “You should have jumped earlier with us. A girl has gotta know when to bail.”
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