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Like I Was Never There

Janet Kuypers, 23/30/09

so I decided to sneak off one night
to go camping with Sam and Vern

we all rolled out our sleeping bags
out on the far side of a field at night

Sam had brought a hurricane lamp
but he didn’t have any oil for it
so
him and Vern went down the street
broke into a garage there
got a can of lawn mower gasoline

because, you know, it makes perfect sense
to use gasoline in your oil lamp

but anyway, in the shadows,
by a street in the dark,
they planned to fill the hurricane lamp with gas
but in the shadows,
they couldn’t see what they were doing

so Sam said that he needed more light
so he cold see, to fill the oil lamp with gas
so Vern decided to pull out his lighter

Vern, the bright one,
was going to light the way,
I suppose

and Vern lit his lighter,
but there still wasn’t enough light

keep in mind
that they were hiding
in bushes, by a street
with a lamp post

what to do, what to do

Sam asked Vern to move the lighter closer

I mean, these two flunked their eay
through a couple of years of school
and I know I was young
but I knew this wasn’t a good idea
so I started to back away

after I turned around
Vern
apparently
got the lighter too close

I was already twenty feet away
when I felt the heat
and saw an orange glow from the fire ball

I started to run
but I was running I looked back
and saw two fireballs in the air

one was the lantern
and the other the gas can
and I swear to God, the lantern
crashed down on the street
and set the entire street on fire
the gas can landed uphill from the lantern,
pouring gasoline down the street
so flames then ran up to the gas can
further spreading the street fire

I grabbed my sleeping bag and ran
I heard the sirens
and had to act like I was never there

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