Magpie Tale #20

  This is a prompt from a weekly writing theme hosted by Willow over at: http://magpietales.blogspot.com


 On the 5 November, 1605 a plot was planned to blow up the English Parliament in the hope that the then King would be killed.  Guy Fawkes was in the cellar of parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours and he was caught, tortured and executed. On this same night bonfires were lit to celebrate that the King was saved. Since then 5th November has become known as Bonfire Night.The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire. 

 Here is my Magpie:                                 Bonfire Night

Twelve year old Simon stood on the steps of the front verandah and watched as his Dad put more firewood on to the bonfire. It was November 5th , Guy Fawkes night. Simon had been waiting all week for this night. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. He was very proud of the Guy that he had made during the week. This year he had been allowed to make it himself, his parents had told him that he could use whatever he wanted to, that he was now old enough to do this one thing on his own.  He had used some of Dad's old clothes, stuffing the body with old straw, adding a few touches of his own  and giving it a real "human-like" look.

But it wasn't only the bonfire and the Guy that Simon was excited about, Guy Fawkes night was also a time when all the family got together, it was a great time to catch up with his cousins, and even better there would be loads of fireworks to let off as each family brought their own.

Simon walked over to the area where his box of firecrackers sat, he bent down and touched them, there they were the Sky Rockets, Spinning Wheels, Roman Candles, Sparklers, and the noisy Big Bomb. "Can't be too much longer 'til they are all here", he thought to himself as he walked back to watch his Dad, who by this time had finished getting the bonfire ready, and had put his Guy on top of the wood pile.

It was only a matter of half an hour before the rest of the family arrived. All the cousins were excited, and there were three huge boxes of fireworks added to Simons. 

By this time it was dark, and everyone knew that once the sun set it would be time to light the bonfire and watch the Guy go up in flames. Once the Guy had been burnt then all the fireworks would be let off, making for a huge fireworks display, that usually lasted a good hour.

Everyone gathered a safe distance from the bonfire, and watched as Simon's Dad set the bonfire alight. The flames rose and started to lick the bottom of the Guy, setting the trousers alight and then quickly moving up the body. Suddenly there was a huge bang coming from the bonfire, and before anybody knew what was happening sky rockets, and spinning wheels started flying all over the place. 

The whole family rushed to the safety of the front verandah and watched, totally stunned as one of the fireworks shot out of the mouth of the Guy and made it's way over to the boxes where the rest of the family's fireworks were. There was no rescuing them, there was nothing anybody could do.

Simon watched motionless, as the firework landed into one of the boxes. He started shaking uncontrollably as the air was thick with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. He felt physically sick as the "huge fireworks display" was reduced to a three-minute wonder. He was speechless, when after three minutes it was all over, and his family stood silently. All were looking at him.

The words came out very slowly as he stood on the verandah in front of his parents, his aunts, uncles and cousins and very quietly said, "I think that perhaps I got a bit carried away with the number of firecrackers I put into the Guy. I will have to adjust that for next year."

The silence was deafening.