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Fireworks

WHAT LASTS a couple of seconds, ravishes the eye, and calms the soul? Americans have known since 1608.

A tugboat pushes us slowly past the waterfront of Fall River, Massachusetts. Lined up on the steel decks of two barges are twelve hundred mortars packed with explosive charges. Overhead, evening sunlight drapes white mountains of summer clouds.

It was a day when all the rules were off, and danger was part of the fun.

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