Small-Town Parade

It’s a beautiful afternoon, so I decided to check out the community 4th of July parade. I plunked myself down at the end of the route and waited. The parade started with every emergency vehicle in the county, all honking with sirens blaring. A few bikers followed and then nothing. I turned to the people near me in astonishment: "Was that it?!" "No, you just have to wait." I began to doubt their advice, but eventually some commercial vehicles passed. Woohoo! Then it was back to wait. Wait, wait, and more wait. Later a bellydancer girated past with a live camel. Really. And a topless man waved from a smoking chimney. After another wait, a guy came by in his underwear passing out candy to the kids. Seriously, isn’t there a law against that?! My thoughts quickly shifted from "Was that it, already?!" to "Please let that be it, already." I gave up and headed for the car when I spotted the team from the local market doing synchronized shopping cart maneuvers. (I suppose I should have gotten a photo of that, too, just to prove it…) This town also has a parade on New Year’s Day. The motto is you are the parade. I think I’ll pass…