| Firecrackers:An Anthology of Blowing Stuff Up |
| The fourth of July has always been the favorite holiday among Spaz, Jaw, and I. Blowing stuff up was about the most exciting thing we could think to do. So every year, the two of them went to Uncle Sam's fireworks and bought a years supply worth of firecrackers for all our pyromania needs. I was never allowed to purchases explosives, but I was allowed to participate in their festivities. Every person, at one point or another has done something stupid with firecrackers. We, of course, were no exception. Our activities are extrememly mild compared to most teens. Such activities included: Throwing bottle rockets into the air. Not so much throwing as flipping really. We would light one in our hands and flip it into the air. Where it went next was up to gravity which seemed to point it in our direction more often than not. We also did the same with m-60's which are basically small forms of TNT. This was even more dangerous. If the lit unexpectedly (which it always did) one's hand could be taken off. Tying two fuses together for double the fun. This was usually done with bottle rockets, and usually created chaos. At the peak of our creativeness, we constructed a bottle rocket launcer and a bottle rocket gun. The launcer was a long pipe with a piece of duct tape stuck on the end. After awhile the tape was burned through, but it lasted surprisingly long. We also had a bottle rocket gun, which was two small, thin pipes, taped together at an angle. Unfortuanately, the sparks often flew out and showered over our hands. We used to stage wars in teams of two with a friend of Jaws. We would stand at each end of their backyard, and shoot bottle rockets at the ground near the other teams feet. We never aimed towards someones head (we weren't that mean). Then we would yell "OH *#&@!" And run before a rocket exploded underneath us. For one year, my neighbors had a dryer that sat outside while they figured out how to get rid of it. We used this to our advantage. Simply placing a bottle rocket inside was all the fun we needed. Sometimes it would just spin around inside, and sometimes it would eject wildly from the open hole. The latter eventually prompted us to run and hide behind the dryer so we wouldn't get hit. Lighting bottle rockets facing towards us and running. There was one that could have been messy. But my Dad came out and told us not to do it, so we were safe from death. I can't believe it, but the only injury I ever really got was near the end of the firecracker era. Jaws and I were throwing black cats at each other. Black cats are loud, and have short fuses. On exploded on impact with my leg, and a very small chunk was taken out of it. No scars fortunately (of unfortunately, depending on how you look at it). Those are the main points. Many of you probably have your own firecracker stories that would easily top mine, but for the most part our time with explosives was rather stupid. |