Life and Times

They used to sell red firecrackers at the corner store. Perceived better quality ones were black and yellow checkered. As 12 years olds we'd buy as many as we could afford and go down to the ravine and set them off. We'd come home smelling of gunpowder. Probably why I still enjoy doing backyard fireworks. Somehow the fireworks these days seem more dangerous than those little crackers. Some kids would hold them as they went off. One game was to try to have them explode in the water of the stream. To do this you would drop it at the last second. If you drop it too soon the wick goes out. Too late and it goes off in your fingers or in the air as it drops.

Days of a misspent youth.