Firecracker
I am sure you have read the email about all of the things we used to do which are now considered dangerous. It lists things like unsafe cribs, to unsafe toys, to unsafe activities. I am not sure if fireworks was numbered among the other items "tempting death and dismemberment," but it should have been - especially if they had observed me. I probably broke every rule in the fireworks safety handbook, but have lived to write about it today. As an adult looking back on it all, I am not sure whether to shudder, cringe, or just thank God for seeing me through.
A couple of weeks before July 4th, the firecracker stands would begin springing up. They were usually brown canvas tents and they had a magnetic attraction for me and my neighborhood friends. Fireworks were something we only saw once a year. Kansas law did not permit fireworks stands for New Years. I know some states sell them year round, but for us, it was an annual treat only.
The way it usually worked is our parents would give us a few dollars to get firecrackers to shoot off before the 4th. Later on, each family would purchase a larger amount and wider variety of fireworks. This is when we would get the fountains, bottle rockets, pinwheels, smoke bombs, helicopters, snakes (girl fireworks), sparklers (more girl fireworks), Roman candles, and airiel bombs. I loved everything about fireworks and that time of year.
There were several brands of firecrackers, but my favorite and the ones I judged to be the loudest were the Black Cats. They came wrapped in red crinkly cellophane with a yellow label featuring a black cat looking very angry. I liked the exotic Chinese writing on the label. Once home with the firecrackers, the first task was separating them. Only rich people and lazy people set off a whole pack at a time. For my friends and I we sat down, unwrapped them, then carefully unraveled the complicated tangle of fuses. If one became impatient and tried to force the firecrackers out of their knot, they sacrificed individual crackers by pulling out their fuses. Every now and then, I stumbled on to the secret and found the right string to pull easily freeing the little beauties. By the end of this process, one's fingers were silver with gun powder. We each had our brown paper bag which held our firecrackers and punks. Do you remember the punks? They were used to light the firecrackers, they were slow burning, non flaming, lighters if you will.
We had a use for firecrackers which had lost their fuses. These we unwrapped and made a pile of gun smoke on the driveway or garage floor. Then, one could throw a match on it or lay a fuse down next to it. The gun powder would flare up quickly without popping.
Most of the time, I held a firecracker in one hand and the punk in the other. I had to hold the two close to my face in order to see the fuse well enough to light it. The way it was supposed to work is the fuse lights and evenly burns to the firecracker in about 4 seconds. PhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhBAAAAAAAAMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It did not always work that way. Sometimes I would hold the punk to the fuse and it would light, then go Phhh and stop. Then it would go a bit further Phhh and stop. Then it would go really fast, PhhhBAAAAAMMMMM!!!!!!!!! Only young reflexes could fling it away before it exploded in your hand and in my case the face. There were a few occasions when I did have one blow up in or near my hand. One time it felt like my thumb had just been smashed in between two hammers. Yeeeouch!!!!!!!!
The main activity was lighting and throwing until that became boring, then we looked for things to blow up. Plastic army men were always fun. A firecracker under a can would send it up in the air like a rocket. Someone would usually bring a doll or some girl thing from a sister and we would orchestrate a blowing up of the item just when the unsuspecting sister would have the chance to watch her doll's head get blown up. Mothers in our neighborhood had to mediate all kinds of special disputes around the 4th of July. Property damage claims, firecracker ownership disputes, attempted bodily damage claims, and others.
One time on the 4th, the neighborhood BBQ was held in our back yard. After everyone ate, the adults were sitting in a circle of lawn chairs while the kids were running around doing various activities. I was throwing firecrackers waiting for night to fall. I got the bright idea to throw a lit fuse in the center of the circle of adults. I imagined it would be funny. First they would think a stray firecracker was about to blow, when nothing happened, they would all laugh. Well, half of my plan worked. I threw the fuse in the circle, which drew immediate attention. My dad, in his haste to distance himself from the impending explosion, tipped over backwards in his lawn chair flinging coffee to the four winds. I announced it was only a fuse, I was not crazy enough to throw a real firecracker. My dad did not think it was funny neither did the other adults. He chased me for a ways and I guess he figured there were too many witnesses so he just stopped and pointed at me. He basically said not to do anything like that again or I would be really sorry. Geeze, no sense of humor.
My friends and I engaged in bottle rocket fights and Roman candle fights as well. I wonder why none of us ended up as statistics. They really are dangerous, but somehow we lived through it.
I drove by a firecracker stand the other day and many of these memories flooded my mind. It made me smile. I may go buy some firecrackers for old time's sake. I may even light the whole pack, because I am a little bit richer and certainly more lazy.
Until the next time
John Strain
Sunday, July 4, 2004 at 6:30AM 
Covington's official July 4th celebration was last night at the park. We sat in lawn chairs listening to a big band play patriotic music, old standards, and swing. We ate cheese and boiled shrimp and enjoyed the warm evening. Fireworks capped off the night in traditional fashion.
