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was
like a gift from heaven.
My
parents watched my twin brother Chris and me like guards at a prison.
It was exciting - lighting the fuse, watching the pack of firecrackers
sizzle, throwing it at the dragon's feet just before it exploded in your
hand. And after a while our parents got bored and let us wander. That's
when the fun really began.
Why
limit your target to a dragon in protective gear? The newspaper photographers,
squatting to get their shots, made much more tempting targets. With exhilarating
accuracy, we would wing our lit packs just beneath their dangling buttocks.
It was so loud we couldn't hear ourselves laugh. And when New York's finest
blew their whistles and tried to catch us, we just vanished into the crowd.
My
parents never had a clue. Later we would talk about how culturally interesting
the experience was. We fed my parents any line we could think of to reduce
adult supervision in the future. "Oh, throwing the firecrackers was
okay, too, I guess - a little bit scary, though."
So
when Tyler proclaimed his innocence, I knew something was up. Tyler and
his friend Alex had been gone all day. Alex's dad has fireworks secreted
in his basement. Two plus two equals four. I bided my time until I had
Alex alone.
"Alex,"
I said accusingly, "Tyler said you made him light fireworks even though
he was really afraid."
"No!
Tyler was the one who wanted to!"
Inside
I smiled. The interview continued until I had extracted all the essential
information. Then I sat Tyler down for some honest talk. I'm a big believer
in confession being good for the soul. In the end, I think I got most
of the truth out of him. But when Tyler gave me his word of honor he had
told me everything, I knew there were some details he would never confess.
I
am glad to have received a wake-up call without anyone getting hurt. The
innocent years are over, and it's time for extra adult supervision. So
this year's festivities involved protective goggles for my kids and their
friends, a pedantic discussion of dangers and risks, and a demonstration
of proper lighting techniques - everything I could think of to lower the
danger for the pre-adolescent pyromaniacs.
In
other words, I had a lousy Fourth of July.
Adult
supervision is bad enough when you're a kid, but it's even less fun when
you're an adult.
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