Liberal in the Land of Conservative

As a young man growing up on the border of North Dakota, fireworks were easily obtained by crossing the border and paying a visit to Jerry's Fireworks stand along I-29. Also, as a young man I had the common sense of... Well, let's just say I didn't have very much in the way of common sense.

The days surrounding the Fourth of July were filled with bottle rocket fights and terrorizing friends with those little guys that spewed different colored smoke. However, on one particular occasion I was particularly stupid and went along in the back of a friends old Chevy pickup to toss firecrackers out the back end. While this in and of itself is not the brightest move and I wouldn't advise anyone to attempt it, there was an increased level of stupidity with this action. You see, my friend had lost the gas cap on his old Chevy pickup and every time we sped around a corner just a little gasoline would spill out of the truck.

So, picture a bunch of irresponsible young men riding around in the back of a truck (that was probably driving entirely too fast in the first place) desperately trying to light firecrackers with our lighters as gasoline spray covered us with every turn. Oh, the stupidity!