Uh, Dan, there's a fire over there

My 14th birthday party...

My dad got me a bunch of M100 firecrackers for my birthday... At least, I think that's when he got them for me, I can't picture it having been prior, but I also don't feel like this was the first time I was using them.

As friends arrived for my party, we went down to the Mill Pond inlet, the boat canal for our neighborhood. We went to the far side, and threw a few lit firecrackers into the water. Eventually, an "enemy," Scott Seltzner, and his mom came down to the pond, too, remaining on the main side. My family and theirs had had a disagreement about which of us owned one of the docks. So, being a young dumb kid, I threw some of the firecrackers towards them. None came close.

Some other friends arrived, and myself and Justin Smith, and perhaps one or two others, I don't recall exactly who, came back around the canal to greet them. Mike Rossberger then gets a panicked look on his face, and says, "Uh, Dan, there's a fire over there." The edge of the marsh was on fire...

We ran at top speed back around the canal, I shouted to Scott and his mom to call the fire department. They just laughed as we stomped and spashed the fire. I pulled my flannel shirt off, soaked it, and rung it out on the fire. Eventually we succeeded in putting out the fire, with not too large of an area burned, but it could have been a lot worse.

After that, we went in for cake, etc., then went golfing.