It was another 4th of July at the Bump home.  Each Independence Day was somewhat similar to the one that preceded it!  Illinois had laws prohibiting the purchase of the ‘good’ fireworks!  In their place were the black buttons, that upon being lit by a match…extended out to form a semblance of a black snake, and they were therefore called snakes.  Or there were the, lame and safe, Sparklers that had colored and harmless light expelled from them after they were lit, and you held them with your hand.

You could not buy firecrackers in El Dorado.  They were Billy and Carl’s favorite 4th pastime!  When you lit the wick and subsequently threw them…they made a magnificent loud bang!  If you lit the entire pack…it was exciting and loud and Billy had been told that the person taking the risk to light the pack…could loose a finger or more!

There…