How's This For Noise Curfew

I wouldn't say that we were troublemakers as children, but we had our moments of excitement. My good pal absolutely loved the Fourth of July. I doubt that he was nostalgic about our the birth of our country however. He lived and breathed illegal fireworks. I admit just the fact of putting the word illegal in front of a word makes it much more extreme. For example if you were to put the word illegal in front of something tame like illegal scrap booking I'm sure there would be a boom in scrapbookers across the nation. Illegal fireworks were something of a past time for us adolescents. We weren't limited to the normal fireworks like bottle rockets or random candles, our greatest joy came from creating our own. It's surprisingly simple how far a little duck tape and pliers can go in creating some dangerous joy.  For your information the law for fireworks in the state of Utah is this.

Specifically Permitted

Cylindrical and cone fountains (effects no higher than 15’,) wheels with no more than 6 drivers, ground spinners, flitter sparklers, smoke devices, wire sparklers under 12” in length, party poppers, trick noisemakers, ground chasers that do not travel more than 10 feet laterally, snakes, and glow worms. Samples must be tested by State Fire Marshal and be listed on a published list of approved fireworks.

Specifically Prohibited

Firecrackers, cannon crackers, salutes, cherry bombs, sky rockets, roman candles, aerial fireworks that have effects higher than 15’, and chasers, whistlers, or other devices that travel more than 10’ laterally on a smooth surface or exceed 15’ in height when discharged.

As I look at the specifically prohibited firework section of this I now realize that the fireworks we were producing broke almost all of those regulations. I remember this occasion like it was yesterday. We were having a simply wonderful Fourth of July just lighting off as many illegal fireworks as possible. All of us believed that the night was young when we heard a stirring coming from the house just across the street from ours. A second story window opened with an irritable neighbor hanging out of it. She hollered, "Don't you know that it is past the noise curfew?"

First off I don't think that 15 and 16 year old minds can comprehend the idea of there being such a thing as a "noise curfew". All of us were processing this when I noticed in my peripheral that one of my friends was acting off pure impulse. Lucky for him he had an illegal firework made and ready to toss. Looking back it I don't think that he actually thought about what he was doing. All I remember is that the firework was already in the air when my friend yelled, "How's this for a noise curfew!" There are moments in life when time stands still. When you can't even believe what is going on right before your eyes. In slow motion the man made bomb landed right on the neighbor's doorstep. The crack was deafening as the firework hit the pavement. Without even thinking all of our legs were already in motion in absolute terror to what would be waiting for us if we stayed in our yard. It was great to be fifteen. There are times I wish that I had such reckless abandon. My friend got his point across that day and I respect him for that. Sometimes we just need to do instead of think.