When I was a kid, I found a flare. There had been some incident in the street and the police had put the flares behind the vehicles as they closed the street. Later, when the cars were away, the residue of the flares was left and one flare had not ignited properly. The gang of boys I hung out with, were riding our bicycles in that area and found the treasure.
We had seen the flares brightly burning and were fascinated by them. I think, for most of us, it was the first time we had been near a burning flare. It was so bright and hot and magical. We took the flare with us and each of us thought about it. We began to wonder what we were going to do with it.
Finally, we made the decision to try to light it. Behind my house was a creek. In those days it was a natural, wild running waterway. Eventually, it was encased in concrete, but then, it was a place of life and adventure. We had a hideout behind our houses in some trees. That is where we took the flare.
First, we tried to light the flare with a match, but that did not seem to work. So, we started a small fire and placed it at the edge. Eventually, it started. That is when the trouble began. None of us were brave enough to touch it. It made noise, it was super hot and scary. Once the flare got started, it was ready to burn. The area around it was in flames. We stomped, but as long as that miniature sun was burning, it just kept going. Within a couple of minutes, the flames had grown too big to ignore. Our shoes were melting. People scattered. Some went to the creek, but without anything to carry water, it did not help.
My house was closest. I grabbed a trash can. It took several boys to go to the creek, get enough water and then haul it back to the area of the fire. We did it over and over again until somehow we put out the fire. The fence was blackened on the back side. We were all filthy with soot and ashes. We were all frightened. We had almost burned down the houses, we had been scary close to some parents finding out and we were not sure which was worse.
I came back to the house and my brother was the first person I encountered. I know he knew something was up, but he did not say anything, he just watched me put up the trash cans. We never talked about it. Several days later, I overheard a conversation between my parents about people finding the burned fence. I was never questioned and I never said anything.
Never light a fire you are not willing to let burn.
Kyle