[magician]

ok, since this thread has deviated somewhat, and since, yes, it can be said that I am a deviant, I will jump in.

when I was young, I used to hide out in Seattle around 1st Avenue. One of the clubs I used to patronize was called Club Vogue. It was pretty snooty, in a way, but I liked the music, and I liked the snotty girls that went there. Anyway, one night, I closed the place down, then went down the street and across to a grimy little diner and had a burger. When I came out, I saw that Seattle's finest had attached a parking barrel to the right rear tire of my Toyota Landcruiser. Wrong answer.

I was tired, drunk, it was fucking raining (it was Seattle, remember), I already had a million parking tickets, (which is why they affixed the barrel), I was broke, and I just wanted to go home.

I rooted around inside my truck (anyone who owned one of those old-style Landcruisers knows why I call it a truck) and found a bit of det cord, some time fuse, a non-electrical M6 special and one of those old spring-powered initiators. Cannot remember the nomenclature. I just happened to have everything that I needed in a claymore bag, along with some black electrical tape. So I sat down on the curb with my demo knife and made up my train, and wrapped the det cord, three wraps, around the cable running from the barrel. I figured that would be enough. I was guesstimating.

I pulled the ring, walked back into the shadows, and jumped out of my ass when it went off. That shit was LOUD. It echoed all over downtown. The barrel went rolling off down the street, smoking. I looked left, then right, it was drizzling, and deserted, so I checked out the truck, (I was afraid that I blew the axel off it, or damaged the tire, I probably used too many wraps), got in, fired her up, and drove home, stereo cranked the whole way to keep me awake.

It was another time, another era.

I thank the Big Ranger in the Sky that I survived it, and did not end up in jail. I figure that I committed at least three or four major felonies with that little escapade. In my mind, I was just going home.

Phew.