Pat and I both had birthdays in the Summer.
One of our favorite gifts to ask for on our birthday was a trip to Santa Cruz Beach.
We did this for many summers in a row, perhaps starting in the late 60's into the early 70's
Usually many siblings would make the trip as long as they could swim some what.
Often we would have air mattress's, old inner tubes or just plain body surf for hours of the day.
Pat's birthday was just a few days after the 4th of July so often there was left over fireworks.
One year with the help from an older Brother who was in possession of matches,
we started reworking unspent Piccole Pete's, smash one end try fix the fuse etc.
And Bam lots of fun setting some of them off. We all took turns I only did the longest of fuses.
Then out of the blue, not sure what exactly happened, it was a short fuse and I was backing up quickly seemed like none of us really got very far away when it went off.
Next thing I know Pat is yelling and his hand is very red. The fun was over.
We had to go and tell Pops Pat was hurt. Some of details are a bit fuzzy from then on but the party was over. We spent hours at the hospital seemed like night fall was upon us before we finally headed home. Pat survived not really any sustained injuries.