Mom Always Said Don't Play Ball in the House..

Or to light fireworks off indoors!

So I was at an early Thanksgiving dinner hosted by someone from my firm. Nice group of people, lovely house, lots of good food and plenty of libations.

Everything was great. Until the not-so-smart guy showed up. He's actually very smart, but apparently not in possession of much common sense. He was showing off what appeared to be large firecrackers, and proclaiming he was going to light them off during the party. I said something like "Be careful, you can't trust the quality control of an Indian fireworks factory." He just laughed and said "Sure, sure. I know."

So about five minutes later, as I was having a nice conversation with a fellow Angeleno about the merits of Tommy's chili cheeseburgers, the room exploded in a bright light and very LOUD bang. Greg Brady had lit a firecracker with the intent to throw it out the open door. Unfortunately for all of us, the fuse burned really fast and it exploded in his hand. It also managed to burn three other people and cause some hearing loss, at least temporarily, in a few of us.

The reaction was swift and angry. Two guys, who didn't know the culprit, ripped into him. One was yelling about suing him (and I was trying to convince Mr. Litigation to relax) and getting him fired. The other called him all sorts of names and and was acting like a silly school girl. The whole scene was absurd.

After my hearing returned and I'd check on the burn victims, we all returned to good conversation and some Indian margaritas. Mr. Firecracker was hiding out in the corner and belatedly apologizing to everyone.

Moral of the story? Don't invite morons to your party - either the one who blows up stuff, or the ones who react like hysterical schoolgirls.

And did I mention the prior Friday was Safety Day at our office here?