Clovis and Eugene have a passion for chemistry, especially when it involves blowing things up. These two teens enjoy bombing small birdhouses in the neighborhood, or going down to the park and throwing firecrackers into the water near where men are fishing.

But their all-time favorite escapade involves the use of a large plastic bag, a bottle of helium, several M-80 firecrackers, and a very long fuse. M-80s are powerful firecrackers containing gunpowder. These firecrackers were popular thirty years ago, but today are illegal.

Giggling as they work, Clovis and Eugene inflate the plastic bag with helium and seal the bag off. Then they strap the M-80s together with plastic tape.

They take this configuration to the roof of their building. A very long fuse is coated with a chemical we dare not mention here, and attached to the M-80s. The fuse is lit with a match and the crazy looking balloon-bomb is released into the atmosphere.

The super long fuse allows the balloon-bomb to drift longer and farther than ever before. But eventually the thing does explode.

There’s no property damage and nobody is hurt, but the explosion causes such a stir that the police bomb squad and agents from ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) investigate. The cops contact NOAA weathermen out at LAX Airport who then draw maps of wind patterns in that area. Within a few hours the cops are able to trace the balloon-bomb back some three miles to the neighborhood from which it was most likely launched.

In exchange for small bribes of ice cream sandwiches, neighborhood kids are happy to give up information about Clovis and Eugene. Cops are led to the clandestine lab at Clovis’s house where these two idiots are already at work building yet another balloon-bomb.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. What got the cops so excited about this incident is the fact that, because of the extra long fuse, the contraption was able to float across town where it landed on the roof of the Los Angeles Police Department.