Almost Darwin Award

'Get the gas can out, we may need to prime the carburetor.'

The old Ford truck was on the side of the road in a backwood section of Oklahoma near Keystone Lake. As far as we could tell, the truck was out of gas. The engine would turn over, but there was no sound indicating that there was fuel igniting. However, the gage said a quarter tank.

I pop the hood and take the air filter off, and Sean leans over the engine with a cigarette in his mouth doing his best impression of a mechanic.

'It must be something in the wiring...damn that hurts!' as the smoke rolls into his eyes, 'How the hell do they do that?'

'They probably don't when the carburetorwith gasoline inside is exposed, don't be stupid and watch yourself.'

I pour a little bit of gasoline in the carburetorand tell Sean to turn the key. The truck gives a satisfying rumble for about three seconds, and then dies again.

I said, 'What the hell is going on here?'

I took the hose off the fuel filter and gas drained from it. I tell Sean there might be a bubble somewhere in the fuel line and we need to continuously prime the carburetoruntil the bubble clears out. I start slowly pouring gas in the top of the carburetoras he turns the key. The truck runs continously for about fifteen seconds and then

WHOOSHHH!

Backfire! The nozzle of the gas can catches on fire and instinctively I throw it away from me, while Sean yells 'Shit!' as he gets out of the truck. A stream of fire pours out of the can but, luckily, it doesn't explode.

For a brief second, I had visions of burn wards dancing in my head. I could only imagine the rest of my life, people staring, then looking away, wondering What the hell happened to him?

I look at Sean and say,

'So who was stupid now...'