Chapter 24 - Forged in Blood

The card table was on fire, but barely noticeable. The rubbing alcohol spilled across the model airplane’s balsa wood frame and became alive with blue fury. Resisting the urge to panic, Crazy Larry stood up from the table and gave it an open-handed smack, smashing the airplane and burning his hand all at the same time.
Jack grabbed a towel from the floor and smothered the entire mess. Larry looked at his project and cursed himself. He wanted to fly with the wind, but he had poor eyesight. He wanted to build something that could fly with the wind instead, and now he had crushed his own dream.
If Jack hadn’t been flicking lit matches at his friend, this little incident might never have occurred. But Jack’s intent was only to distract Crazy Larry, not set the house on fire or see his friend’s sad face staring down at his splintered handiwork.
Larry retaliated in the only way he knew how. He stabbed Jack in the shoulder with the hobby knife that was knocked to the floor in the rush to put out the fire. Although the wound was deep, Jack knew it would be ok. Blood flowed down his arm and Jack saw it run to the end of his palm, form a drip and splatter the floor. He had never seen his own blood and it frightened him. He passed out and fell to the floor.
Although this was the first of many stabbing incidents to come, Larry and Jack became brothers after nearly killing each other with stupidity.