the magnifying glass craze of 2002
back before smart phones we used to have magnifying glasses. you dont see them much today but that was how me and my friends spent our time. we liked to look at bugs and try set fire to them. then we realised that if your held it to your skin for long enough, you would eventually burn. we had challenges to see who could do it the longest, but people were always cheating. you could never count on an opponent to focus the light properly and such. that was why we started getting people to hold them down while another held the glass. we would stop when they said the magic word of course which was always something hard to say, and dont worry, we werent being nasty. we only wanted go singe their hair and maybe give them a fright, maybe teach them not to mess with us etc etc. it was all in good spirits. soon everyone was carrying a magnifying glass, carrying them in self defense, but occasionally retaliation and the problem was, not everybody was sound of mind. we always knew when to stop but some kids did not. these were usually the kids we had burnt. one kid brought his cousins to school who restrained my friend emmet and until he had a red oozing wound on his wrist, an incident so shocking that our school made the news and a statewide ban on magnifying glasses was put into place. random bag checks would happened every week and any student caught with a magnifying glass would be sent to the councillor and suspended for three days. this happened to me. a thief whod been rifling through my bag had found the secret pocket and dobbed me in. "i was just gonna to use it to look at stamps" i said, a stamphound at the time. "i was just gonna use it for looking at stamps". i showed him the small album i carried with me in case i ever got caught. the headmaster asked me to identify my favourite stamp and i pointed to the goblet clad gnome from the magic rainforest series that had been released the previous week. he beckoned me outside and proceeded to use the glass to burn my favourite stamp. then he tried to snap the magnifying glass in two but only succeeded in breaking off the handle. my parents quickly bought me another one and the very next day i got revenge by burning a hole in the tyre of his honda civic. no one ever proved it was me as light leaves no dna traces. this was good for me but bad for him. he shouldnt have messed with my personal belongings.