BOBBLE TIKI: REPORTING LIVE FROM THE FOURTH OF JULY >>>

As families across the South Sound celebrated Independence Day tonight with fireworks, beer and barbecues, the nation's youth are participating in a time-honored ritual of their own as they suffer minor injuries from firecrackers exploding prematurely in their hands.

Bobble Tiki is on the scene:

"It just doesn't feel like the Fourth of July till a Black Cat goes off just as your arm's cocked to throw," says Chet, Bobble Tiki’s 13-year-old fourth cousin, nursing his throbbing right hand in a bag of ice. "The sudden bang, the shock of realizing what just happened, the weird tingling that slowly gives way to mind-blowing pain ... it's like, 'Yeah, now it's the Fourth of July.'"

Ted, 17, Bobble Tiki’s sister’s sister’s nephew, agrees.

"I’m down to my last four Whipcracks and thinking it wasn't going to happen this year," he says, grounded to his room, his left hand wrapped in a damp towel. "Second to last one, no kidding, blam! A Fourth without hand injuries is like a Fourth without hot dogs.