Illegal purchases and illegal activity

I have an affinity for fireworks. If you talked to my closest friends they would say it is more of obsession. If you talked to my family, I am a pyromaniac. What ever it is, I like fireworks. The problem is the good stuff (anything that goes over 20ft in the air and could do some real explosive damage) isn't sold in my home state of Georgia. Four states that border Georgia do-- Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida. This leads to my 4th of July purchase. I wanted to buy some bottle rockets, some mortars, and any other thing that struck my fancy.

So on the way home from a recent FL vacation the fam and I stop by "Last Chance Fireworks" that was advertised on the side of the highway. The sign should have told me something. It was a hand-painted piece of plywood attached to a stake in stuck in the ground. Once I got off the exit, I saw a circus tent set-up in the parking lot of a seemingly abandoned hotel. There was a myriad of pyrotechnics spread across about 15 collapsible tables. The guy working the place seemed like he snorted gunpowder and cocaine mixed with meth to flavor for breakfast. While he was weird and a little unsettling, he did provide excellent customer service. I purchased about $40 worth of fireworks and traveled on my merry way home.

On the 3rd of July I set off my purchases. On the 4th of July I receive a phone call from Fraud Prevention Department at my Credit Union. It seems I was also in Italy late the night before buying $1 and $2 trinkets and then a $27 train ticket. After discussing with the Fraud Prevention people, I figured out that the the nice twitchy man that had sold me my parking lot fireworks had also sold my debit card # to some one overseas. So now I am without my debit/atm card for 7-10 business days.

Moral: Meth is a helluva drug and always bring cash when buying anything that is illegal.