Thanks again to all the replies! I've finally plucked up the nerve to hook it up, and the red light came on my charger, so I guess tomorrow morning we'll see if it all worked out!
@Water Warrior
This is the charger I got. Turns out it did come with one, I just didn't know what it was! (I'm past the point of 'embarrassed to admit my lack of basic knowledge' right now, I just want to get my bike running again!) I used the alligator clips for now, tomorrow I'll figure out how to attach the harness. Thank you so much! Should definitely come in handy
And thank you blaine and Gz Rider for all the information! I think this whole 'explosive' thing is what's really got me on edge. I made sure to leave the garage door open to keep it ventilated in there while the battery charges overnight.
I heard of 'flooding the engine,' after all this went down (proud to utilize my limited knowledge of carburetors I'd recently acquired from a book. That is to say, I
think I understand what happened, but all I know is what I've read about, and I haven't even read that much. ), and figured that made sense as the cause of the original (not starting) problem, I just wasn't sure what to do about it. Am I just supposed to let it sit and wait for the gas to evaporate? Is there anything else I'm supposed to do? Gz Rider mentioned changing the oil just to be safe. I guess once the battery is charged we'll see if he starts up or not...
Thanks again for everything!