OK. I have to tell a story. It was summertime. My son, Chris, was about 13 (now 24), my daughter Corrie was about 15 (now 26.) I hated summertime. It meant kids staying up too late when I had to still get up early, coordinating breakfast and lunch for the kids while I was away at work…well, I was at Dillions one particular evening after work picking up food for the next day. I had “Toaster Strudels” on my mind. As I thought of them I thought, “What if the toaster catches on fire?” (it had happened to me once before, when I was 16)... then I shook off the thought. My kids had used that toaster a thousand times for thousands of things, (including Toaster Strudels)) before. Then I thought, “Why did that thought even cross my mind??”
Well…guess what. Get a call at work the next morning. Toaster caught on fire. I had a fire extinguisher under the kitchen sink. Kids, including Chris, knew about it. My son calmly UNPLUGGED the toaster, then sprayed the hell out of if with the extinguisher…along with the entire rest of the kitchen! Jebus he went to town!!!
Ah, well. When I got there 5 minutes later…I had a helluva mess to clean up.
I said, “You know, son…you really only needed to spray the toaster.”
He grinned and said, “I just wanted to be sure!”
I just paused, then said, “You thought to unplug the toaster first?
He said, “Yes Ma’am.”
I looked at the kitchen walls, floor, everything, paused, and said, “Well…good thinking.”
Then we turned away, both grinning because CHRIS got away with emptying the fire extinguisher all over the kitchen (what kid wouldn’t want to do THAT given half a chance?!) and I couldn’t say a damn thing because he’d “saved everybody’s life!!”
It was one of the few times he beat me…and I have to laugh at all three of those times!
Oh and, I believe the toaster really caught on fire because
1) The wall behind it was scorched and
2) My daughter, Corrie, is and was, a big tattle tale. If Chris had somehow staged or made the whole thing up she would have told me at that moment…and she’s backed up the story for ‘lo these 11 years!