I could start this one with “A funny thing happened on my way to dreamland Friday night . . . A different start could be “I didn’t even get a s’more!” Someone at church had suggested something like “I don’t save coupons, but I save houses!” You get the idea.
I’ll start at the beginning and probably continue tomorrow. People don’t like the longer entries, so. . I’ll preface everything with the disclaimer that Bob, Einstein and I are all fine. Our home is basically without changes.
A guy came to the door selling new and improved home alert systems in the late afternoon. He said GE would come and improve our current system by making it digital instead of dial up. I said what I really would like was a speaker in our bedroom instead of the back door. Neither of us could here the alarms. He said no problem. Now I need to tell you that he had a GE shirt and badge. He knew our complete system and password, etc so I felt pretty safe asking him into our home. He also said that this new system could give Bob a panic button thing to wear. He could call for help if he needed me. We both thought of the countless times he has fallen while I was piddling with something else in the house. This panic button would give us both peace of mind. This system promised to call us soon than the old one. We were sold.
We signed the papers and another guy came to install. Man one left. The installer was here a long time. He didn’t like where the smoke alarm was in the basement, so he asked to move it. The alarm was going off full time to test the system, so I found some refuge in the back yard. I was starting to regret our decision and the extra $10 per month. By then the poor guy was really sweating and it was after 9 PM. I told him to go home and finish on Monday, but he wanted to finish what he had started. So he left about 9:15 PM. We went to bed around 10:30 and I read to almost midnight.
At 1:55 AM, a loud siren going off in our bedroom awakened me. If you were awake at that time, you probably heard it too. I rushed to the box to try to stop the noise and find out why it went off. Our password didn’t work. Coming across the screen came a warning that the smoke alarm by the basement stairs was going off. A British mechanical voice started saying the same thing and telling us to leave the premises. I called to Bob and was about to head downstairs when our phone rang. I went back and grabbed that. Some calm man repeated what I had heard. He said the siren could not go off until we or the fire department cleared there was no fire. He said we should hurry and leave the building.
With the phone in hand, I headed out to scope the situation. As soon as I left our bedroom, I could smell the smoke. I’ll never forget that smell. I called back to Bob to get out. I knew he would be slower so I rushed downstairs by myself. When I touched our first floor landing, and made the turn, I could see smoke coming up from the basement. That’s not a good sign. I headed down the next flight of stairs and saw flames in the basement corner. With my heart thumping, and a fast prayer to God, I hurried over.
The flames were coming from a “hospital tank” we keep for any sick fish or corals. Our service had just taken two sick clams, so the tank was without living creatures. One of the two heating elements had flames coming from the top back corner. They were maybe three feet high. A small plastic container sat nearby that Bob had used to move the clams. I grabbed that and started taking water from the tank to douse the flames. I told my new best friend on the phone that I was setting down the phone to use both hands. I would keep talking through my progress. (Yes, surprise, surprise. I would keep talking.)
The job was easier with two hands. Although the flames were scorching the ceiling, I was able to stop them and that horrid sizzling sound from the electrical wires. I was about to pick up the phone again when I glanced down only to see more flames from the carpeting. I shouted to tell him my progress. I could hear the poor guy advising me to leave the house, but this was my home and the adrenalin was running.
Stay tuned to tomorrow to find out more.
Benefit of Having Chronic Pain Be the Proof that Life is Good:
- You don’t notice the pain when your home is in danger.
No comments:
Post a Comment