Summer before entering senior year of high school, I was home recovering after having my wisdom teeth removed. Bored reading in my sitting room, I along with my golden dog "Ginger" headed downstairs to the basement after stopping in the kitchen to fix a snack. "I can't eat anything" so why bother. I placed the pan back on the counter and continued on to the basement to watch tv. An hour later, Ginger suddenly jumps up and runs upstairs barking the whole time. "That is odd, Ginger never leaves me" I thought as I followed her up the steps. As we entered the kitchen, I realized there was smoke all around me. After opening the door to the outside, I ran into the foyer and looked upstairs. It was black- smoke everywhere! I quickly ran outside, across the street to the neighbors house and banged on her door. The housekeeper answered, of course to my luck, in spanish which I do not know a word of. "I need to use your phone," I yell, only to then shove her aside and run into the house to find the phone. I make three important phone calls:
First one: 911
Second one: The King's House Antiques knowingly my mother would not take my call since I had called only a 100 times already. Someone answers, "Hi!!! Is my mom there?" "No, she can't come to the phone now." Me, "Oh that is perfectly fine. Just tell her the house is on fire."
Third one: 19th hole at the BCC formingly known as my dad's second home. "19th hole," the person says. "Is John Kidd in?" "No, he is still on the golf course." "Hmmm, I see. Well would you please pass on the message whenever...that his house is on fire."
After placing the phone back on the hook, I looked down and realized I was wearing nothing but a t- shirt and panties. No bra, no shorts...nothing. Holding my head high and feeling very Bridgette Jones like, I strutted back across the street to my house. It is engulfed in flames. The fire hose is spraying water on it from at least 4 firetrucks. My possessions are being tossed out of the window as if they have no meaning. The only thing recognizeable was my teddy bear that my friend from camp gave to me. Everything else was black, charred or burned. An hour or two later, the last fireman exited our house and handed me three things that survived my sitting room, my Bible, my prayer journal and a shoebox of photos. He said to me,"You are so lucky you closed your door when you left your room. If you hadn't, the whole house would've exploded." I nodded and thought,"of course...only I did not close the door, I never close doors." I am always opening doors as I had opened up the kitchen door in which that is how Ginger, my dog got out.
What happened? The firemen said that my tv in the sitting room had an electric spark. Everything but those three was burned in my room. The other bedrooms, some possessions were smoke damaged, some were not. The furniture was salvageable. My WHOLE entire wardrobe was gone but....I got a whole new wardrobe. And what did I wear to shop in? My t-shirt, panties, grandmothers fancy Chantelle bra which of course was stuffed with tissue since she's a C, some shorts borrowed from a friend. And where did I go? Remember, high school, Ann Taylor, Parisians, Richs, Harolds...but if happened now to me, where would I shop? NM, Saks...hmm. Maybe I should start looking for some matches?
