31 Days of Life Stories #20

The very first thing I ever did to make money was cleaning house and babysitting an 8 year old for my pastor's wife. I worked really hard at cleaning their house. She had two teenage boys that I wanted to impress with my home-keeping abilities. (My skills at that time were very limited.)

I did very well with cleaning and laundry. However, I don't think I impressed anyone after the kitchen fiasco.

One day, I was going to surprise Sister Hart with cooking something for their dinner. I can't remember after all these years what it was, but it was probably a banana chiffon cake which was about the only thing I knew how to make at the time. I turned on the oven to pre-heat and went outside to check on the laundry. (In Florida, a lot of homes had a laundry room attached to the carport.) I left Kathy, my babysitting charge, watching TV. I was gone awhile, probably hanging up some clothes on the line as well, when Kathy came running outside yelling the house was on fire!

I ran back into the house and saw tons of smoke coming out of the oven. Unbeknownst to me, someone had broiled some meat in the broiler pan the night before and had left the pan sitting in the oven - with a bunch of grease in it. When I opened the oven door, flames were coming out of the pan. I stood there flapping my hands and screaming, "Oh no, what do I do?" Kathy calmly filled a glass with water and pitched it into the oven! 

The flames went out and I was left with a smoky messy kitchen. I totally forgot about making a cake. I closed the oven door and got to work cleaning everything up. I wiped everything down with Lysol. This was back in the day before Lysol had all those fancy fragrances. I figured the smell of Lysol would take away from any smoky smells remaining.

When I left that evening, the kitchen was in apple pie order and I felt good that I had it all cleaned up. However, I didn't mention what happened to Sister Hart. Why bother her when it all worked out?

I had forgotten all about the inside of the oven and the greasy pan ... so later when Sister Hart went to make dinner, she opened that oven door to that mess.

"Kathy, what happened here today?"

"Oh, the house got on fire; but I put it out."

Yeah, I didn't really impress anyone with my home-keeping abilities ... 

This post is #19 in my series, 31 Days of Life Stories. Hundreds of writers are linking up at the 31 Day Writing Challenge hosted by Crystal Stine. There is a wealth of information on many topics. Go visit and see! I'll be posting under the category "Inspiration and Faith."