The "Burning Oven" Story

It was an ordinary day. Carol and I are headed to Schaeffer Elementary School in Manheim Township for parent's night. Our oldest, Derek, is in 5th grade and Brynn, our middle child is in 2nd grade. We should be gone for about 1 1/2 hours, so we let the three kids by themselves. Their grandparents live right down the street if they need any help with anything. Carol went to visit Brynn's teacher while I headed to visit with Derek's teacher. Well, the evening was very informative with explanations about what the kids are expected to accomplish during the school year. We only live a block from the school so after the meetings we get home pretty quick. As we walk in the door we smell something and know that something has happened. Carol heads to the kitchen and everything seems OK, but something smells different. So, we yell for the kids to come downstairs from their rooms. "What happened while we were gone?" Carol asks them. Derek speaks up right away and says that he was going to make a pizza for everyone so he turned on the oven to warm it up. We have a double oven and stove combination in a very small kitchen. We also have very little space to store food, so we make the best use of the double oven and store bread and pastries in the one oven. The oven that Derek had turned on to make the pizza. The oven that he forgot to remove the bread and pastries from before he turned it on. The oven that caught fire!! I teach shop classes and am accustomed to having a fire extinguisher everywhere. We have one in the kitchen. The fire extinguisher that Derek used to put out the fire. Wow, what presence of mind for a kid 10 year old. Brynn told us, "Derek grabbed the extinguisher and sprayed it in the oven until all the flames were gone. We also decided that it was best not to say anything to both of you when you came home so you wouldn't yell at us." Hey, they even cleaned the oven out, but putting the remains in the trash can under the sink left the smell in the house. Pretty good kids and they came right out and told us about it when we asked. So, we didn't scold anyone. Matter of fact we commended Derek on his quick thinking and decided it was time to find a new place to store the bread and pastries. Oh yeah, we also had the fire extinguisher recharged. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.