Playing With Fire

I have been getting questions lately as to when my husband's caveman instinct to discover fire first manifested itself.  His family was visiting his grandparent's house when the opportunity availed itself in the form of a pack of matches left unattended on a table.

My husband, always the Curious George, took that book of matches and snuck outside with them before anyone could discover them missing.  He found a place on the edge of the yard between his grandparent's house and the neighbor's, where no one could see what he was doing.

He figured out how to open the flap and then fiddled around with the matches until he figured out how to pull each match out of the packet.  He immediately set about trying to strike the matches with enough force to get one to light, just as he'd seen his parents and grandparents do.  After multiple failed attempts, he got a little frustrated with it and gave it some extra muscle as he slid the match along the strike strip.  Instantly the match lit.  Like a cave dweller, he marveled over the first fire he was able to create.

As he gazed at the fire, the match burned closer and closer to his fingers.  Not knowing what to do with the match as the flame was now starting to burn so close to his fingers that it was becoming painful to hold the match (I guess blowing out the flame didn't cross his mind), my husband dropped the lit match........ on a dry yard.

The grass started smoking instantaneously.  As he sat and watched in horror, the fire grew.  Not knowing what to do but knowing he would be in deep trouble if he was caught, he high-tailed it to his grandparent's back patio and acted like he had been playing there for hours.  Neighbors noticed the fire as it grew and the fire department was called out, arriving with sirens blaring.  While all this commotion was going on, my husband continued to sit on the patio as if he was completely oblivious to it all and innocent of any wrongdoing.

His parents knew something was up when he hadn't come running outside at the first sound of the fire engine arriving.  When they found him on the back patio, he acted like he was completely unaware of the smoke which had almost completely enveloped him at that point.  The jig was up when they asked him if he knew anything about the fire and, while coughing from the smoke, he said he didn't know anything about any fire.

The neighbor's prized front lawn was completely burnt up but thankfully the house didn't sustain any damage.  My husband's punishment?  Well, let's just say his parents taught him a very valuable lesson in the dangers of playing with fire.  Of course, I learned about this after we were married and after the incident with the fire ants........

by:  Christie Bielss