The Smell Of Burning.............

As soon as I got out of my truck and came around the passenger side I could smell it. Something was burning and since it was after midnight I felt relatively sure that not a single person was up that late grilling and that meant bad things for me. My mind immediately grabbed onto the thought that perhaps some liquid had spilled out in my engine and what I was smelling was that liquid burning off from the heat but I discarded that possibility in an instant.

With each step my pace quickened bringing me speedily to the front door and as I did so the burning smell grew more intense. I now knew with certainty that it was coming from inside my house. As fumbled with my keys I opened the door I saw that smoke was quite thick in the living room, the dining room and the kitchen. It was in the kitchen where I found what was the source of the smell and the smoke. My wife had been cooking and somehow had left the burner turned on with the pot still on it although any liquid that had been inside had long since burned off and what was left inside was mostly a charred and blackened mess. Thankfully though there was no fire.

My first move was to start opening doors and windows and then, coughing, I made my way to my sons bedroom which had the door closed. My wife and son were inside safe and soundly sleeping as I went in and took the floor fan out of the room. My intention was to us it to help hasten the exit of that horrid, acrid smoke and smell. In doing so my actions woke my wife and I told her tersely what she had done and made my way out of the room. She followed and wanted to know if she and our son should leave the house but I sent her back into the room reasoning that since the door had been closed the chance of smoke making it in was minimal at best and that they would be okay.

She did as I requested (which can be a rare thing these days) and I opened more windows and plugged in the fan facing it outside in order to draw the smoke out of the house. It took a few minutes before the majority of the smoke was gone but some of it lingered on in various parts of the house and I reasoned that perhaps it was better for me to stay up longer and make sure I got rid of it all. I dumped as much out of the pot as I could and poured hot water in it in order to soften what remained making it easier to clean (a hope that was in vain) and then finally made my way to bed.

Several days and many hot water refills later that pot still sits there on the counter and it may never be fully clean again. At times I can still smell the telltale remnants of the smoke just briefly at various parts of the house. Who knows if and when it will ever go away.


Published by Don Leach