Hunger And The Consequences Thereof

Yes, that black area on the underside of our kitchen cabinet door is exactly what it looks like. We had a fire in our kitchen and the cabinet above the stove got the worst of it. How did this happen? Well, It all started with a hungry boy.

Ahem... We have a curious 3 year old—a boy who loves to explore everything except the contours of the sheets and blankets on his bed. This little guy doesn't need much sleep and prides himself in being able to awake an hour or two before anyone else in the house is ready to get out of bed. He also loves to crawl out of his bed in stealth ninja style so that the sleeping "older people" across the hallway aren't able to hear that he's decided to start his day.

Well, at approximately 6:32 am on a Sunday morning, Christian was up and in desperate need of sustenance. He probably asked himself, "Should I wake mom so she can pour me a bowl of cereal?"

"Nah, too risky. Mom would most likely pour me the healthy stuff. Probably best if I take care of this one myself."

So that's just what he did. He moved a chair into position so he could boost himself up to the counter top and open the upper cereal cabinet to retrieve his breakfast. With cereal box in hand, he climbed down and went downstairs to see if he could figure out how to get the TV to play cartoons, I'm sure. Doesn't he know cartoons aren't allowed on Sundays?

Our cereal cabinet resides directly above our stovetop. It's a great cabinet. A perfect place to store a plethora of breakfast goodness. But on this particular day, it seems that a foot belonging to a hungry youngster somehow kicked one of the burners on. That wouldn't have been so bad, but at this point, our same malnourished young 'un must have inadvertently knocked a roll of duck tape onto the glowing stovetop. This is where the story gets good. Smoke and flames start billowing from the smoldering tape roll. This wasn't just any smoke, though. It was a hearty, thick black netherworld sort of smoke. The type of smoke that smells like burnt popcorn multiplied by the power of infinity. Yes. That's how it smelled.

Flames were high enough to lap over the cereal cabinet and give it a good drubbing and black smoke coated everything above the stove. Even dishes and bowls were smudged in soot, not to mention the ceiling. Looking on the bright side though, Christian's belly was satiated.

We feel so blessed that it wasn't any worse. We've been dealing with the smoke smell for over a week, now. But that's a small price to pay when you consider what may have happened had the cabinets caught fire. The smell subsides a little more with each passing day. The cabinet will be back to pristine condition after a little sanding and revarnishing. Once again, we've been blessed.

I've probably painted Christian to be somewhat of a menace. That can't be any farther from the truth. He's a good boy—he's just curious and tries to be independent. And we love him for it. We just hope the next time he's exercising his independence, it doesn't involve fire and stinky popcorn smoke.