we'll just toss a bit in there

Growing up in Chilliwack..............1952

14 years old...We live in a old house at the corner of Broadway and Yale Rd....The house has a large old basement with a big coal and wood furnace .....the wide pipes stuck out of it and reached out for various rooms in the house....it really was an ugly old brute....and it took up lots of room...the basement was a base ment for storage of stuff....preserves, coal ,wood and all the things the old place needed for its maintenance....it was a dark musty place.....there was a part of it that was dirt...there were a couple of pull cord lights and they were sorely needed to get light in there ,even on bright days....and there was stuff in there from past tenants...jars , old dishes, assorted tea cups , nick nacks, boards .....junk that might come in handy some day...That's the way old basements were for the most part. There was a sort of room at the back that I cleaned up and I used as stinky rumpus room...I think I even slept there a few times.....
Well, one rainy Fall day Mum asked me to go down and put some coal on the fire....okay,okay...I go down the stairs from the back porch and approach the beast, then I open the heavy door....Oh...It's out...the fire is out...hmmm...what would a good player do...whats this ?..in this jar...smells like coal oil...hey...I will get this puppy going......I stand on my tippy toes so I can peer in the opening better...yay....there is some red......I won't have to light it...ok...ok...we'll just toss a bit in there...toss, toss.....no........ ok a little more then....hmmm ....why won't it catch.....pause...wats goin on in there, as I stick my dum face closer to the hole................BANG...or BOOM would be more like it...jees it blew me backwards....Mum came running down the steps.... Gary.....what...... Yow its hot....I run by her and head up to the bathroom sink....ohh ,nice cool water......... ohh, that's goooooooooood...Mum is bumping into herself...but manages to get it together...she phones Dr. Patten and he says to come right to his office....meanwhile I pour on the water....I look in the mirror...gawd who is that dirty red faced baboon with no eyebrows .......we had great neighbors there and mum quickly got a car ride for us....Doc has his usual dry humor and made me sure that I knew exactly how stupid I was....Good ol Doc....he patched me up many times over 18 years...he put this wonderful white cream on my face...ooooooooooooo it felt so good...cool ,cool...the sting went away immediately....then out come the bandages ...he does me up like a mummy....complete with nose and eye holes...I don't care...it feels so good....Well you gotta wear that for two or 3 days kid... you will have fun explaining this to your pals....was he right...oh ya..Hey Scaley what happened to you?.Did you see Gus..he looks like a mummy.....I really should have a Darwin Award for that caper.........but luckily the burns were of a minor nature and my eyebrows grew back in a week or so...I don't know if that was a good lesson.......but it was a lesson.