October Novel Prep Challenge

Pops and my son have been working on finishing a room in his basement… he owns a house but rents the upstairs to a family who are friends of the family and he lives in an apartment in the basement. That way he can afford to keep it. They were working Wednesday afternoon when the table saw seized up and started smoking. They turned it off and unplugged it, opened the windows and used fans to get the smoke out before the alarms went off.

Half an hour later the smoke had cleared and the saw was cool so they went to the hardware store to get a new saw. They were on their way back, two minutes from home, when the 16 y.o. boy who lives upstairs called and told Pops the house was on fire and the alarms were going off!

Pops, of course, told him to get out of the house and call the fire department. As soon as he hung up his cell phone, Brinks Security called him and said the fire department had been called because they received an alarm from the system. He pulled up in front of his house seconds later and smoke was pouring out the basement. He and Nathaniel grabbed the garden hose and rushed inside; they came face to face with a huge billow of black smoke and rushed back out.

The fire department arrived moments later and came out laughing. The table saw was in the middle of the empty part of the basement directly under PVC piping that carried water to the washing machine. The fire melted the pipes and the black smoke Pops and Nathaniel met on their way in was most likely caused by the water draining from those pipes onto the fire itself, extinguishing it.

Meanwhile, the fire hose sprung a leak as it stretched across the upstairs floor and down the basement stairs, saturating the carpet and padding and soaking the floorboards.

They said the fortuitousness of the fire melting the water pipes probably saved the house. The fire was so hot it melted the aluminum from the saw table and formed a puddle on the floor. Some of the wiring is fused and there are thousands of dollars worth of smoke damage, but insurance should cover the majority, and they’re putting Pops up in an ‘extended stay’ hotel with a kitchenette so he doesn’t have to breathe the smoky air. They expect it to take at least 2 months to clean up.

Today he told me that even the pills in his daily pill boxes were black with soot. Everything downstairs will be cleaned including furniture, if possible. Insurance will pay for a new mattress, pillows, bedding, dry cleaning, laundry… everything he wouldn’t normally have to do.

As for the car accident… it was at the beginning of October. We were rear ended while sitting at a stop light. My daughter and I were in a Saturn sedan and we were hit by a Lincoln Navigator going about 35 mph. I have a few more weeks of physical therapy and I should be getting better. It’s just hard to get things done when you have difficulty doing everything including sitting still or lying down.

My daughter was fine… she’s a lot younger, though, too.

Don’t worry… everything will get better and it could have been far, far worse, so I’m thankful for that.

Thanks to all of you who’ve written and asked how I’m doing, and to those who have been following my progress as I prepare to write my story. All of your encouragement and consideration has meant so much to me! I hope I can be as encouraging to all of you in return.

Hugs to all,
Deborah