Family Vacation

Family Vacation  (E) Writer's Cramp Entry June 30, 2018 #2162271 by Chris Breva

517 words

"Prompt:Sometimes when you come home from vacation, everything in the house seems to be broken. Write a story or poem about it."

We had just returned home from a wonderful family vacation at Sally Buffalo Lake in Cadiz Ohio. Sally Buffalo State Park was our family's go to vacation spot. We would go there twice each summer for a week at a time or sometimes go only once and spend two weeks there. Work allowed for two weeks of paid vacation each year. This time we had only been gone one week. It wasn't unusual for things to go wrong and ruin an otherwise perfect vacation and this time was no exception. The first thing we noticed was that the freezer had stopped working, ruining about $200.00 worth of food, which had been stored in it. The refrigerator had also stopped running, which indicated that we had blown a fuse. "Much of the stuff in the freezer is still frozen", Mom said. "If we can get the power back on in it I think I can save most of it."

"I'll have the power back on in a jiffy," I said "I believe is just a tripped breaker. There must have been a power surge or something that caused it to trip."

Sure enough I found that the breaker to the kitchen receptacles had been tripped and quickly reset it. Mom indicated that everything was still not running. This prompted me to check the main breaker and I found that it too had been tripped. I turned it back on and the lights in the house sprang to life and the refrigerator started to hum. "That did it", Mom said. "Whatever you did fixed it."

"I turned on the main breaker", I replied. "I don't know how it got turned off to begin with unless there was a power surge or something."

"It wasn't a power surge," my brother chimed in. "You told me to shut down everything in the house before we left so I turned off the main breaker."

"Why did you do that", Mom asked. "We meant for you to go through the house and make sure the coffee pot was off, the television was off, and everything that could cause a fire was off. You weren't suppose to shut down the house. Fortunately we got back in time to save most of the stuff in the freezer however. Next time I'll make sure everything is safe myself!"

That is exactly what happened. We left for our second vacation that summer about a month later. "Do you want me to shut down everything", my brother asked. "I'll just make sure that I unplug the coffee pot and that no burners are on."

"No", Mom replied. "I'll do it myself that way I will know my freezer and refrigerator are not shut off."

"But Mom I learned my lesson last time."

"No son. I believe you might do it right this time but I'm not taking chances."

It was years before Mom trusted anybody else to secure the house again even for trips to town!