As I read what I'd written last night, I found myself making a few changes. Still I was happy with how my hottie SAR hero was coming across and wanted to finish the scene. I got to work. I'm not sure how much time had passed. It didn't seem that long, but the door swung open.
Finn jumped up and down.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"The kitchen's on fire."
I bolted off the bed. "How could it have caught fire?"
"Mackenna was using the microwave."
Halfway down the stairs, thick, noxious smelling smoke hit me. The entire downstairs was covered in a gray cloud. My first thought was why isn't the smoke detector going off. I didn't see any flames so I opened the back door. The smoke poured out.
I found a smoking, burning plastic plate with what looked like a fist sized somewhat charred human brain sitting on it. "What were you doing?" I asked. I'll let you imagine the tone and the volume level as I put it in the sink and turned on the water.
"M-making a snack," Mackenna said.
I turned on the oven fan. "I said not to use the microwave."Mackenna's lips quivered. "He said I could."
Finn raised his chin. "I said you couldn't."
"No, you said--"
"Upstairs." I pointed to the stairs about to totally lose it. "To your rooms."
Tears fell from Mackenna eyes. "I'm--"
"Go." Before I give you something to really cry about. "Now."
As they trudged their way upstairs, I picked up charred paper towels from the floor. What had happened? Strands of melted plastic hung from the sink, across the stainless steel dishwasher to the hardwood floor. I kept staring at the brain like snack. It looked like a science experiment gone horribly wrong.What could it? The mass sort of resembled bread, but the only bread we had in the house were mini-bagels and whole wheat sandwich bread.
Meanwhile, I opened more doors and windows since the smoke was taking a long time to clear. I also called the hubby to tell him what his daughter had done. Even when the smoke dissipated, the smell lingered. I can still smell it this morning.Once apologies were given and accepted, I found out what had really happened. Mackenna decided she wanted bread for a snack so she decided to make it herself. Her dough recipe consisted of flour and water. She then placed the ball onto a plastic plate and placed it in the microwave oven. On high. For five minutes.
I explained that making bread was a little more complicated than that. Hubby offered to make a loaf with her this weekend. We then talked about disobedience and stressed there was no cooking allowed if an adult wasn't present.
Once the kids were in bed and I trying to get caught up on the writing time I'd lost earlier, hubby removed the plate and the "bread" from the trash and took some pics of his daughter's snack. The only thing we still need to figure out is why the smoke alarm didn't go off. I know it works after burning a grilled cheese sandwich, but the smoke yesterday was much worse than that time!Moms joke about not being disturbed unless there is blood or flames involved. I dealt with the blood back in August 2005 and now I've had this smoke incident. I gotta admit the next time they run because they need me now I hope it's because one of them was Sharpay and the Gabriella and they were singing during the wrong parts of the song.
Have you or your kids ever had any smoke or fire mishaps in the kitchen?
