FIRE DRILL

late saturday night or early sunday morning, as it were, i woke the house with a chaotic, rousing, blasting production of "heat in the night". we had jeremy's eight- year old niece for the weekend, and being the kind aunt i am, when i awoke @ 4:00 a.m. freezing cold, i supposed jessica was one little-girl flavored popsicle. so i quietly tip-toed to the thermostat and turned on the heat for the first time this year. aaahhhh! those who were present during the nell sunday fire drill escapade caused by my cleaning fluid in the ancient heater will recall the chaos that ensued. this incident was somewhat the same only not quite as spectacular as there were only 3 of us and not hundreds of girls wearing white glove get-up with rags in their hands and hair. there was no fire but so much burning dust that both flashing white orbs went screaming and whistling waking up my husband and my niece, neither who thought it was cold at all. the havoc that ensued only lasted 15 minutes or so, but i did end up rubbing my niece's back and whispering about howie the one eyed dog until her little eyes slipped closed after such a frightening wake-up call. i also learned not to turn the heat on in the middle of the night. what fun i cause without even trying :)