Paul and the boys had been there on a number of occasions lately because it was rather a big job, what with stuff having been stored in this building for 20-30-40-even 60 years. Things were dusty and messy and they were pitching the junky stuff out the 2nd story window.
There were all manner of things up in that building as once it was a useful chicken house in what would've been the country way back when. The city had literally grown up around the place as evidenced by the fast food restaurant just a stone's thrown over the fence from where they were working and a modern preschool on the other side.
Well, the details from here are a little sketchy. Somewhere along the line one boy emptied out the liquid contents of an old bottle out the window so as to be able to throw the empty bottle aside with some others.
Someone else wondered aloud if it might be flammable.
This is where things went south in a hurry. For some reason known only to young boys, another of my boys pulled out a pocket lighter to give it the experimental test: will it burn?
Yes, it did. In a huge way. My own son, quite without intending to, lit fire to the building he and everyone else was standing in!
Not long after the whole nightmare was underway, Paul called 911.
The fire chief gave the boys a talking to and confiscated the lighter. Ironically, Paul had been searching high and low for just such a lighter the other day to burn trash here at home. Who knew that was but a foreshadowing of what was to come?
No one was hurt, thank God.
We'll be spending next week trying to meet the one week deadline given by the fire chief to get the whole thing cleaned up.
~Colleen
