Fire in the room

The rental was heated with oil. To light it, Dad would turn on the oil and let a little spill into the burn chamber then throw in some tissue which he had ignited.

On this particular evening, he had turned on the oil with the intention of lighting it soon. Instead, there was a distraction out front (a fender-bender if I remember correctly) which significantly delayed the lighting of the stove oil. We were in bed when the stove began to roar as the stove oil came to a boil. It was a horrible noise. Dad ran into the room and shut off the oil and the noise rapidly declined. I thought he was very brave.

This is the first time I have really reflected on that house. Having a heated room at night was quite nice.