Fire in the Hold

On a trip back home from Aurora we got talking about the past and I have completely forgotten the connection that led to this topic but there it was :the day I nearly set the house on fire.
We were in Newmarket at the time and a lot of my shopping was done in Bradford as the produce was better and I was bored. A trip to Bradford filled in the day. I set off this wintery day with two little ones in tow and just plain forgot that I had left a pot roast bubbling away on the stove.I was trundling down a shopping aisle in the I.G.A. when I was struck by a thought. Had I left the stove on?It nagged at me so I found a pay phone and called my Dad to see if he would come across the road,peek in the widow and see if anything was amiss. I would call back in twenty minutes. It seemed he would.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this story it takes place in the eighties. There were no cell phones.There was no Internet.Imagine that!
Right. I call back and the firetrucks were on their way.Hot damn! I had left the pot on the stove.
I shot back to Newmarket and rushed to open the door as the firetrucks arrived. I started to go in through the clouds of black smoke but my Dad had hold of my coat and wouldn't let go.Nigel -the cat - blasted between my legs and hightailed it up the road.I told the firemen Sally was in there and off they went to the rescue.Sally was a bird.She came out in her cage with a cover on it and we thought she was a goner, but no. I took off the cover and there she was cheeping her little heart out.By now all our neighbours were watching and kids were coming home from school. It was sooo exciting.I was mortified.
A huge fan was put in front of the open door to suck out the smoke before we were allowed back in the house. The walls were black with soot and there in my best once blue pot sitting on the back deck was a tiny charred bit of beef. The source of all our woes.It sat there for a few days while I scrubbed out the house. I finally threw it out but not before our neighbour was found crouched over it with her little boy's head stuffed well in. The child was blind and deaf and she wanted him to experience something new.He did. He coughed all the way home.