Long ago and far away, an interesting day in a Frankenstein kind of way

By Molly Hillyard

September 16, 2005 | I woke up one fall morning and I knew if was going to be an interesting day. I decided to have cereal for breakfast and out came a prize. It was a Frankenstein glow-in-the-dark patch that I thought was so cool. I wanted to iron it on my favorite T-shirt right away. I went to my mom to ask if we could iron it on before preschool started. She said that we needed to wait until I came home because there was not enough time before class. She said that she would be more than happy to help me iron it on later that day.

I waited all day for preschool to end and than I ran home. I was so excited to finally iron on my glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein patch. When I got to my house no one was there. I walked down the stairs calling out for someone and there was not one answer. I was alone.

Now at my age I thought I was a pretty responsible little person so I gathered the necessary equipment. I got out the glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein patch, my favorite T-shirt, and the iron that was in the closet. I thought, at the time, that it was a good idea to do the ironing on the kitchen table for two reasons. I was too little to handle the ironing board and there was a television that I could watch while I was ironing. My mom always watched television when she did the ironing so I thought it would only be fitting that I do the same.

I plugged the iron in and I set my T-shirt on the counter and placed the Frankenstein patch in the perfect spot in the upper right hand position of my t-shirt. I placed the iron directly over the patch and waited. I did not know how long I should leave the hot iron on the patch to make it stick, and I did not want to ruin everything by not leaving it on long enough and there was nothing good on television so I left the room for a few minutes. There were fun toys in my room so I went to play for just a little while. I finished up in my room.

I must admit I kind of forgot about the iron. When I turned the corner into the kitchen I knew something was wrong. There was smoke coming from the iron that I left face down on my T-shirt.

I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me and I climbed up on the kitchen counter and I lifted the iron off my shirt and that's when I realized the damage. The iron was covered in what was my glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein patch, and my favorite T-shirt had a huge triangle outlined all the way through. The iron burned a triangle shape on the counter top as well. What was I going to do? I did not know where my mom was so I had no idea what time she was going to be home. I knew I had to move quickly.

I threw the iron in the trash because the patch was all over the surface of the iron. I knew it wound not be able to iron any more clothes. My cool glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein patch was non-existent, and my favorite T-shirt ended up in the trash.

When everything was thrown away there was still one problem and it was the hardest one to fix. What was I going to do about the burn on the counter? It was the first thing you could see when you walk through the back door into the kitchen area. Then I thought of such a good idea. On the other side of the counter there was a cookie sheet that had some of my moms delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies. I moved the cookie sheet over the burn and went downstairs to watch television because no one would ever move the cookie sheet, right?

It was apparent when my mom came home the cookie sheet was not such a good idea. She moved the cookie sheet back to its original place on the outer countertop and that's when she noticed the burned triangle. That's when my little life changed. My mom was so upset with me. Not only did I burn the countertop but that I disobeyed her and didn't wait for her to help. That day I learned the hard way that I should listen to my mom and that sometimes parents really do know what's best for us.

It is interesting to note that my parents haven't replaced the countertop after all these years. Everyone who is in the kitchen for the first time always ask how a burned triangle got on the counter top and I think in a crazy way my mom likes to tell the story of what happened.

NW
MS