Oil + Water

Sarah and I have been eating a lot of popcorn as of late for dinner.  The Ole Ma cooks plenty for lunch, and we just don’t feel too hungry at the end of the day.  The downfall of this plan is that it often takes longer for the coal pot to heat up than for the popcorn to pop… That being said, often times, Sarah will light the coal pot, go take a bath, then come back and read a book until the oil is hot enough.

This is what she did on a Monday night a few weeks ago; nevertheless, the coal pot that night was exceptionally quick and hot.  She was reading (Nights of Rodanthe, actually – we were going to watch the movie that night) and wasn’t paying much attention to the comments of our neighbors.  Soon, however, she began to notice that they were congregating near the house and frequently mentioning “white woman”. 

She looked up from her book and noticed the coal pot was smoking – she took the lid off the pot, which was containing the oil she was heating, and flames were jumping out at her.  She put the lid down, took down the pot, and set it on the porch.  Then, she went inside to get water to throw on this fire…

Now, it has been mentioned that oil fires and water do not mix well, but in a moment of clarity, she forgot this.  Granted, I think I would have forgotten as well – how often do we deal with grease fires back home?  She came back outside, threw the scoop of water on the fire, and the flames jumped up at least six feet (they were higher than the door).  Luckily, our neighbor, Robertson, had run over to see what was happening, and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to the far side of the porch before covering the fire.

While all of this was happening, I was inside, having just finished my bucket bath.  I heard the water hit the fire, but I had no idea what was happening.  I came outside to find our entire neighborhood crowded onto and around our porch and Sarah uncomfortably laughing to herself.  While telling me the story, I started laughing as well – I just didn’t know how else to respond to this situation.

Robertson told me that my sister was lucky, and I responded to him in the only way I know how – “Thank God she is alright.  Thank God nothing happened.”  If something had happened, I think I would have been as shaken up about it as Sarah was.  The children scrubbed the pot clean for us and that night (and ever since), I have taken over the popcorn duties. 

This is only lesson number five thousand and seven in why our neighbors are the best neighbors of any of the Peace Corps sites.  They protect us from oil and water fires and they do not judge us after the fact.  I’m grateful for them every day of my life.

Side note – Sarah was okay after this incident.  Besides being shaken up abou t it, she suffered singed hair (I trimmed off the ends for her) and a sunburn-type burn on her right arm.  There was a small blister, as well, but it was not too bad.  Thank God for her life and for Robertson’s quick thinking.