- Contributed by听
- Newcastlelibrary
- People in story:听
- Doreen Purvis
- Location of story:听
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4482533
- Contributed on:听
- 18 July 2005
I was lying in bed reading a book one night, it was the early 1940's. There was a blackout, so I wasn't allowed a light, but I still wanted to read my book. I found a candle in my room, lit it and rested it on an old creaky chair with springs popping out of its seat, next to my bed. I thought no harm done if no-one knew.I kept reading my book into the early hours of the next morning until I felt myself getting tired. I knew the candle was still burning as I put my book down and fell asleep, but didn't think to blow it out, I thought it would be safe. The next thing I remember is waking up because my father was shouting downstairs.
He was shouting at me "Doreen! Is there a fire in there?" "No! There's no fire in here!" I shouted back.
I turned over in my bed to find the chair next to me ablaze. I jumped up out of my bed and started to smother the fire with my blankets, all the while my father kept shouting "Where's that smell of smoke coming from? Are you sure there's not a fire up there?"
"No! there's no fire up here!" I kept yelling back. fortunately, it wasn't hard for me to contain the fire, but I still had to answer to my father. I knew he'd be mad at me for burning the chair, so the only thing I could think of was to throw the chair out of my bedroom window, which I did, but one thing I didn't remember was that my window faced the street so the burnt chair lay smouldering in our front garden, not only for my father to see, but the rest of the neighbourhood.
Boy did I have some questions to answer.
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