INCINERATOR

I was at work today, and a lovely customer and I were discussing the whole "Did you drop the spoon (why is it always the spoon?) down the disposal?" to which your husband would respond...not me. When you are the only two in the house and you know you did not do it you question why you asked at all...oh, that's right to see if he will fess up. Nah!!

Meanwhile, back to the point of this...I told her the story that follows:

When I was about 8-ish (remember we were less sophisticated in the dark ages) we had gone to a gas station for a fill-up. For those youngsters out there: a person who worked for the gas station came out to your car in a uniform and asked if you would like the tank filled, your oil checked, and he would then wash your windows. If they did not automatically check your oil without asking my mother would be insulted and vow to never go back.



They also offered gifts with a fill-up. That is right they did not charge you an extra $.45 for using your debit card (oops there were no credit or debit cards back then), they gave you a gift. In this case some wonderful white mugs with some sort of a hideous bright colored coating on them with gold flecks. I LOVED THEM!! A momentary lapse of design judgment. We got them. I was soooooo excited.

I asked my mom if we could use them and she said yes.

Unbeknownst to her I took the fine China mugs from England that were (of course) all she had left from her Father, put them in the trash bag, walked them to the incinerator, and burned them.

I spend the next six weeks cleaning them (to no avail) everyday after school to try and save them and redeem myself.

The lady and I laughed, the other people standing around us were just staring. The customer said to me...they have no idea what an incinerator is. I thought OMG she is right. Another word gone the way of antimacassar.

I started to tell them about incinerators. Each house had one and we took the trash out, and lit it, and watched all the trash burn. Then you would have to clean out the ash (yuck-o). They stared....in shock. You burned things? In your back yard? Every day? I could see them thinking no wonder the planet is in bad shape. While writing this, I am thinking how many firebugs were created from this.

I googled incinerator pictures, and this was the winner.

OK....that was a little large. It really looked like this...(I have no idea who the boy is)

and you put the trash in the top
and took the ash out the bottom

Do you think that this is why my nephew set fire to my niece's toy dog Fifi (a very large stuffed Poodle)? My mother punished the two of us for days for doing that to the dog. Michael for doing it and me for not ratting him out!

Ah the good old days!!