30 Life Lessons - Household wiring...

Douglas McCall
Oct 7, 2024
3 min read

My parents split up when I was 8. For the first few years (until he went off to college), my eldest brother would keep an eye on my middle brother and me. However, for middle and high school, I was often home with no adult supervision (save for our next-door neighbor, a lovely retired couple – Mr. and Mrs. C.) for a few hours each day after school.

In addition, more often than not, one of my childhood best friends, Jonathan, who lived up the street, would often be at the house with me. Generally speaking, we wouldn't do anything more than watch TV and possibly eat food we should have right before dinner, but that was it.

Occasionally, we would be more typical middle school boys and get rambunctious. My childhood home had a mostly finished basement with a play area, a laundry room, workshop, and what used to be my father's office. Like all good, mostly finished basements, the unfinished part consisted of a few open walls and some exposed wiring (usually in the form of outlet boxes attached to studs).

One day, we were in the basement and decided playing hide and seek would be a good idea. Sometimes, when we played hide and seek, we would turn the lights off in the basement to make it more challenging. What could go wrong, right?

I can't recall if I was the hider or the seeker, but we were making our way through one of the partially finished walls, and it happened: there was a spark, and then what few lights were on went out! We stopped. Why did the lights go out? Jonathan and I were fine, but the basement was dark. We made our way upstairs. None of the lights up there worked, either.

49-year-old me can look back and say, "You blew a fuse, no big deal." The 11-year-old me did not know about household wiring and power distribution, so I had no idea what had happened. We sat in the dark basement for a while, trying to figure out what to do next. As far as we could figure, we had broken the house. Mom's rules for when we were home alone were pretty simple. Don't make a mess, and don't break anything." I didn't just break anything. I broke the whole house! I knew time was short; Mom would be home soon, and I did not want to have to tell her I had broken the house.

I thought for a moment and then realized I would need to bring another adult in. I climbed the stairs and went out the front door. I sheepishly crossed the street and went up to the C's house. I knocked on the door, and Mrs. C answered the door. "Hello, Doug, what's wrong?" she asked. I hung my head and quietly said, "I was fooling around, and I broke the house." After a few patient questions later, she looked at Mr. C., who grabbed a flashlight and headed over to the house. Not long after, Mr. C. returned, chuckled, and said, "It's okay. You didn't break the house. Everything is fine."

I thanked them both and asked, "You aren't going to tell Mom, are you?" Mrs. C. said, "Your mom doesn't need to worry about this. We can keep it between us. No more running through the basement walls, however." I nodded yes and headed back across the street.

I don't know if they ever told my mom what happened. I guess it was probably a story they laughed over when I wasn't around. Following her death, I cleaned my mother's house out, and I worked in the basement not too long ago. I found the very outlet that started this story. I chuckled, disconnected the outlet, and removed it from the wall. Now I know how to flip breakers!

That day, I learned the value of having trusted others in your life. The C's were people I could go to any time I had a problem. Many childhood stories involve going across the street when my mom wasn't available to deal with something. Who are the Mr. and Mrs. C's in your life?

Be well!