Thursday, April 7, 2011

Memory

My memory is pretty much hit or miss. Sometimes I forget something the second you tell me, other times I remember every detail of that moment down to what I was thinking at the time I made the decision.
For instance, I remember a time when I was little, say about 5 or 6, and I was riding in my parent's van in the back playing with some toys. My mom was driving and my sister was in the passenger seat next to her. The toys I was playing with were two identical plastic Daisy Ducks. While I was playing with them it suddenly dawned on me: "I have two Daisy Ducks. I do not need two of the exact same toy. One of them must go."
So, I decided which of the two was the better Daisy and shoved the other out of the tiny crack in the window as we were driving down the highway.
That is how clear my memory is at times. And that is how clear it is about the time I electrocuted myself.
Well, right up to the point of electrocution, that is.
I was living in San Antonio at the time in a nice two story. My family was packing for the move to Houston and everything was either in a box or out of the house already. I was about three or four and I decided it was a good idea to go play in my parents' huge walk-in closet. For some reason I happened upon my dad's toolbox somewhere in between what used to be my room and my parent's. When I saw that pair of needle-nosed pliers I knew what I had to do. I had to find out what the other side of that electrical socket looked like. So I took the pliers and I moseyed on down to the biggest closet in the house, so big that it even had a wall socket in it. I sat down and studied the socket, deciding the best method to use. I'd seen my dad use tools plenty of times, I was practically a pro. I looked at every angle, every curve and every possible entry way. After settling on my method of entrance, I lifted the pliers and aimed.
The moment before I made contact I imagined just how the other side would look. Would there be a large tangle of wires criss-crossing in in every direction? Or perhaps, an army of tiny men running on hamster wheels? There was only one way to find out.
So I took the pliers and shoved them into the socket.
I only remember what I've been told after that. According to my dad what happened after I almost blew myself up was there was a loud pop, a thud, and a moan (from me) heard coming from the other room. And then all of the power was gone. My dad knew I must have done something so he followed the sound of his idiot toddler into his closet. When he and my mom came in I was on the side of the closet opposite of the socket on my back. My dad scooped me up and ask what happened and the first thing that came out of my mouth was "I saw blue light."
Because of the rubber on the handle of the pliers there was no serious damage done to me or the house. However the power did go out in the whole neighborhood. And the ends of the pliers were slightly melted. And occasionally I get glimpses of the future. But other than that, no harm done.
At least, nothing that will compare to what's coming...

No comments:

Post a Comment