I was sixteen years old when this happened to me,...and I will never forget it...

Every year Mom, Dad and myself went down to the lake for our vacations. We stayed at a cabin that was near the lake. The cabin had a gas stove in it for cooking, if you wanted to stay in and cook. Most of the time we did just that.

The first morning, I got up and started to cook breakfast for the three of us. I still had my nightgown on. "clothing wasn't flame retarded as they are now." I remember reaching around the burner, not thinking anything about it, to get the coffee pot. Suddenly someone took my left arm and thrust it down against the left side of my body. It didn't hurt me, but it was quick and fast. I couldn't imagine why that happened, as I knew it wasn't me that did it, and I was all by myself in the kitchen.

I looked down to see what was going on, when I noticed a hole in the side of my gown, where a fire had started. It was than I realized, that I had inadvertently caught my gown on fire when reaching across the burner. Someone took my arm and brought it down with such force, in just the right place, that it snuffed the flame out.