Nickel Slots

On a recent trip down memory lane, my older sister the brain surgeon recounted a hilarious tale. The three of us, me, BS and Sous Chef Mermaid, had gone to Old Towne to spend the afternoon. We were taking a Starbucks break and enjoying the day, each others company and reminiscing.

I would like to qualify this story by making it very clear that I wasn’t even born when this story took place. I am completely in the clear. My parents had a child once every eight years, to this day I am not sure if this was the original plan or just fate.

BS was probably elementary school age when this occurred. During a shopping excursion to Thomas’ Market, BS got a little bored while riding in the back seat of the family car a 57-Chrysler New Yorker. Apparently, this model had a cigarette lighter for the back seat passengers. BS was playing with the lighter when she had an epiphany. She figured out that a nickel would fit perfectly into the lighter’s opening. So she tried it, she even managed to get the nickel all the way to the base of the opening. What she didn’t know was that the nickel triggered the mechanism and it became red hot. She realized that what she did was wrong but didn’t know how to correct the problem. In the meantime, the nickel was producing smoke. BS decided that cracking her window might help the situation. My father has a strong aversion to drafts, so when he heard the air coming in from the rear window he told her to roll the window back up. In the meantime, the smoke is getting thicker. BS is fanning and blowing the smoke away. The entire mechanism is getting quite warm and the portion of the seat panel that the lighter is affixed to is now also smoldering.

It was right about then that my father noticed the back seat was on fire. He immediately pulled over while simultaneously trying to hold things together. He is not well known for holding things together when it affects his family directly. BS reports that he was frantically yelling at our mom that the car was on fire and that everyone needed to evacuate as soon as they pulled over.

The details are fuzzy, but I believe that during the smoldering session the nickel also shorted out the lighter. Another driver stopped to help. They managed to contain the fire and the good Samaritan also pulled the fuse for the lighter.

So friends, where there is smoke there is also usually fire. So many other things could have gone wrong that day but thankfully the damage was small, considering. Lessons to be learned? Try to have fun activities for your children while riding in the car or science experiments are bound to happen.

Do NOT try this at home.