Shocking Communion

I have had an unusual amount of encounters with lightning, tornadoes, and a hurricane. However, one particular time required interesting tools to fix. When I was about 9 years old, I attended my best friend’s sister’s first communion celebration. Once things settled, my friend and I went to his room to play video games on his Nintendo 64. A heavy storm had rolled in during this time. I remember very vividly the seconds following a lightning strike in the home. All at once, I felt a strong sensation in my hand and felt my limbs jerk uncontrollably. At the same time, bright sparks shot out of the upper walls. Following this, there was no power in the house and we easily came to the conclusion that lightning struck the house. We went back to figure out how I was shocked and discovered the wire on the controller I was using had been chewed on and exposed. The smoke alarm went off to our surprise; Because, we never saw any fire or smoke. The parents gathered us all outside the house until they were sure it was safe. The firefighters arrived and quickly came to the conclusion that the fire was hidden either in the attic or inside the walls. The firefighters used specific tools to find and put out the fire. They used a smoke detecting sensor and thermal camera. They detected and found the fire blazing inside the wall and to my friend’s mother’s dismay, quickly began swinging his ax into the wall. Once they created a large enough opening in the wall, billowing with fire and smoke, the sprayed at and into the wall with fire retardant. Fortunately for them, they had home insurance. Usually, we do not think much of lightning storms. That day, we all learned an unforgettable lesson of the dangers of lightning storms.