"The
Midwest was in the middle of a
heat wave and drought that Independence Day.
It was so hot and dry that our Township banned outdoor fires on the
3rd. The closest large municipality, Milwaukee, set a record high of
102º Fahrenheit on the Fourth. I was inside the house on my recliner
drinking a cold Diet Mountain Dew when I heard a loud rush of noise,
comparable to a speeding semi-truck passing in the opposite
direction, except it was constant and getting louder. I looked out of
the kitchen window and saw that the chicken coop was on fire. I
yelled for my wife Angie to call 9-1-1 and I rushed to put it out.
The coop is so far from the house that the two connected hoses ended about 15-20 feet from the fire. Yelling over the roar of the fire I shouted to our son Ben to grab the hose-end nozzle and throw it to me. I was downhill from the house and saw Angie put the other two children Jon and Savannah, into our S.U.V. which was partway down the driveway. She then shouted something to Ben who had picked up the nozzle to throw to me. He dropped it on the ground. When he turned from his mother to face me, he shrugged his shoulders and started walking towards the vehicle. I yelled again for him to throw me the nozzle. He stopped, looked at me, then faced Angie who said something to him. He started for the S.U.V.
In unbelieving desperation I turned back towards the fire which was so hot that I had to back up a few paces. Placing my right thumb over the end of the hose, I tried to create a stream forceful enough to reach the coop. It was hopeless. Goodwife Angela convinced Ben to abandon me in the midst of an emergency. Later that day, after they took off for God knows where, she told him something that was confusing and schizophrenic-like in its reasoning.
She
told him that he was a 'Hero.'”
"The
chicken coop fire is pivotal. Angie hid the kids away from me, told
her friends that I was 'out of control,' and then proceeded to
destroy my life because in her mind, I started the fire. She points
to the ticket I got as “proof.” But deliberately starting a fire
is arson, which is a felony. I was not charged with arson. I got a
misdemeanor citation for having an outdoor fire the
day before.
Which is what I admitted to the cops. Remember, whenever someone
calls 9-1-1 in Wisconsin, they must
make
an arrest or issue a citation. Ironically, I am the one who told
Angie to call 9-1-1. Not only that, I was also the only one in the
family who fought the fire. Hardly 'out of control.'”
