Fun Times At The Perrett Apartments!

It was my very first Mother's Day.  I had such high expectations.  Burning down our apartment wasn't one of them.  Tag was I think about 7 months old at the time, and we were living in one of my dad's apartments.  He even let us stay in the nicest one, top corner.  I'll get on with the story.

We had some friends in town that weekend, went to church, and decided to ditch the last hour.  (I thought it was some sort of punishment for ditching.)  So we open the door and get this HUGE gust of smoke, and I'm screaming to the manager to call 911.  Our trusty friend, Ryan Burkinshaw, decides to be Mr. Macho and breaks the box with the fire extinguisher and bursts into the apartment.  He sprays the ENTIRE ENTIRE ENTIRE apartment and comes running out with HIS suitcase!!  (He said it was the only thing he could see.  Sure.)

Well, we lived across the street from a church (not ours, thank goodness) and everyone is outside to see what's going on, typical Utards.  (My friends in Utah don't count as Utards, by the way.)  We had 3 fire trucks, about 5 police cars, 2 ambulances, it was so humiliating.  By the time they got there, the fire was out.  We found out what started the fire was our trusty fish tank.  The light shorted.  (My dad has since banned ANY sort of fish tank, whatsoever.)  

So who's job was it to call my dad and give him the news?  I'm thinking, "Oh, Scott (the manager) will surely do it."  I'm balling next to him as he starts to tell my dad what happened, trying to make him feel sorry for me so that he'd just do it, and then he hands me the phone and makes me do it!  I'm not even going to begin typing the words that were going on in my head at the time.  Let's just say, not the best in the book.  Well, I was scared &*%@# -less, let's just put it that way.  

Anyhoo, before I found out it was the light that shorted out, I had just assumed it was a burning candle that did it, and man alive, you would've thought I went out and got a tattoo on my belly button or ankle or something!  He wasn't a happy camper.

We had major smoke damage, nonetheless, about $5000 worth (so my dad says, I bet it was more.  I'm still trying to make it up to him. :)  Every time my parents run into old friends, they always ask what the latest "Leigh Story" is.  I really don't like to disappoint.  I like to keep people entertained, give 'em something to talk about, you know.

But all was well and ended up a-ok.  I just wish I could've found the picture with all the dead fish.  They were crispy little suckers.  But it made for a great story!!