Cooking with Gas
1998 Honorable Mention
Unconfirmed by Darwin
(19 August 1991, Connecticut) The good news as Hurricane Bob bore down on
the Atlantic coast was that everybody in Gary's office was sent home early
to prepare for the storm. And Gary was well prepared. No matter how bad the
devastation, he would have light, heat, water, and hot food. So he had
nothing to worry about when the power failed under the massive onslaught of
the storm.
Unconfirmed by Darwin
The bad news was that, despite his thorough preparations, Gary had forgotten one important detail.
As night fell, he fired up the oil lamps and placed his Coleman camping stove on top of the electric range in his kitchen to cook his dinner. After finishing the meal, Gary commended himself on his foresight. He went to bed secure in the knowledge that Mother Nature could not beat him.
Diligent linemen worked through the worst of the weather to restore power. Before dawn, all the appliances in Gary's house were again working, including the electric range. But Gary had forgotten to check that one important detail...
The burner under the Coleman was on, heating the little stove's gas canister through the night. It finally exploded, blowing the kitchen wall two feet off the foundation, snapping several floor joists, and smashing every window in the house. The explosion caused $65,000 in damage, and Gary had narrowly escaped an encounter with destiny -- saved only by his closed bedroom door.
