Even though I stay fairly busy
these days, checking off fun and exciting adventures on my bucket list, I still
make time for another of my passions, writing.
I was thrilled to receive a
notice this week that another one of my short stories has been accepted for publication in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series—this time for Home Sweet Home: 101 Stories about Hearth, Happiness,
and Hard Work.
Seven of my stories have been chosen for this honor so far,
but no matter how many times it happens, it’s just as exciting as the very first
time.
The Chicken Soup editors receive somewhere around 1,500 submissions from all over the world for each of their story call-outs, and choose only 101 for each edition. That makes me feel pretty special. Watch for this book, scheduled to be out in book stores on May 27, 2014.
The Chicken Soup editors receive somewhere around 1,500 submissions from all over the world for each of their story call-outs, and choose only 101 for each edition. That makes me feel pretty special. Watch for this book, scheduled to be out in book stores on May 27, 2014.
Here’s my story below:
The Best Tool in the Toolbox
by Gloria Hander
Lyons
With winter
approaching, and the possibility that our temperatures might plunge into the
low sixties down here on the Texas Gulf Coast, I found myself longing for a
cozy fire in the fireplace. Not wanting to deal with hauling in logs and sweeping
up ashes, I stopped by a fireplace center near my home to check out the gas log
sets. It was my birthday week, and I couldn’t think of a better gift for myself
than being able to curl up with a good book next to a crackling blaze.
I was pleasantly
surprised by the choices there, and the salesperson assured me that the logs
could be installed in less than thirty minutes.
I picked out my favorite box of faux wood, and we agreed on a date for
the delivery. But things took a turn for the worse when the installer arrived. He
informed me that the gas pipe sticking out into my firebox was too long, so the
fire burner for my fake log set would be off centered.
“No problem,” he
promised. “Just call a plumber to cut the old pipe to the right length,
rethread the end and we’re back in business.” He even recommended an excellent plumbing
company in the area; always an important resource for homeowners.
A couple of days
later when the plumber arrived, he doled out more bad news. The pipe was located
too close to the floor of the firebox. He wouldn’t be able to cut it off or
rethread the end unless he removed it from the wall. He estimated that it was
about two feet long, and if removed, he might not be able to get it back in
place without making a hole in the sheet rock to reconnect it to the gas line.
What?
“I can give you
the name of a good handyman,” the plumber said. “He can either patch the hole we
need to make in the wall or cover it up with a fake door just in case he can’t
match the wall texture and paint.”
A cold shiver
ran down my spine. I’d only been in my house for less than one year, and had
gone through a nerve-racking, twelve-day whirlwind remodeling ordeal before I
moved in. The dust hadn’t yet settled in my brain, and he was suggesting that I
stir it up again. “Thanks, but no thanks,” I replied.
To say I was
despondent is putting it mildly—my birthday home-improvement wish had just gone
up in smoke. But I wasn’t ready to throw
in the towel just yet.
Instead of
giving up, I moseyed on over to the Internet to check out some other options. While
bouncing around in Cyberspace, I discovered something called a “convert to gel
gas log set”. These are fake logs that you simply place on the grate in your
fireplace (vented or not), then set a can of gel fuel underneath (which is
artfully hidden by decorative lava rock), light with a match and enjoy a cozy,
crackling fire. It’s not quite the real thing, but this option eliminated most
of the cost, plus the installer, the plumber, the handyman, and a heck of a lot
of stress. 
Within a week,
my log set arrived on my front porch, and the shipping was free. Things were
looking up. By the time the first cold snap arrived and the temperature
plummeted to fifty-eight degrees, I put a match to [the can under] the logs and
curled up in front of a cozy fire. For this home improvement project, it seems
that the Internet was the best tool in the toolbox—no mess—no fuss. My only
dilemma now is which favorite book to read while sipping hot chocolate in front
of the fireplace in my toasty warm living room.
Ah, home sweet home!
