Let’s just start out and say that you should listen to those who are above you in authority. At the age of three, certain things that are common sense don’t really come to your mind. Sometimes, you just have to learn from the mistakes you make so you don’t do them again. I had dropped multiple coins down a heater at my grandma’s house, causing her to freak out because it wasn’t turning on. The firefighters had to be called to get the coins out of the heater and I was in major trouble. The problem I caused for my grandma began when I was dropped off at her house for the day.

It all started sometime, during the winter, when my older cousins and I were at my grandma’s house for the day. Her house was a one-story living space with a couple of bedrooms and a decent sized backyard. I had just finished my lunch before everyone else and went to play Doodle Jump on my cousin's iPod. After a while, I got bored and paced about the living room, noticing that most of my cousins (grandma included) were still in the dining room eating. As I tottered around the couches, I came across a shiny stack of coins on the coffee table. Instantly drawn to them, I reached out and decided to take a few despite being told not to play with coins many times by my mom.

There was a heater located in the living room built into the wall. It was fortified with a metal grate and could be turned on by a dial on the same wall. As a three year old having nothing better to do, I thought the grate was a coin slot, similar to the ones in a vending machine that I recalled seeing people use. With much amusement, I began putting the coins down the grate one by one.  Clink, clink, clink.

The next thing I knew, I was in big big trouble. My grandma walked up to the heater and raised her hand to turn the dial. The old wood base and plastic dial were mounted on the wall above the heater. She lifted her hand and turned the dial, but the heater didn’t turn on, nothing was happening she freaked out. She ran over to the phone on the table, picked it up, and pushed in the numbers 9-1-1. The fire department arrived in less than ten minutes and walked up to my grandma’s house and rapidly knocked on the front door. My grandma hurried to the door and opened it up to let them in.

“Hi are you having a problem with your heater?” asked the firefighter, fully armored with his gear. Two men of his same stature towered behind, ready for anything.

“It’s not turning on.” my grandma replied timidly, still shaken up as she gestured to the heater, which had not made so little as a squeak.

The main firefighter nodded, kneeling down in front of the heater and emptying a big box of tools. After much fumbling, he pulled out the right tool and began to remove the bolts and screws on the frame of the heater. The firefighter looked in the heater and found the coins I had put in there.

“Here they are, the heater should work now,” he said.

I stood there not knowing what I was supposed to say because I caused all the trouble. My cousins, who were all clustered on one couch, glared at me pointedly. The firefighter held up one of the coins to me and said: “You never want to put a coin into the heater again, okay?”

“Ok,” I replied.

After the firefighter packed up all his tools and left, my mom came to pick me up and heard about the problem I had caused. I was in big, big trouble and my mom was not happy with what I had done. The lesson I learned from this was to always obey my parents and those above me. I had been told before to not put anything into the heater but I disobeyed and caused lots of trouble. I ended up getting grounded for a week for what I had done. Maybe next time I’ll try a dollar bill…