MY LITTLE BROTHER AND HIS BURNT BACK

We loved cats.  We had a couple on the farm, but when we moved to Centerville we had one of our own. She was beautiful and white.  She kept herself clean and she always looked like she had a silk coat.  We got her when she was just a baby, so we were super excited when she caught her first mouse.  But she didn't want us watching her so she climbed under my little sister's crib. Then we had 10 children so it was Ann Marie in the crib.  She had been sick so my mother had the steam vaporizer on her to help her breath better.  My little brother Bob saw that cat and immediately chased her, so when he followed the cat under the crib the vaporizer fell over on top of him.  All that hot water fell all over his back.  And of course he immediately grabbed his shirt and ripped it off. It was his first instinct because that water was hot.  When he pulled off his shirt, he pulled all the skin off of his back as well.  He had 3rd degree burns all over his back.  My mother grabbed him quickly and put him in the tub where she could keep cool water on him.  She made a little bed for him, and put him on his stomach.  She was up all night with him keeping cool water on his back.  He was 9 years old and still sucking his thumb.  The back was so burned that he had to keep his arms straight down.  What a way to be cured of sucking your thumb. (The rest of the story will be the next post!