A Story From China

Last week, after uninstalling and reinstalling our monitor heater (a kerosene heater that heats our whole house from the basement), Bill turned it on for us to keep warm. Within 15 minutes, I was lightheaded, felt my heartbeat increase and heard a ringing in my ears. I kept saying something wasn't right, but couldn't move my body fast enough to get outside. Bill, who had been in and out of the room, had to carry me outside to get me fresh air. We think it was related to a leak that caused some kerosene to spill and then it was burning off...or it could have been a leak causing carbon monoxide poisoning. I was fine within an hour.

But it reminded me of a long ago story. A story from China. I don't tell many of our stories from China, mostly because I don't think people are generally interested in them. But this is one I think you'll want to hear. This many years away from it, I can laugh about it. I hope you get some enjoyment out of it too, but it's a bit graphic. So be forewarned, don't read it if you don't want to be grossed out.

I'm changing people's names too...


A long long time ago, way out East somewhere, there were some weary travelers going on a strange trip together.

I don't even remember why we went on the trip, actually, but I think it was just for fun. We took two vans. Molly was with us and the Peace family (mother, father, daughter and two sons).

That night, we were very cold, after traveling all day through the very high mountains. Melinda Peace asked the inn keepers for some coals to warm up with. They brought a tray of hot coals to our bedroom and we nestled into our cozy sleeping bags. Little did we know what we were about to face.

I was sleeping against the outside wall. I was still struggling with low blood pressure at the time and when I awoke an hour or so later, I felt my heart beating very quickly and my ears were ringing. It felt like I was about to pass out due to low blood pressure. I started breathe in and out very slowly and deeply, as that sometimes helps when I'm about to pass out. Things started getting really bad after that.

I heard a distant pounding on the door, and watched helplessly as Melinda kept trying to get out of bed to answer it. Molly started screaming at Melinda that she was going to hit the floor and to stop trying to get up. Melinda was talking gibberish. Her young daughter (about 9) was weeping. Molly finally got out of her bed, still wearing the sleeping bag and hopped over to the door to open it. The owner's wife was the one banging and yelling. She hadn't realized that we were going to go to sleep with the coals and knew the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Apparently, she was sitting around her own fire downstairs with her husband and suddenly and "inexplicably" started worrying about us and came to check on us. She knew immediately that we were in danger and couldn't get the door open.

Our men were on the other side of the wall from us. D Peace came and swept his girls out very quickly. Melinda passed out outside the door. Her daughter just kept weeping. Bill got me outside and had to go back in for Molly. All the girls were leaning up against the wall in the breezeway on the second floor of this hostel (in a very very tiny town, I might add), when a couple of them started vomiting. I screamed for Bill that I was going to have diarrhea (no vomiting for me). Bill grabbed me and tried to carry me up these long, tall, uneven steps that lead up a steep hill (this hostel was built into) to go to the latrine. We didn't make it - he had me in his arms and all 116lbs of me was too much for him at that point.

He took his next left into another level of the housing that had a courtyard in front of it. It was seemingly empty at the time. I was still hearing ringing and was so dizzy, plus my head hurt really badly and I was weak all over. He tried to take me to the grassy courtyard, but didn't realize it was higher than the sidewalk, with a small cement wall raising it up. He hit his shins on the wall at which point I flew out of his arms while I was pulling my pants down and having diarrhea all at the same time. He was bleeding profusely from his legs and was so concerned with me as I LAY on the ground getting sick. Oh, and it was pitch black, thank God.

He carried me back down the stairs. His hands had gotten bloody too. I leaned up against the wall with the other girls, while the owner's wife was jabbering on and on about how stupid we were and how amazing it was that she just had the idea to check on us. (I hope you're reading into that.)

That's when I heard John Peace (maybe 12 at the time) ask Molly if she was okay. She said, "I'm fine" at which point she threw up all over the blanket that was over her legs and a little on him, I think.

We all had migraines or bad headaches the next day, but everyone was fine. I still remember D calling another friend from some other small town and saying something about almost killing all the "women-folk."

And that, my friends, is why you should always make sure you're outside when you burn coals. Even if there is lattice work in the wall and plenty of adequate ventilation, it's still NOT enough.