Member-only story
Problem solving in a crisis
The bathroom held the aroma of hot metal. The air had a hint of thickness to it. Something is smoldering.
I ran from room to room with my nose pointed up like a hound tracking a deer. This wasn’t a fire. This was about to be a fire. The stench was upstairs, but not downstairs. It was in some rooms, but not all rooms.
I could feel my senses heighten.
The HVAC was humming but the fan had not begun to blow. It was out of the ordinary. I listened closer. This wasn’t the usual pattern click, whir and buzz. No, the timing was off. It wasn’t turning on.
I ran to the basement opened the closet to the HVAC half expecting a backdraft as seen in the movie with the same name. No smoke. No fire. Just the out of tune buzz.
The intimidating contraption stood before me. I could feel it mocking me as a I stared blankly at the mechanical masterpiece trying to decide what to do next. Time slowed as I pondered what to do next. Something was wrong, but where?
I froze, then I did what you do with all complicated things that you don’t fully understand. I turned it off.
The smell subsided. Crisis averted.
