We settled down to munch out and were engrossed in the TV when we smelled smoke. I ran to the kitchen and noticed the electric eye of the range was still on high and the pan was smoking badly. I turned off the burner and without thinking I picked up the heavy pan to remove it from the heat. As I did, the grease ignited and flames whooshed up the cabinets and flashed toward me, singeing my hair and face. I panicked and lost all common sense. I foolishly picked up the skillet of flaming grease and started walking slowly across the kitchen toward the back door. My hand literally caught on fire, so I set the pan down to extinguish my skin. The table cloth caught fire so I picked up the skillet again and threw it through the screen door. As the pan left my hands, grease and flames scattered everywhere and I fell into a slippery puddle of what I thought would be my death. The tablecloth was on fire, Kathy’s coat hanging on the back of the dining chair was engulfed in flames and I lay on the floor kicking helplessly trying to stand or crawl out of the circle of death.
I saw my life flash before me and even read my obituary in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. My spirit was outside my body, even though I was aware of what was happening to me. It was like being in two places at once. Although I knew I had been burned, I felt no pain. Not knowing whether I would live, I was totally unafraid of dying. I was in total peace when Kathy pulled me out of the flames. As my spirit came back into my body, the pain hit me with a horrible jolt. I knew I was seriously burned. My brother was unable to reach our mother at work so he ran across the street to get a neighbor. The neighbor called the fire department, and rushed me to the emergency room in her car. The pain was so excruciating that I begged God to let me go back to that etheric state where I did not feel my body. All I could do was groan and suffer as the pain of third degree burns overwhelmed me.
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