Smoke Detectors

 WRITING PROMPT # 15: Smoke Detector 

Earlier this week I wrote about the one thing I really don't like about our new home, our little toilet room. But there was a lot I didn't love about our previous townhouse. Somewhere on the top of that list was the smoke detector in our kitchen. About a year before we moved the maintenance crew replaced all the smoke detectors in the whole complex. And they were crazy sensitive! When we reported it to the office they just said that everyone had been complaining and they'd try to figure it out. 

They never did. 

It was so bad that every time we needed to open the oven door the kids knew to grab the broom and stand under the detector, ready to push the off button when it inevitably started beeping. If we were cooking something remotely smoky, the front and garage doors would need to be opened if there was any hope of getting the darned detector to turn off. Even in the dead of winter we'd all huddle on the couch in blankets, all doors open, frigid wind blowing through the house, all in the name of a burger! 

Since we've moved our kitchen seems so peaceful. The only shrill sounds I hear while cooking come from my kids. But there's no button to turn that off.