As if there aren’t enough things to worry about when raising children. A couple in India is consulting with doctors over the fact that their baby – get ready for this – burst into flames.
Not just once. Three times.
Little Rahul was just nine days old the first time his parents noticed flames coming off the baby’s stomach and knees. Flames, like the fire kind. I used to get nervous over the toxic diapers.
The doctors are baffled, but running tests. A little investigation turned up the fact that the young family had been staying with relatives whose home was in an area previously contaminated with phosphorus – which is highly flammable.
Spontaneous combustion has been observed in the past, whether as a real phenomenon or a product of imagination. During the mid-1800s there was a common fear of suddenly bursting into flames while relaxing in the easy chair. The worry was prevalent enough that Charles Dickens used the notion as a literary device to kill off Mr. Krook, the bad guy rag merchant. His shop is visited, but nothing remains but ash, a chair, and a hat.
As with a number of circumstances that Mr. Dickens incorporated into his many novels, the demise of Mr. Krook was considered to be pretty outrageous and implausible. Even at that, he isn’t the only author to try the idea.
The suspense series that features FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast also featured an easy chair burnout. Lincoln & Child – the coauthors of the books – give the event a supernatural twist, but in the end have it all explained away. Some writers are tricky that way.
As for little Rahul, the mystery remains although the child has been released from the hospital – with no subsequent flames.
Both Bleak House and the Pendergast series are terrific reads, fire-free, and in stock.
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