Where there's smoke, there's another injustice

As the evening cooled off and the crisp autumn air settled in, we smelled the smoke.

Pictured (above) one of the range of great stoves now available at The Pot Belly Stove Shop at Lockwood Road. Help and advice is always available on various heating appliances from the shop's expert staff"We should get a chiminea so we can have a warm fire to sit by in the backyard," I told my husband. He smiled, as if to say, "Yes, dear," and continued on his merry way.Six answers and more means 'well done' but come and learn more at The Pot Belly Stove Shop.Ten 'yes' answers means you are well informed but why not come and learn more about modern wood burning technology at The Pot Belly Stove Shop.I'm sure he was thinking, "Sure. We've just put new siding on the house and put in new windows, let's risk burning it down some chilly evening so the family can sit outside of the heated house and be toasty warm."The next morning we noticed white foam, as thick as a fresh blanket of snow, in the park across the street. The last time vandals attacked the children's playground they left shaving cream on the slide, the swings and anywhere the children would touch. Perhaps they got a deal on a case of shaving cream again.Not too long after that discovery, the play structure disappeared, perhaps forever, a result of the constant vandalism requiring repairs to the playground equipment once enjoyed by the neighborhood children.Five or fewer 'yes' answers - you need help.No such luck, as we soon discovered. The foam substance had been applied by firefighters to douse a wooden play structure vandals had set on fire.We noticed the smoky smell after pausing the movie to make popcorn and refill our drinks. Not seeing smoke in the immediate vicinity and knowing the popcorn hadn't burned, we gathered our goodies and headed back into the basement, where it's easy to pretend we are sitting in a movie theater with all of the mounted animal skulls blocking our view of the screen.It was intermission on our regularly scheduled family night, which is really "daughter's" night since she picks the movie and dinner.Vandals recently damaged the Lincoln statue that overlooks my father's final resting place at Mount Hope Cemetery and overturned headstones belonging to loved ones long passed.

Vicki Estes is a Topeka freelance writer. She can be reached at vaestes@sbcglobal.net.