Personal Narrative: My Thermostat

May I share a brief story with you? At first blush, the incident I am about to convey may not seem very important, but hang in there and you’ll see what I mean. Well, once upon a Saturday afternoon, I was called upon to change the thermostat in my son’s newly acquired home. To be sure, my home maintenance skills are modest at best, but I thought I could easily handle the job. The existing thermostat, which had rendered many years of reliable service with the able assistance of a nearby wall heater, was dilapidated and inaccurate. With my wife and mother looking over my shoulder, I confidently detached the old thermostat before releasing the two wires that protruded from a hole in the wall. I briefly inspected the new thermostat before getting …show more content…
My son shrunk back from the friction that was likely to ensue. I set my jaw and began to mumble under my breath. Being somewhat stubborn, I decided to reverse the wires one last time. As I removed the wire from the brown screw, I accidentally tapped the wire against the yellow screw; that’s right, the very same screw that was clearly designated as the appropriate terminal for an air conditioning unit. I’m sure you’ve already guessed the outcome of my story. For some inexplicable reason, the moment that black wire touched the yellow screw, the heater roared to life! It happened so quickly I might have missed it, but my son heard the sound of the flaming gas heater. “The heater just went on and off,” he yelled out! I may be stubborn, but I’m not dumb. I touched that black wire to the yellow screw again, and sure enough the heater flamed into action. That thermostat has been serving my son faithfully for over a decade. I have no explanation for the idiosyncrasies of that temperamental thermostat. I’m quite certain a qualified heating and air conditioning professional could easily solve the mystery of the yellow screw. All I know for certain is that the problem was