For years after the newspapers caught fire
in the basement of the house in Winchester,
my mother made sure that the only matches in the house were safety matches.
She thought that somehow the hot weather and some strike-anywhere matches
in the immediate vicinity of the pile of old newspapers
had resulted in spontaneous combustion.
Actually, my brother,
whose chemistry set dominated that area of the basement,
had lit the newspapers on fire
just to see what would happen.
forward anywhere lines