Ghost in my furnace

I shuddered when my furnace stopped a little while ago. It’s an old unit, twenty years old, and I was afraid I’d have to replace the whole thing- which usually runs about 4 grand Canadian. But it’s not something you can put off in the winter, unless you want to freeze to death.

I tried tinkering with it myself for about an hour but I know I’m not a mechanic. I was careful too, because I didn’t want to make things worse. I just established that I could not easily fix the thing and it was time to call in the professionals.

We have a small electric heater which we set up and started baking cookies. It’s sort of a tradition when the furnace breaks in the winter- turn on the oven and bake for hours. It warms the house up like nothing else, keeps you moving, and you get cookies too.

The furnace repair place told me they couldn’t come for a day. So that night it was baked potatoes and anything else I could make to keep that oven cooking. We spent a cold night under many blankets, fending off the two cranky old cats who didn’t like the change in the indoor temperature.

Everyone got off to school the next day and I set down to wait for the repair person.

This is where it gets spooky.

The repair man arrives, and he’s a smiley talkative type. And he looks vaguely familiar. He says “you don’t remember me, do you?” Yes, I say, and his name flies out of my mouth: Mark.

He gets to work on the furnace and I sit down in the kitchen and try to figure out who he is. I’ve remembered his name but that’s all.

Slowly, it comes back to me. It’s his smile and his eyes that trigger it- I knew this guy 29 years ago. We were in the armed forces together. I realize now that I was a bit of a precocious ass- too smart for my own good – quick with wit and tongue and too slow on realizing the implications.

Mark was in my squad and we hung with the same crew after hours. We started as friends but I did something to offend him- I was never sure what- I think part of it was that maybe he was just too competitive and I won because I wasn’t. You know how that goes, don’t you? I never realize others are competing with me and it drives them crazy. You can’t beat someone who’s not in the race. And if you define yourself by who you beat competitively - well, let’s just say you learn to hate the person who isn’t competing with you because they don’t recognize your superiority and you always feel inferior.

It all came to a very ugly head. We were released into these woods for a leadership training course. It was more an evaluation that a course- they were looking for the potential leaders and of course most of us wanted to be one. I don’t remember the other scenarios, only the one where I was in charge- because it turned out so badly.

There were six in my squad with me the designated leader and we were charged with finding a radioactive device that was somewhere in the woods. The hitch was anyone who stood within five feet of the thing would receive a lethal dose of radiation in one minute. (this was just an exercise mind you, there was no real radiation). We had to find the device and transport it to a safe area.

We had mapped out the woods previously in other scenarios so I just divided the map into sections and sent teams of two searching. We found the “device” quickly enough and gathered about twenty feet away from it. And that’s where the trouble occurred.

I suppose it really was my fault. I know I asked for ideas and there was one or two which I thought wouldn’t work so I ruled against them. So I started thinking- we weren’t on a time limit or anything. The device appeared to be an old car battery or something like that and it looked fairly heavy. It had a hook on the top. I was trying to figure out a way that we could rig a carrying contraption using our belts, some branches and some short rope we had. We sat for about five minutes with just me thinking.

All of a sudden Mark appeared with a big stick and walked up to the device, hooks it and starts carrying it away. The rest of us were just stunned. The stick was obviously not five feet long. We trailed after Mark and I told him to put the device down and get away from it. He became abusive and complained that I was a poor leader and at least what he was doing was better than sitting there and doing nothing like I was doing.

There is a referee on site- in this case a Master Corporal and he stepped in at this point and declared Mark dead from radiation. He also added that the test was now over and that I and the squad had failed. Mark threw the device down and detailed just how big a loser I was. I defended myself saying that it was him, that he had acted independently and not under my leadership and was probably trying to sabotage the exercise.

We started pushing each other and they had to separate us. We didn’t shut up though and were brought before the officer of the day where I appealed my failing grade as Mark insisted that it had been my poor leadership that had ruined the exercise. The officer decided that Mark was an idiot and that I failed because I was supposed to be in charge- we both lost. And we were both taken off the list of potential leaders.

After that we tried to stay away from each other and mostly exchanged evil looks and dirty digits. Fate separated us and I left the forces and began a different life.

And now, twenty nine years later, he was fixing my furnace. I certainly felt uneasy- I expected him to tell me that it was shot and I’d need a new one. I even wondered if he’d sabotage it.

About an hour later he announced it was fixed and shook my hand, I wrote a cheque and he went on his way. That night around 5AM the furnace broke again. The repair was “guaranteed” so I called the company again and they sent Mark back.

He was very talkative again and we discussed the furnace and potential problems and he tried a few unorthodox fixes- he’s smart. He ended up talking about his life and where he was today. We shook hands again and he said he’d be back if the repairs didn’t stick. So far they have.

I guess I’m surprised that over the years the animosity between us has evaporated. Where did it go? It was actually kind of nice to see him. That thing that happened twenty nine years ago went unmentioned.

Maybe he was friendly because he’s still competitive and he probably figures that he’s beaten me. He certainly has a better job than I- he’s seen my tiny old house and if he doesn’t value Scape he wouldn’t see anything in my house of value. But I don’t think he’s won because I’m not competing with him. My family has heat again and that’s all that matters to me.