Being nine years old is very exciting, especially for a curious young man like Thomas who enjoys exploring the world around him. As is sometimes the case, exploration and experimentation can lead to amazing discoveries or tremendous disasters. It was on one of those fateful days, when Thomas was exploring a new way to make paint at home, that one of those "tremendous disasters" occurred. Trouble was not new to Thomas, but on this day, he would discover a very important lesson about the importance of thinking before you act. The day of the great kitchen fire proved to be not only a tremendous disaster but also an amazing discovery.