if your house was on fire, what would you take?
This morning at about 4am we woke up smelling smoke, and out of our bedroom window we could see a 2-story tall pine tree on fire in the back of the park, right on the fence that borders our building's small parking lot. As we watched, we could hear a neighbor on the phone to 911 - "Yes, it's still burning...No, it's not spreading yet but it seems like it's still growing...Oh, that's not good!" The fire jumped at one point to catch the top parts of the tree. Little ashes and embers were blowing all over, toward the nearby taller trees, over our cars and toward our building. At that point, we got out of there.
drubious threw on shoes and went to move the car, and I took the time to put on a bra and socks. But in my 4am haze, I could not think of one loved object to bring with me in case this got bad. I sort of tried, but nothing really stood out at the time. I couldn't justify one thing over the other; I just kept thinking, 'please don't catch on fire, apartment, because there's stuff in here I really like.' It occurred to me that the whole place probably wouldn't go up in flames, but if they had to spray water at the building and my bedding got drenched, I'd be upset. I grabbed my keys and my purse, made sure I had my cell phone and jumped in the car.
We drove around a couple blocks looking for a new parking spot, and the fire truck was quickly on the scene. We couldn't find a place to park, and we couldn't see any more fire, so we went back and noticed water running down the driveway-probably a good sign? It was. The fire stayed relegated to the one tree, which got hosed and put out quickly, and nothing spread. We put the car back to find water all over our parking lot and the air smelling strangely fresh. The whole ordeal probably lasted 10 minutes. Thank you, fire department!
We went back inside and I jumped right back into my bed; drubious, however, poked around a bit. A fireman walked around our back property with a flashlight, and I felt safe enough to go back to sleep. As I was getting back into sleep mode, drubious, standing at the window, said, "That Audi didn't put the lotion in the basket."
To which I replied, "That makes perfect sense at 4 in the morning."
"It got hosed. It's all wet."
"...Oh my god."
"WE put the lotion in the basket."
Gratitude to city services for keeping me safe, and for much more life ahead of me to spend with that man.
drubious threw on shoes and went to move the car, and I took the time to put on a bra and socks. But in my 4am haze, I could not think of one loved object to bring with me in case this got bad. I sort of tried, but nothing really stood out at the time. I couldn't justify one thing over the other; I just kept thinking, 'please don't catch on fire, apartment, because there's stuff in here I really like.' It occurred to me that the whole place probably wouldn't go up in flames, but if they had to spray water at the building and my bedding got drenched, I'd be upset. I grabbed my keys and my purse, made sure I had my cell phone and jumped in the car.
We drove around a couple blocks looking for a new parking spot, and the fire truck was quickly on the scene. We couldn't find a place to park, and we couldn't see any more fire, so we went back and noticed water running down the driveway-probably a good sign? It was. The fire stayed relegated to the one tree, which got hosed and put out quickly, and nothing spread. We put the car back to find water all over our parking lot and the air smelling strangely fresh. The whole ordeal probably lasted 10 minutes. Thank you, fire department!
We went back inside and I jumped right back into my bed; drubious, however, poked around a bit. A fireman walked around our back property with a flashlight, and I felt safe enough to go back to sleep. As I was getting back into sleep mode, drubious, standing at the window, said, "That Audi didn't put the lotion in the basket."
To which I replied, "That makes perfect sense at 4 in the morning."
"It got hosed. It's all wet."
"...Oh my god."
"WE put the lotion in the basket."
Gratitude to city services for keeping me safe, and for much more life ahead of me to spend with that man.