Thursday, May 27, 2010

Serious


Around 1 this morning I smelled smoke. The bad kind. The burning building kind, not the yummy barbecue kind. Instant panic as you might guess. From mostly asleep, feeling like I was swimming in thick molasses to wide awake, up and out of bed in seconds. I have smoke alarms and none of them were going off. My house wasn’t smoky, I only smelled it but it still caused a flash of pure terror.

Slightly less petrified, I looked out the window to make sure it wasn’t either of my neighbors. I live in an old city row home. Fire spreads fast. When I made it to the back window, I saw the sky glowing and smoke in the next block. Yeah, I admit it. I let out a little sigh of relief but only a small one because it looked very bad and I hadn’t heard sirens yet.

The block remained closed off at six when I left for work this morning. There were still fire trucks with men climbing around. I read the paper later and yes, it was extremely bad. Three children died. Their parents were severely burned in trying to rescue them.

Sorry. I don’t know what else to say today.