Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Quick Story

So, the big excitement of my day was when the [expletive] fire alarm went off in my building. 

Picture me:  didn't sleep much, certainly didn't shower.  I'm wearing a sweatshirt, peach sweatpants, and big sheepskin slippers.  My hair is pointing in all sorts of directions, gleefully defying gravity.  I'm walking slow around the house, in a fog of self-pity.

The cat is on top of the entertainment center -- the highest point in my home.

And then -- the loud buzz of the fire alarm in the complex. 

Cat looks down at me with an expression I've never seen before, but which I read as, "Mommy, what's that noise and should I be hiding from it?  You go check that out."

Now, NORMALLY, this is what I'm supposed to do when the fire alarm goes off:  Get cat off entertainment center; put cat in carrier; find keys; take cat (and keys) out of unit; wait downstairs in the courtyard with all my neighbors and their pets.

Here's what I actually do:  Peek out the door.  See one of my neighbors.  The alarm is too loud to actually carry on a conversation, so I just make a "what the ??" face at him.  He responds with a shrug and a dismissive hand wave.  I go back inside and tell the cat not to worry.

Good thing the building didn't burn down.

 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL! Yup. I did that *once* in my college dorm... I just didn't feel like going out in the snow AGAIN because of a drunk pulling the fire alarm. Seems, if they catch you hiding in your closet during a fire alarm... they get a little...um, pissy ;) Jenn

Anonymous said...

We used to do that all the time at my old job. Then, one time, they actually went door-to-door kicking people out because it was an actual *bomb threat*. Who knew?

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear there was no fire. I hope that you feel better soon, and those Otter Pops did the trick.

Anonymous said...

I was so used to false alarms when I lived in the college dorms, that when the fire alarm went off in my apartment building one day, I didn't bother to get out of bed.

Anonymous said...

Now how will the cat know what to do when it's for real? Supposed to use the trial runs to figure out all of the occupants' roles in the event of an actual emergency. Tell the cat to grab your purse and boxes of pictures while you make grab larger valuables ... ha ha

~ Karyn
http://beta.journals.aol.com/karynetaylor/WhateverItTakesMyChoices/