ryan didn't start this fire

Sirens and flashing lights are a commonplace occurrence here in the city. They are even more common, in my neighborhood. So common in fact, that I usually sleep right through them. However, visitors do not and that is probably a good thing.

Recently my close childhood friend, Cheri, came to visit. One night, after a very long day, I lay sleeping in my room which faces the street. Cheri slept down the hall in the living room and was suddenly woken by some yelling. Sound carries well in the building so it sounded as if it was right outside the door. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to make out what they were saying...multi-lingual building.

Then as she continued to lay there, she started to smell smoke, closely followed by raging sirens which happened to stop right in front of the building. Now a little more alert, she sat up, looked down the hall and saw the flicker of red light. It was at this point that she decided to wake her unresponsive host.

She flipped on the light, explained the situation, and we both hopped on my bed to look out the window. Down below were two fire trucks, a fire marshall, three cop cars and a whole bunch of men in uniform teeming around the street. Not knowing what to do we walked to the front door to see if we could see anything. Remembering the fire safety training of my elementary years, I decided to put my hand near the door to see if it was hot before I slowly opened the door. We didn't see anything, but the smoke was definitely permeating the building and it reeked of burning.

We ran back to the bedroom and peered out the window yet again and noticed that the firemen really weren't doing anything. They did, however, keep looking up in our direction. It was at that moment that I wished everyone knew ASL so that I communicate with them without having to open my window, yell down to the street, and look completely pathetic. After much debate, Cheri and I decided that it would be best if we called 911 to see whether or not they were just having a party or if we needed to evacuate.

I called 911 and they transferred me to the fire department. I explained the situation and told them that we just wanted to know whether or not people were leaving the building and we hadn't received the memo. I was told that they were going to send someone up. I told them that it wasn't necessary and that we just need to know the status of the building. Apparently they didn't understand me because they told me that they were sending someone over.

About 1 minute later, we heard another firetruck pull up, sirens blaring and everything. We decided we had better make ourselves somewhat presentable if we were going to have company.

Two minutes later, there was a knock on our door...then it turned into pounding. I hurried to answer the door and five firemen spilled into my doorway. Did they run?

Completely embarrassed at this point, I explained, yet again, the situation and asked if we had anything to worry about. The spokesman of the group proceeded to tell me that someone on the second floor had burned their dinner. Who cooks dinner at 2:00am??? That's what I want to know. One of the other fireman volunteered to come in and open my windows for me. I told him that I was fine, but almost felt bad because he looked a little deflated upon my response. Oh well.

So in the end, we were safe, but the night did not prove to be restful. The smell of smoke eventually drifted away and all we were left with was a fun memory of firemen and firetrucks. Sad thing is, neither of us can even remember if the fireman were cute! So many women's fantasies and niether of us can really remember. Boo.