metrocake

I was doing some reading on my couch this evening, when I heard a fire truck. It started out off in the distance, but then got suspiciously closer…then closer…and then I could hear the truck’s motor running and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. “Oh, hell,” I thought, “what’s going on?”

As I was getting off the couch, I heard other sirens getting closer and closer, too. I booked over to my window, to see one ladder truck parked in front of the apartment building across the street and several other fire trucks, of various types, pulling into my block.

I didn’t see any flames shooting from anywhere, nor smelled any smoke, and the firemen seemed to be quite calm. What stopped me from going back to my couch was the neighbors across the street, all suddenly appearing in their windows to see what was happening. It looked like a group puppet show, with everyone popping in and out of their windows to take a look. I had to resist the impulse to wave “hi” (it being their building that was, like, potentially on fire and all).

It must have been a false alarm, because after about three minutes, all of the fire people left, and my neighbors popped back into their domiciles, safe and sound. I just wonder if the people across the street spotted me, or anyone else in my apartment building, doing the same thing they were…