Sunday, October 24, 2010

A Glimpse of Fire Alarms in the Dead of Night

There's nothing quite so disorienting than being terrified awake by a loud, obnoxious noise.

Especially if said noise is a fire alarm, it's blasting in your living room, and it's 2 o'clock in the morning. That was my Thursday night. And being two a.m., it took me several seconds to have an actual, coherent thought, which was, "Shit, where's my cat?" I didn't know if it was a real fire somewhere in the apartment building, or if some bastard had pulled the alarm for kicks--but I wasn't leaving Anya behind.

Which lead to a frantic search for her carrier (I could remember the first place I put it, but not where it actually was). And then a frantic search for the cat, who I had to yank out from under the bed where she was cowering. All while this alarm is flashing and squawking loudly enough to give me a headache. Then I realized, "Hey, pants! Coat!" All good things when it's about forty degrees outside.

It occurred to me later that I had the forethought to grab three things (clothes notwithstanding) -- my cat, my cell phone, and my car keys. I didn't even *think* to grab my purse.

Fortunately, it wasn't a real fire. Alarms had gone off in multiple buildings, so it took a while for the fire department to get to ours and turn them off. Forty minutes of sitting in my car (some of you may have seen my Tweets on the experience), and I finally got back inside.

Not cool.

***

So who's excited to see how A GLIMPSE OF DARKNESS ends? I know I am. It's been such a blast participating and seeing this story come together, and I just can't wait to see how Lara Adrian wraps it all up tomorrow!

***

I'll see in New York City this weekend for Halloween! I've made day trips to NYC, but this is my first overnight stay, and I'm ecstatic to get away. I never managed a real vacation this summer, so this (along with June's D.C. trip) kind of make up for that. We aren't making too many plans, because part of the fun is discovering things to do, but we are going to take in a Broadway show, as well as hit Central Park and a recommended restaurant. I'm also going to meet Agent J!

Anyone else have fun plans for Halloween?

3 comments:

Kevin Hearne said...

I'm going to watch the premiere of The Walking Dead with some friends. Braaaaains.

Mardel said...

I'm not sure I would have had the thought to grab anything -

when I think of all the important things....omg ID, medicine, dog, grandchildren if they're visiting....what do you grab first? besides the kids, of course (LOL).

Glad it was only an alarm - could have been for real.

btw - I just started reading As Lie the Dead. I like how it starts off right from the ending of Three Days to Dead. :)

Kelly Meding/Kelly Meade said...

Kevin - I'll probably record that while I'm away. I'm very interested in watching it!

Mardel - Those alarms are definitely disorienting. I'm amazed I thought to grab my keys. *g*