Friday, January 06, 2006

Dumpster Drama: Act VI

It's been a while since there's been any drama in my apartment building, what with the holidays and all the theatrics in other parts of my life. But finally here's the latest Dumpster Drama:

It was about 1 AM on a weekday night. I kept hearing sirens going down the street, and usually I tune them out, but after the fifth siren or so I knew something was up. Not only that but I heard huge trucks idling outside.

I pulled on a sweatshirt over my pj's and went into my apartment courtyard. Red lights were flashing and they bounced over all the walls. As I went further towards the street intersection, I finally grasped what was going on: fire engines, police cars, and traffic cars were all over the intersection. Flares directed traffic to detour down my street. And all the residents on all four corners of the intersection had come out to see what was going on.

I asked a man standing on the sidewalk what he knew. He stated that apparently there was a fire in an apartment building down the street, and it was centered on the roof.

A man with a pipe approached us and asked us what was going on. We relayed what we knew already. "Well, as a former Fire Marshall, this is pretty standard procedure," he claimed. I asked him why there was so much police presence, and an over-abundance of fire trucks for such a small blaze (we couldn't even see or smell it from where we were).

"Well, the police and firemen in this town have nothing better to do because we don't get a lot of crime around here. So when something happens - anything - they all come out with full gear ready to roll."

Huh. Well that's good that I live in such a safe neighborhood. And it was also nice to see other single people in the vicinity. People just like me, standing in their pajamas, not knowing what to do. Just then more firemen pulled up and I exchanged looks with some of the other girls around me on the sidewalk. We all smiled with the same thoughts going through our heads. Jackpot!

And...Curtain.

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