Fire

Today started like any other day. Brandon had duty once again and got up extra early and headed to work. He took our car, since Jackson and I had not planned on doing anything today. Jackson and I woke up a few hours later and began our daily morning routine. I made banana pancakes for breakfast. We watched cartoons. And just as I was starting to clean up the kitchen from our breakfast mess, I could see Jackson out of the corner of my eye, tearing apart my living room, as he does every morning while I clean up the kitchen. Toys litter my living room floor. Sofa pillows are now off the sofa. And there is Jackson jumping and climbing in the middle of it all. As I said, just like any other day.

While I am doing the dishes, I am hearing a faint noise. It sounds an awful lot like someone is pressure washing the front corridor to my building. Hmmm...I didn't remember there being anything posted in the lobby about it. But when I shut off the water to the sink I could hear it louder. Kind of like an alarm. Puzzled I went to the front door and opened it. Upon doing so I was blasted in the face with our painfully deafening fire alarm. It's amazing that while inside it sounds so muffled. I could see other neighbors doing the same thing. I went inside, put on a decent shirt. It was morning after all, and I was hardly dressed to go outside and greet the world. I grabbed Jackson, still in his PJ's and my cell phone and headed down with the rest of my neighbors to the driveway. I could see more people trickling outside as I stood and watched. With a noise that loud I expected some sort of massive drama to unfold in front of me. Or at least some smoke, maybe even some flames.

Half hour later the police and fire department came to do their jobs. Whatever that is. All of us, in our morning clothes, dripping with sweat from the heat and humidity that was hovering over us, stood there to greet them as they piled out of their trucks. My neighbor Stephanie, a firefighter/EMT for the last 10 years took charge. She explained what had happened and who lived where. The alarm blazing the entire time. Eventually at some point the firemen asked to inspect my home for signs of fire. And so up to the second floor Jackson and I went to show them just what they asked. As we walked up the stairs I was praying that Jackson didn't rub his blocks together and set a fire while I was doing the dishes. How mortified I would have been.

Now if you can remember, Jackson had torn apart my living room. And that memory came flooding back to me as I opened my door. My living room in complete chaos, like a tornado had come right through the middle of it. My kitchen was spotless however. The Japanese firemen asked if they could wear shoes in my house and very politely asked if they could open the door to my bedroom and bathroom. They walked softly and made little noise moving through my house looking for any sign of smoke. And as I stood there watching them, the whole thing felt so awkward. I was not in Kansas anymore, this was Japan. It seemed so funny to me in my head how opposite we are in America. The door would have been knocked to the ground, firemen would have trudged in the house wearing their muddy boots, and spraying anything in sight that even looked remotely warm. They wouldn't have asked or even apologized for turning a living room into a swimming pool. And I would have stood outside expecting exactly what I got. Here things are a bit different I guess. The men found nothing except a mess made by a toddler, and so they thanked me, put their shoes back on and quietly left.

I joined the rest of my neighbors once again outside. And so we stood and waited and laughed and got to know each other a little bit. Finally the fire department decided that there was no fire that they could find yet and so they let us all come back to our homes. We shrugged and kind of looked at each other thinking that this whole experience was sort of crazy. One by one we made our way back up the stairs. The alarm continued to go off for the next hour or so. And the men came door to door again asking about smoke. And then just like it all started, it stopped. The alarm was off. It was over. The men in their trucks left. And I was left thinking to myself, now what was the point of that? I guess we needed a little excitement in our morning. We certainly got it. If anything, it gave me something to blog about.