Loose Tea

I was sitting quietly, watching over my friends' house while they were at Disneyland. They left their usual note which included the line "Have as many fires as you want to."

After putting in a load of wash and finishing my duties for the evening, I made a small fire to burn off the wood in the fireplace, gave 5 dogs their pig's ears as a treat and put on my Alexander McCall Smith Book on CD.

I looked over at a small empty box on the counter and thought, "Why not add this to the fire, as well?"

I put it on top of the small pyre and 30 seconds later was in awe of how well it was burning. There was what sounded like an enormous wind coming from the fireplace. I thought, I must burn small (12 inches by 8 inches) boxes more often to help the fire along. I stood transfixed, looking and listening to the roar for such a seemingly small fire.

Then it was as if the world went nuts. Someone jumped over the railing and knocked on the fake door at the same time as someone banged on the front door.

They were loudly saying, "Your chimney's burning!"

Fortunately, one of those voices was Councilmember Robb. My initial response was "Oh? What should I do? Watch it burn?"

Councilmember Robb already had the situation in hand and said, "I called the Fire Department. They're on the way. Get the dogs and get out of the house."

So, in my Birkenstock sandals and socks [I once swore I'd never go out in public this way] I grabbed my coat and 5 dogs and we went out into the cold yard to watch the light show spewing forth from the chimney. It was something to see, sort of like a volcano about to erupt, after the smoke, when the volcano starts spitting fire.

The firefighters arrived quickly and took care of the situation with their new fire engine that has a very long extension ladder, and the homeowner's metal trash can.

Out of this experience, however, I have a new appreciation for why gawkers are so reviled. This was not meant to be the entertainment for Monday night. I hope those TV writers are writing fast, because in an atmosphere of dropping temperatures, wind, ice and gusting snow, a crowd chose to spend their time standing on the sidewalk. This brought greater concern to me. In addition, to contending with Police and Firefighters, I had to also worry about the effect of strangers on the dogs and the very real possibility of someone taking a bad tumble on the ice.

Not to mention the phone: In addition to the etiquette rule of not gawking at a fire, I can add a new one: "Don't call!"

My phone immediately started to ring. Everytime I had to go back in to the house to help the firefighters ("Do you have a big metal bucket?" "Can we move this?") my phone was ringing off the hook. Two of the calls were from the homeowners because their friends had helpfully called them to tell them their house was burning down. Still, not a good time to call.

But, they say, All's well that ends well. I'm really glad Councilmember Robb is keeping an eye on the City.