But, as spacious as it seems, the fact is, that our house IS downtown. That's what makes us "city folks." Our "neighbors" are family court, the 911 call center, the laundromat, and the lady who hates our holly bush. But we like it here. We like being "in the middle of it all." In a rural town of 3,000 there isn't a whole lot of "it all," so being in the middle of it seems like a good place to be.
(Photo: Ooh, ooh, ooh, looking out my front door...)
I don't think we could adequately comprehend the nature of our town, though, until last week. Last week we had an adventure. Last week we had an EMERGENCY.
It was around midday on Wednesday. I was in the kitchen making lunch when Gabe strolls in and says, "Where's our fire extinguisher?" Without looking up I said, "It was pressurized, so the movers wouldn't take it. I have it on our list to buy at Wal-Mart when we can." And then, "Why?" He said, "Because there's a car on fire in front of our house."
I was anything but non-chalant. I ran to the front window (we have a bay window that sits out from the front of our house), and sure enough there, 10 feet from the front of our house was a beautiful 1972 dark blue VW beetle with fire coming out the back. The owner was standing next to it, looking dazed and confused.
I immediately got on the phone and called 911. The operator calmly answered, "911. What's your emergency?" And I answered, breathlessly, "There's a car on fire in front of my house!" And the drawl was as slow and as sweet as any when she said, "We know, Sweetie. We've dispatched someone." Now, mind you, she didn't ask for my address or anything. But they already knew about the car on fire, in front of my house.
The fire department had still not come, but people sure did. Folks in neighboring houses walked down, a couple of folks from the 911 center came out to watch, and the man from the newspaper office walked up the hill to take pictures. How do I know this? Because all of us are standing out on our front porch watching the flames grow higher and higher. They were inching closer to our 1868 all wood house.
As soon as I saw the newspaper man with his camera, I sprung into action. I hearded the entire family back into the house. I explained, "Our first time in the newspaper is not going to be us all standing on our front porch watching a car on fire like a bunch of rednecks." "I am NOT going to be quoted in the story when the writer asks, 'What happened here?' as saying, 'Well, this car pulled up and just caught fire.'"
The flames continued to grow and the crowd grew and we continued to watch...from inside of course (Did I mention we were city folks?). But still the fire department didn't come (it's an all-volunteer fire department). But one of the guys did walk over from the 911 center with a big fire extinguisher and put it out. And just at that moment, the fire department pulled up.
After about an hour, all that remained was a vivid memory and a pile of ashes in front of our house. But I consoled myself with the fact that our little "adventure" would certainly be in the paper...why we might even take the front page! But it was Wednesday already, and so the paper wouldn't come out now for another week.
The next Wednesday I was at the IGA and got my paper as usual. I explained to the cashiers that we were hoping to make the paper because of our car fire. (How crazy is that?) I was crestfallen when they told me the story wasn't in there. But then they added, "But we heard about that!"
Now that's "city" life.
It was around midday on Wednesday. I was in the kitchen making lunch when Gabe strolls in and says, "Where's our fire extinguisher?" Without looking up I said, "It was pressurized, so the movers wouldn't take it. I have it on our list to buy at Wal-Mart when we can." And then, "Why?" He said, "Because there's a car on fire in front of our house."
I was anything but non-chalant. I ran to the front window (we have a bay window that sits out from the front of our house), and sure enough there, 10 feet from the front of our house was a beautiful 1972 dark blue VW beetle with fire coming out the back. The owner was standing next to it, looking dazed and confused.
I immediately got on the phone and called 911. The operator calmly answered, "911. What's your emergency?" And I answered, breathlessly, "There's a car on fire in front of my house!" And the drawl was as slow and as sweet as any when she said, "We know, Sweetie. We've dispatched someone." Now, mind you, she didn't ask for my address or anything. But they already knew about the car on fire, in front of my house.
The fire department had still not come, but people sure did. Folks in neighboring houses walked down, a couple of folks from the 911 center came out to watch, and the man from the newspaper office walked up the hill to take pictures. How do I know this? Because all of us are standing out on our front porch watching the flames grow higher and higher. They were inching closer to our 1868 all wood house.
As soon as I saw the newspaper man with his camera, I sprung into action. I hearded the entire family back into the house. I explained, "Our first time in the newspaper is not going to be us all standing on our front porch watching a car on fire like a bunch of rednecks." "I am NOT going to be quoted in the story when the writer asks, 'What happened here?' as saying, 'Well, this car pulled up and just caught fire.'"
The flames continued to grow and the crowd grew and we continued to watch...from inside of course (Did I mention we were city folks?). But still the fire department didn't come (it's an all-volunteer fire department). But one of the guys did walk over from the 911 center with a big fire extinguisher and put it out. And just at that moment, the fire department pulled up.
After about an hour, all that remained was a vivid memory and a pile of ashes in front of our house. But I consoled myself with the fact that our little "adventure" would certainly be in the paper...why we might even take the front page! But it was Wednesday already, and so the paper wouldn't come out now for another week.
The next Wednesday I was at the IGA and got my paper as usual. I explained to the cashiers that we were hoping to make the paper because of our car fire. (How crazy is that?) I was crestfallen when they told me the story wasn't in there. But then they added, "But we heard about that!"
Now that's "city" life.
4 comments:
Isn't it nice to live in a place where the most exciting thing to happen all week and pobably all month, will be the car fire in front of the Saporitos house. Hey you guys really are city folks; where Kev and I live we don't even have 911 yet! isn't that crazy!? The city hopes to adopt the 911 program in the next year or two. Well at least where we are now 911 is a service we don't seem to be in much need of.... at least so far.
Love you all, Crystal
Laura,
Your writing is always so engaging. I love to read what you have to say, almost as much as listening to you talk. Sigh!
Dawn
I love this :)
I remember waking up once in the middle of the night in our house on the peninsula to a car burning in the Methodist church parking lot across the street ... that was bizarre ...
And, only Laura ... of course you knew the year of the car!!! :) I absolutely LOVE it :)
I just looked it up ... it would take us 17 hours to drive to where you live ;( I sure do miss you guys, though :(
it sounded better when you told news story in person and we got to see the burn marks in front of the house which i forgot to take pictures of
in any case i got another chuckle out of reading thank you
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