small world

The fire alarms in our building went off last night after dinner. Our stone and concrete structure didn't seem likely to be a tinderbox, but better safe than sorry. The kid and I marched downstairs to await the fire department's arrival. We were actually the only two residents to do this. I don't think everyone else was out to dinner on a Wednesday night, but it's Palm Beach, you never know.

The fire truck drives away — false alarm (whew!)

Three fire trucks showed up, plus a patrol car. As we waited for the verdict near the parking lot (the quietest place in the vicinity) the policeman on call made a little small talk, praising us for leaving the building. Apparently most folks tend to ignore fire alarms. He then looked at us a little more closely and asked, "Do I know you?" Before you imagine that the kid and I engage in crime sprees in our spare time, we determined that he was the cop who showed up back in June when my mother fell and the ambulance came. Small world. He asked my daughter if she was the one who found Grandma and she nodded. He then asked how mom was doing, which was nice.

The firemen came out, axes unused (thankfully). Apparently the smoke detector in the elevator had gone off, setting off all of the building's alarms. So a false alarm, but an extremely loud one.

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