Just
as we reach the door to the gym, the fire alarm blares. I don’t catch on for
a minute but Ed knows instantaneously what is going on. “Oh NO!” he laments. “It’s a fire drill,” a young mother with
three kids hanging on her smiles, as we pass through the doors. “For the
school?” I question. The Clearfield Aquatic Center is connected to and part of
North Davis Junior High. Lights flashing;
unearthly sirens resounding in a multitude of blasts relentlessly. Evidently, it takes more than usual to get the attention of junior high school students. Inside the lobby, everyone
is calm. Business as usual. Firemen standing in small groups conversing as if they have no place to go. There are usually
fire trucks and emergency vehicles parked at the gym; that’s what they do while
waiting to be heroes. When Ed got in big trouble at the Ogden gym, the EMT's were already there. They thought they were going to lose him before they got to the hospital but that's another story.
As we pass by this one fireman standing alone, I query through the blare, “Why aren’t we running?” He ponders a moment and I think he isn’t going to reply, when he looks around and says, “I’m waiting to see smoke so I’ll know which way to run.”
As we pass by this one fireman standing alone, I query through the blare, “Why aren’t we running?” He ponders a moment and I think he isn’t going to reply, when he looks around and says, “I’m waiting to see smoke so I’ll know which way to run.”
So
true. What if we had run in the wrong direction straight into the fire?
One
time at the Heathrow Airport near London, the fire alarm resounded the two
hours we were waiting in line. No one wanted to lose their place in line to vacate
and eventually, just before we got to the desk, it stopped.
It
unnerves Ed almost to the point of fainting like Diane always did when she
heard a siren.
The blaring
of noise and lights continues all the time we are dressing for the pool. Playing
along, I jump in thinking the fire can’t get me there. Ed comes without his
fins. “Where are your fins?” It’s about the last straw for him.
Finally silence. “Thank heavens, it’s enough
to make one forget his fins,” I console Ed.
Moral:
Wait to see smoke so you’ll know which direction to run.
The next day, I asked a woman in the dressing room
if she were there yesterday for the blaring fire alarm.
"No, but once we were swimming when the fire alarm
went off and they made everyone get out of the pool
and go out to the patio
beyond the fence in the dead of winter.
beyond the fence in the dead of winter.
My friend and I slipped into the changing room
and grabbed our bags. They were yelling at us to
get out but at least we had our car keys
and our clothes. We could have been out on that
patio for two hours."
Rocky, the senior 17-time gold metal winner
at the Utah Games,
at the Utah Games,
was back today for the first time in a month.
He was one who had to get out of the pool,
go out soaking wet in bare feet and stand in the snow.
For how long?
"At least 1/2 hour. We about froze to death.
They finally brought us towels.
It was awful."
"Then about two years ago, a kid came to school with a gun.
He was going to shoot his teacher.
They made us all get out of the pool
and go into the classroom.
I had my swim team and I looked at all those windows
and thought, 'We are not safe here',
we need to be in the Janitor's closet with a metal door'."
Never a dull moment
when you're connected to a junior high school.
