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As I'm walking along a chain-link fence, I see a fire in the grass. The fire flares, but it doesn't burn the grass. A black woman is there, watching the fire with a fork and knife in her hands, as if she's ready to eat.
I turn to see the building that I've been walking behind is almost entirely gutted by fire. In fact, it is still smoldering. It's a one-story brick building, and half of it is a shell filled with smoldering ash. Then I realize that it's my apartment building. I call Dayle to tell him that I can't make it into work because my apartment burned down. He sounds like he was asleep when I called.
Now I'm in my apartment, which is the half that is mostly unburned. Remembering it now, I can't recall any odor, when the smell of smoke should have been overwhelming. Still, there is damage in my apartment. I wonder to myself how could I have possibly slept through the fire. I must be the luckiest man alive.
I walk through my apartment, and the damage is more extensive than I first realized. There are places where the walls are broken through. I'm suddenly struck by a huge concern for my books. I'm almost in tears as I frantically look for my books to see if they survived. I find some books in a box and I'm reassured.
I'm beginning to make a plan in my head. I have to get a new apartment and move my stuff in. I should be able to accomplish that and be back at work tomorrow. I go to my closet, which has a washer and dryer in it. The washer is drawing water because I left some clothes inside and they have to be washed again. I switch it off, then consider that the clothes are already wet, so I turn it back on again.
At some point, a fireman shows up. He wants to talk to me about the fire. They're trying to determine how it started. We walk through my apartment, trying to find anything suspicious. There's a place where some wire has been stapled to the floor and to the wall, but it's been ripped up, leaving a splintered trail, but I realize that the firemen removed it after the fire. His three daughters are there, and they try to help. One of them turns on an old vacuum cleaner and I watch it nervously as it moves around by itself, convinced that it's going to start another fire.
It still astounds me that I could have slept through all of this.
I try to call Russell to tell him that I won't be on the train to work. He answers, but he's not listening to me. He's holding the phone up so I can hear the noises of the train pulling away from the station and I can't tell him what's going on, which is very frustrating. Then he pulls up in a taxi cab and I order him out so I can talk to him.
As Russell and I are standing in the front of the shell of my apartment, I see a young guy outside who is obviously a scavenger. He scurries up to the front door, which is hanging open, but I warn him off.
I begin to cry. My home is burnt up. I have to get a new apartment. I have to pack up all of my things and move them to the new apartment. Scavengers are trying to steal my things. It's all overwhelming. I don't even know where to begin! Then, by force of will, I push all of that emotion away. I have to get things done. The breakdown takes less than twenty seconds.
Russell agrees to stay and help me. He'll keep a lookout to dissuade any other scavengers.
At some point, I'm outside with other people who lived in the building. There's a couple of gay guys, bearish and attractive, playing with "ghostlies" -- goggles and binoculars with LED lights in them that illuminate what you're looking at. The one with goggles looks at me; the light is annoying and the lenses distort his eyes, making them seem larger. The one with the binoculars hands them to me so I can try them out.
Then I realize that there are LEDs everywhere. In the ghostlies, on another man's shoes which make a ground effect like you see on some cars, under a bench. I can see several examples of LEDs from where I stand and I marvel at their ubiquity.
I turn to see the building that I've been walking behind is almost entirely gutted by fire. In fact, it is still smoldering. It's a one-story brick building, and half of it is a shell filled with smoldering ash. Then I realize that it's my apartment building. I call Dayle to tell him that I can't make it into work because my apartment burned down. He sounds like he was asleep when I called.
Now I'm in my apartment, which is the half that is mostly unburned. Remembering it now, I can't recall any odor, when the smell of smoke should have been overwhelming. Still, there is damage in my apartment. I wonder to myself how could I have possibly slept through the fire. I must be the luckiest man alive.
I walk through my apartment, and the damage is more extensive than I first realized. There are places where the walls are broken through. I'm suddenly struck by a huge concern for my books. I'm almost in tears as I frantically look for my books to see if they survived. I find some books in a box and I'm reassured.
I'm beginning to make a plan in my head. I have to get a new apartment and move my stuff in. I should be able to accomplish that and be back at work tomorrow. I go to my closet, which has a washer and dryer in it. The washer is drawing water because I left some clothes inside and they have to be washed again. I switch it off, then consider that the clothes are already wet, so I turn it back on again.
At some point, a fireman shows up. He wants to talk to me about the fire. They're trying to determine how it started. We walk through my apartment, trying to find anything suspicious. There's a place where some wire has been stapled to the floor and to the wall, but it's been ripped up, leaving a splintered trail, but I realize that the firemen removed it after the fire. His three daughters are there, and they try to help. One of them turns on an old vacuum cleaner and I watch it nervously as it moves around by itself, convinced that it's going to start another fire.
It still astounds me that I could have slept through all of this.
I try to call Russell to tell him that I won't be on the train to work. He answers, but he's not listening to me. He's holding the phone up so I can hear the noises of the train pulling away from the station and I can't tell him what's going on, which is very frustrating. Then he pulls up in a taxi cab and I order him out so I can talk to him.
As Russell and I are standing in the front of the shell of my apartment, I see a young guy outside who is obviously a scavenger. He scurries up to the front door, which is hanging open, but I warn him off.
I begin to cry. My home is burnt up. I have to get a new apartment. I have to pack up all of my things and move them to the new apartment. Scavengers are trying to steal my things. It's all overwhelming. I don't even know where to begin! Then, by force of will, I push all of that emotion away. I have to get things done. The breakdown takes less than twenty seconds.
Russell agrees to stay and help me. He'll keep a lookout to dissuade any other scavengers.
At some point, I'm outside with other people who lived in the building. There's a couple of gay guys, bearish and attractive, playing with "ghostlies" -- goggles and binoculars with LED lights in them that illuminate what you're looking at. The one with goggles looks at me; the light is annoying and the lenses distort his eyes, making them seem larger. The one with the binoculars hands them to me so I can try them out.
Then I realize that there are LEDs everywhere. In the ghostlies, on another man's shoes which make a ground effect like you see on some cars, under a bench. I can see several examples of LEDs from where I stand and I marvel at their ubiquity.
