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Tuesday |
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Being an oddjobber
I sometimes get early morning calls for
emergency repairs, "putting out fires" as they
say. Only this time it was more literal--a smoke
alarm was going off in the middle flat of a
triplex I have the keys to. I was still in bed
but got there in a hurry, telling myself it
probably had nothing to do with the hot smoky
cuts in buried framing I was making yesterday
while moving a gfci in
the unit upstairs, but I couldn't help imagining
how a little fragment of red-hot nail might have
fallen in some chemical-laden dust within the
wall and smoldered overnight before erupting in
flame 16 hours later. Such are the concerns of
the self-employed handyman.
I was heartened not to hear sirens but as I rounded the corner I saw the pumper truck was already there with four firefighters standing out front, ready to break the door down. I fumbled through a half dozen keys, all of which fit but only one opened the lock, and that only after I tried them all twice. I knew the dog who lived there and we got along, but I didn't know there was a second one--a snarling pitbull that lunged and snapped but didn't try very hard to bite. I backed out fast, shut the door, turned to the firemen, "There's a dog." "What kind?" "Pitbull." "Of course." There was also the hot thin smoke of a forgotten skillet left heating on the stove, but no one was eager to go in. Two of the firefighters donned presumably toothproof pants and coats while the one in charge described the plan to fend off the dog with CO2--one of those fire extinguishers that spew white fog. Now woofy was at a bedroom window, baring fangs and barking, so I started tapping the glass and suggested they go in and shut the door behind it while I kept it distracted. The plan worked and I lamented having let die my childhood Emergency One! dreams of becoming a fireman. And though it looked like I kept my cool, I messed up shooting video of Fido as he went bonkers at the window, captured only this single mediocre frame instead of the extended slow motion savagery I'd hoped for. Oh well, at least the house didn't burn down. |