Fire

 As I entered my lobby this morning with my donut and coffee, I noticed my neighbors everywhere, sitting and standing.  "There's a fire, or smoke, on eight.  The elevators are closed down."  Moments later the sirens announced the arrival of the firemen in their formidable uniforms and gear.  (There's nothing quite like them, is there?)  It took a short while to get things back to normal.

Of course, I remembered being in another high rise fire.  Belmont.  Twentieth floor.  1970's. This time I was upstairs and told to stay, by bullhorn from the street below.  By the time I heard the "all clear", my head was at the window gulping in the air.

The smell of smoke does not go away. And it penetrates everything. Being even on the far, far edge of danger makes me appreciate once again the essential, yet devastating, force of fire.