Fire Island

Mindy woke me from a deep sleep around 230am all in a panic. Initially all that registered was the word fire. That got my attention. Then over the next few seconds the rest sunk in. The O’Connell’s house was on fire. What I couldn’t figure out was why she wanted to leave the house.

I followed behind after considering that our kids were still soundly asleep in their beds. I walked down to the neighbors in a surreal setting. First, it had been raining all night so the shy was warm, wet and muggy. Add to that a strong smell of smoke and then numerous fire vehicles parked roughly in front of the O’Connell’s house with their all their lights aglow. There must’ve been 6-8 fire trucks of one type or another and then 20+ firefighters working on the blaze. Scary! Mindy, I could see, was right up by the house consoling the neighbors. I laid back for a few minutes but soon joined her along with Chrissy.

By the time I moseyed up the fire was pretty much out but work continued. Mike explained that he got up to pee and thought he smelt smoke, now keep in mind, Mike is a fireman himself. He almost pooh-poohed the notion and headed back to bed but his senses made him take an about face and investigate the smell further. He gazed out Evan’s bedroom window to see flames rising upward from the attached garage. The family quickly vacated the house, called 911, and headed for Chrissy & Kenny’s. Meanwhile, Mike hooked up his garden hose and began fighting the fire until the fire department arrived.

The entire experience was quite an ordeal, and even now a little hard to believe that it was real. Teri’s car was ruined/burnt up as well as the entire front of their attached garage. A little while later the fire investigator determined the cause was electrical. And probably the same trouble Mike shared with me only a week or tow ago. I actually offered to help isolate troubleshoot his GFI tripping constantly. As it was, he refused the offer, and I’m not sure we would’ve been able to isolate it anyhow.

It was approaching 4am when I finally headed back to the house knowing that 530am would be coming around fast. Without being asked, Kenny headed off to his storage garage in Gahanna to fetch some plywood and tools to help secure the O’Connell’s garage now that the door was completely destroyed as well as the side walls. Part of me felt I should have gone with him to help, but I needed to be at work and knew the work would go on for a while. Mindy joined me back in bed about 20 minutes later. She stopped in Chrissy & Kenny’s house to check on the kids. As one might expect, they were all wide awake, no doubt traumatized by the fire.

It took a while for both of us to fall back asleep. I’m guessing that it was 430am before I drifted off. 530am came around fast. I opted to sleep in until almost 6am. I was really tired.

From that point forward, my morning routine went on as normal. I exercised, drank coffee, and played on the internet before meditation, a stretch, and a run. I didn’t leave for my run until almost 7am, or just after I woke Mindy, who also elected to sleep in a little. As far as we knew, our kids slept through the entire thing.

Mindy had already shared the night’s events with the kids. They, of course, were concerned for their friends Emily & Evan. But they were eager to see the damage, too. Once I was ready for work and the bus stop, I walked Bella down by the O’Connell’s so she could see the fire damage. Jacob decided last minute not to walk down. I saw the O’Connell’s school bus pull up in front of their house as I finished my run earlier. Obviously, they weren’t going to school. We later learned that they stayed at Chrissy & Kenny’s all night. However, somewhat surprisingly, Mike & Teri opted to sleep in their own bed. I overheard the fire chief tell them before they left the scene around 330am that it was safe to stay there but that they would almost certainly wake with a headache from the heavy smell of smoke.

The kids headed to the bus stop in the rain. Bella at least had an umbrella. Jacob did not. I walked out with my umbrella too, but when I started raining really hard I headed for the garage. Jacob hung under Trena’s shallow garage eve avoiding most of the rain. Once the kids were on the bus I headed out to the Accord still using my umbrella with my right hand but carrying in the flowers I bought Monday afternoon at Strader’s. I left them safely in the garage. The rain had almost stopped by the time I pulled away from the house for the office. I showed up at work around 840am.

I felt under the gun all day long, knowing I had to finalize and send out my most important monthly report by the close of business. However, in addition to that, I had to facilitate a conference with a number of parties to address a hot technical issue. Happily, that went far better than even I hoped. We were able to solve the problem 100% by 11am, and just in time for me to join yet another conference call. Oh boy!

I was tired from being short slept but didn’t have any time to dwell there. I just kept plugging away until I completed my monthly report and emailed if off to all concerned parties. I got that taken care of by 5pm and rather than hang around, I headed for home.

I called Mindy who was just seeing the kids off with Jimaken for dinner with dad. She and I planned to have dinner out. Mindy and I walked down to chat with the neighbors before we left for dinner. We wanted to see if they needed anything. Kenny was down there helping Mike clean-up all the melted/burnt debris lying in a heaping pile in their front yard. It was then that Teri shared that she and Mike opted to sleep there after fire department left. Said she had a headache, just as they said she would. All in all, they were in pretty good spirits. They were still waiting on the home insurance adjuster to show up.

As we walked back home Alex was coming out of the house with his new son. He doesn’t ever say much, but Mindy forced herself on him. She walked up to see the baby while I went after the car. I pulled up in front of Alex’s place to pick-up Mindy. We headed off to Barley’s, our first visit there in at least two weeks.

Decent crowd, at least judging by the parking lot, especially for a Tuesday. The revised menu was out, though 80-90% was still the same. I saw maybe 5 or 6 new options. Probably to compete with CBC, they had a Double Centennial on tap. I opted to try one of those while Mindy tried the Epic guest IPA after trying a small sample. We got started on our beers and then ordered some food. I ordered the Cuban. Mindy ordered the new chipotle pasta dish.

Ordered a 2nd beer, a Hoptopus. It was very tasty. Mindy & I struck up a conversation with the guy sitting nearest us. His name is Paul. Never seen him in before but said he’s a Tuesday regular. Pretty interesting guy. Mindy, or course, did most of the talking. Doug Hamon showed up alone about halfway through our dinner. No sure what Jamie was up to. He pulled up a stool and we chatted for the next hour or so.

After the one IPA Mindy had a buzz. Asked if she could have another. But before she ordered she asked if she could have only half. April obliged by giving her half a pint but then me the other. I was fine. Mindy got really gabby her 2nd beer. I warned her of the time more than once. 745pm came and went, as did 8 and 815pm, when we finally upped to depart. Mindy said she didn’t care if Jimaken would be upset. She paid the tab too. 

By the time we finally left for home the kids had called checking on our whereabouts. Mindy shared that we were on our way. Jimaken was sitting on our deck when we got home. I went out to apologize and shared that it was Mindy’s doings. She overheard me and confirmed what I shared. It was 830pm.

I did a little reading but got sleepy in a hurry. I dosed off from the chair pretty quickly, and when I briefly woke, I threw a couple pillows on the floor then stretched out there. I fell asleep again rather quickly. We all headed to bed around 930pm. I couldn’t wait to hug my bed pillows.