metal against metal March 13, 2006
Today started out much better than the average Monday, with phone calls and invitations so that the rest of the week looks to be shaping up very well socially. A lawyer friend discovered the blog and wrote to say how much he likes it. That makes six readers. The weirdness of today, though, began just after noon.
Fourth floor of the law school. Prof. G expertly intoning about redhibition. Students asking good questions. Suddenly, the fire alarm went off with a noise that was the loudest and worst thing. It wasn’t like an alarm siren, it was like metal loudly scraping metal. It sounded like the hammers of hell. Students yelped and jumped up, holding their ears. Poor Prof. G is also a musician. His face looked like he was in pain. He couldn’t speak. Hands over his ears. Everyone started to run out and leave their laptops, etc., then I watched them slowly turn around and come back in as they realized 1) there was probably no fire, 2) class was over, and 3) if they packed it in now they would not have to wait and return to the 4th floor after the all-clear. The alarm never went off as we all slowly went down the same stairway in confusion. I imagined how they would find us all after a real fire, packed in the stairway, still standing up, our hands clasped over our ears.
I came home with a crashing headache and took some Aleve. Shannon, Katherine and I planned to meet at Savvy Gourmet for lunch. As we three converged on Uptown, Katherine rear-ended someone - her first car accident. She called Shannon and Shannon called me, so we met at St. Charles and Louisiana. Neither of them were hurt, but Katherine was shaken up. Air bags did not deploy, so she wasn’t going very fast. The other girl was really sweet, with violet-colored hair and pale, beautiful complexion. UNO sticker on the back window of her car. She was trying to make Katherine feel better about having run into her. Katherine’s car was much worse than the other girl’s car and had to be towed. Katherine is very together about her insurance, so everything was easy, even without the police showing up. Someone brought her a rental car. While she waited, Shannon and I had a delicious lunch at Savvy Gourmet and brought Katherine a sandwich from there.
Finally I am home and the omens are clear. I will not leave the compound tonight. Katherine will probably stay with her mother. No music, just silence. It looks like it might rain.
