May Day!

May 1, 2009

Today is our first day in the “new” house. The house is actually many decades old, perhaps a century or more, but it’s new to my roommate Rachel and me. The owners are leaving for Vietnam in a few weeks, but in the meantime they are staying at a studio apartment in the house right next door to us.

Rachel and I are having a great time getting to know each other. I help her borrow a bed from my parents’ place. As we walk up to the house with the mattress, we smell gas.

We do some investigations but find no reason for the smell. We call the property management company’s “emergency” line. They say they’ll get back to us within 15 minutes. We never hear from them again.

The gas smell doesn’t dissipate, so we try calling the owners. Since they live right next door and this is our first day in their house, I want to avoid having them come home to discover a fire truck in front of their house. Nobody picks up. Rachel goes next door and rings their bell. She comes back to report that nobody is answering.

We decide to contact the fire department. They tell us to wait outside and someone will be over shortly. Rachel suggests we could meet a nice guy this way. I am wearing a pink terrycloth bathrobe. I wonder if the guys will think that’s hot.

We’re standing on the steps as the wail of fire engines screams down the city streets. “Is that for us?” I wonder. I hope that’s somebody else’s emergency and that they will be “chill” and keep it on the “down-low” for us. A few seconds later, three fire engines screech down our street, lights twirling toward us.

Several huge, handsome young men pop out. They have on their traditional hats, boots, jackets, flashlights, and axes. “What are they going to do with the axes?!?”

They go inside. I am glad Joe and Nancy (the owners) are not around to get the surprise of seeing a bunch of fire trucks and flashing lights outside their house.

Rachel thinks this will be a nice way to meet some neighbors. Here comes one right now. Charlie lives across the street.

From the other direction comes Nancy in her pajamas looking very worried. I tell her we smelled gas. She goes after the firemen. I am amazed at this one guy whose biceps are as big as a lady’s waist. He seems so nice too. I wish I wasn’t in my bathrobe.

Joe comes out and says “you guys are out of here!” He’s totally joking. He says he smells the gas too. The fire people do their fire thing and come out to say that they do not detect any levels of bad stuff at all. We thank them for their time.

Happy housewarming!