Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Coming out of the closet

The walls to my bedroom are now Ripe Apricot. And at three am, the orangey paint fumes set off the fire alarm.

Did you know that could happen? I didn't.

The waa-waa of the smoke detectors lifted me out of bed. The room was the dark of closed eyelids. Thinking it may be a fire, I grabbed the door knob—it wouldn't turn. I turned around and bumped into a wall, turned again into another wall. Like I was in a small box. I found the doorknob again—still wouldn't twist. It was like every nightmare you ever had.

The light came on. I was in the closet.

4 comments:

  1. That would be so scary but it would make a great scene for a book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks.

    I had to laugh at myself, though. Not my finest hero moment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Paint fumes can set off a fire alarm? Who knew?

    That wandering into the closet thing--that happened to me when I was a kid, on an overnight in a friend's house. I tried to find the bathroom in the dark and ended up trapped in a closet, terrified, (still needing to pee) but scared to wake the household. Finally the family dog started barking and woke the parents, who rescued me before there was an accident. A scary moment.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Anne

    I was panicked at the time. But when the light went on, I nearly peed myself, I was laughing so hard.

    Luckily, it was a false alarm.

    ReplyDelete

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