Excitement Abounds

Yesterday and last night brought the not-so-unexpected chance of severe storms; springtime in Dallas is fraught with thunderstorms, hail, strong winds, and tornadoes. We have experienced all of the above, with the exception of a tornado (thank goodness!).

It turned out to not be such a bad weather day for us - just a little rain and lots of wind. However, when we went to bed last night there was still the chance of severe storms, including a tornado warning, for early in the morning.

Naturally, the first thing I thought when awakened at 3 a.m. by a siren was, "Oh my gosh! We need to get in the closet! Is there a tornado?"

The siren was quite short-lived, but then I noticed flashing red lights shining through our bedroom windows. As John hopped out of bed to take a peek through the blinds, I, in my state of "middle of the night" wakefulness, ran through various scenarios:

-Are there flashing lights connected with tornado sirens?
-Is that strange noise I hear a tornado? Tornadoes sound like trains, right? Does it sound like a train?
-No, I don't think it sounds like a train. And the sirens stopped after about ten seconds.
-There are people talking. Is there some kind of tragic accident out there?

So, what scene met our eyes when we both finally found our glasses and made it to a window with an unobstructed view?

Three firetrucks, a police car pulling up to block the intersection, a couple people milling about the fire trucks, a fire hose attached to the hydrant at the corner, and smoke pouring from a house next door to the house across the street.

The house was on fire! We saw no flames, but the fire hose, fire trucks, billowing smoke, and eventually the exit of numerous firefighters from the garage pointed us to the truth.

Our neighbor directly across the street went over to check things out; John just stood on our sidewalk to observe from a distance, not wanting to get in the way of the firefighters. We don't know the people that live in that house since they are very rarely seen and have not attended any of our Christmas open houses. We'll have to check with our neighbor sometime about the details.

We never saw an ambulance, so we assume everyone was OK. Also, the extent of damage could not be too horrific, since, by the light of day, the house looks normal from the outside. Most of the activity last night seemed to center around the garage. We saw some firefighters pulling the car out of the garage.

Or, we could let our imaginations run away with us. (Something we never do. Really.) Maybe someone purposely set the fire, either to collect insurance money or commit suicide, and the ambulance had come and gone by the time we woke up and got to the window to appraise the situation.

What with all the flashing lights even after the fire was extinguished and the fire hose removed from the hydrant, and the blinding light that the electric company set up to (we suppose) cut the electricity to the house, and the constantly loud noise created by the engines of three firetrucks running, it took us quite some time to get back to sleep.

Of course, this commotion planted the seeds for me to have crazy dreams once I did manage to fall back to sleep: something about multiple friends staying in our tiny house with us, scheming to start our own company, living by the glow of red light bulbs, all while a massive storm was brewing outside and the back door kept blowing open. Oh, and I was continually making pots of coffee for everyone while being the lookout for any tornadoes that might descend.

After what seemed like only minutes of rest, our alarms sounded to wake us up, and everything was cleared up across the street. It kind of seems like it was all a bad dream. I'm pretty sure the people who live in that house across the way are thinking the same thing. Except for them it must be more like a nightmare.