Have you ever had an experience of hearing a bunch of trapped witches shrieking for their freedom? I had that experience once.
One night, I was awakened from my deep sleep by the most terrifying noise I have ever heard. It was almost unbearable. It could be a nightmare but it was not.
It took me some time to realize what had actually happened. All the smoke detectors in our house had gone off at 2o’clock at night. It meant that the house was on fire. I was told so many times that in America a house only takes a few seconds to burn down and the inhabitants are supposed to leave the house immediately without trying to take anything with them. I thought I just couldn’t leave without my gown and glasses. It took me some time to find them.
We three inhabitants of the house — my husband, my son and me — were instantly out of our beds and ultimately came out of our bedrooms. The noise in the hallway was even more earsplitting. You are not always the wise guy when you suddenly wakeup from your sleep and hear that kind of horrifying noise.
The two male members instinctively went back to their cave-dwelling days and start searching their enemy (in the form of fire or smoke) in the house. One undauntedly went down to the basement and the other one start checking the burners and the cub-boards. It was the coward female who dialled 911.
The person on the other end could hear the noise and told me that the fire engine is on its way to my house. I was glad that they knew my address because I have a tendency to give wrong numbers of my house and telephone when I am nervous. Luckily, the number of my new house is 1 and very easy to remember, but you never know!
The witches were still shrieking with full force showing no sign of exhaustion. I did not know what to do till the help arrived. It was bitter cold outside in Chicago. Should we go out? I kept thinking. Should we stay in? Are we supposed to do something during this period? The person on the telephone gave us no advice but instructed to remain on the line, and having seen no fire or smoke we decided to stay in.
It might have been a few minutes but it seemed as centuries when we saw the lights from the approaching fire engine. The three nice firemen who may have been awakened from their sleep could hear the sickening noise but they did not show any reaction. They started checking everything the way they are taught. In a few minutes, they were sure that there was no fire. They de-activated the smoke detectors, waited for a few moments and re-activated them again. They also suggested that in the morning we call the builders and ask them to check the system. Now, there were five men, three fire experts and two engineers, and one woman in the house. I was in miserable minority. Everybody knows that when minority cannot act, it talks a lot. So I asked the firemen a lot of questions concerning the fire: the last question was. “What if it happens again?”
“Call us again,” One of them said promptly. His tone somehow implied: “It’s not going to happen again ma’am.”
The nightmare came back to my bedroom. This time I kept my gown and glasses very consciously within reach, though I did not wish this to happen again. But just in case — the first time I had had difficulty in finding both.
I was feeling very sleepy after feeling safe and secure, though the terrible noise was still ringing in my ears. I wanted to put all the turmoil behind me and have a sound sleep. I was almost asleep when the witches began to shriek again with the same intensity. Everybody in the house was very alert this time. My son went direct to the basement to de-activate the system but somehow, he could not do it. I called 911 again. Two of the three nice firemen came this time and one of them asked, “Which of the smoke detector went off first?”
“It is hard to tell.” My husband said, “It seemed as if all the detectors went off at the same time. There is such a harmony between them and you can hear how melodious their voices are.” I don’t know whether the fireman was able to hear or understand what he said in that noise but he immediately went to work and checked each one of the smoke-detectors again. He caught the culprit this time. The defective one was showing red light instead of green, and it was the one in the basement. They disconnected the sick one and left. We all slept soundly whatever hours of sleep we had for the night.
Next day, after cooking my lunch, I went to take a shower thinking that all the cooking burners were off, but incidentally one was not. When I smelled my spicy dish burning, I ran to rescue it. I couldn’t salvage it because the burns were more than eighty percent.
The smoke detectors were mute. The dumb things only smell smoke. They should at least show some good taste and give me a little warning when my dish starts burning!
Have you ever had an experience of hearing a bunch of trapped witches shrieking for their freedom? I had that experience once.
