26 September 2010, Sunday

Up at 5.10 a.m. I was just about to put the kettle on, when the fire alarm rang. Drat, drat, and double drat! My husband and I put on shoes (always put on shoes when a fire alarm rings—you never know when you’re going to have to climb down a ladder), threw coats over T-shirts and track pants, grabbed keys and glasses, and headed 11 flights downstairs. We stood outside in the chilly air. I wondered, What if the clothes I had on my back—these clothes—were all I had after a real fire? What if a fire were to leave us homeless?

Heard later that a Toronto high-rise apartment fire on Friday has left thousands homeless.

Twenty-five minutes passed. No fire trucks. The closest station is three blocks from our building. Clearly, the alarm hadn’t sounded at the station. Cell phone calls from other bed-headed, bathrobed, morning-breathed residents to 911 and our building’s emergency number.

A car pulled up. A man who delivers newspapers to our building every morning in the dark. One of the invisible men in our lives suddenly visible. He put the papers in the lobby. I wondered, What is his story? Where does he live? Does he have enough to eat?

Someone told him that we’d been waiting for the fire fighters for 25 minutes.

Minutes later, there were fire trucks, our newspaper delivery man’s car hard behind them. He’d driven to the fire station himself to sound our alarm. But he’d inadvertently left his client list with the newspapers in the lobby. Invisible again, as fire fighters secured the building. He couldn’t get inside. But I need my list. I need my list.

Breakfast

Toast

Peanut butter (four teaspoons rather than three—much better)

Green tea

Took teabags to church so that I could have tea afterwards. But I didn’t have lunch at coffee hour because I didn’t walk to church. Today’s Gospel reading—the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a man who was hungry.

Lunch

Toast

Onion

Cheese (grilled)

Cayenne pepper

Cabbage

Salad dressing

Cayenne pepper

Green tea

Decided not to walk half an hour each way for a third $.67 can of tuna. I’ll try to make do with what I have.

Dinner

Oil

Eggs (2)

Celery

Onion

Cayenne pepper

Oregano

Toast 

Green Tea

For lunch tomorrow, tuna salad, bread, and an apple—until I counted my remaining slices of bread. Not enough to last the week if I have bread with lunch. For my lunch tomorrow, tuna salad, macaroni salad, and an apple.

Tuna salad

Tuna (1 can)

Celery

Onion

Salad dressing

Pickle relish

Cayenne pepper

Oregano

Macaroni salad

Macaroni (1 cup)

Salad dressing

Cayenne pepper

Oregano